Andree Brooks, journalist, author and lecturer, will present "The Unlikely Tale of Amelia Bassano." A woman of Jewish heritage is now believed to have been a major influence behind Shakespeare and his canon. Using update research, we place the life of this woman, Amelia Bassano, as a hidden Jew in London at that time the context of her era. We further explore the multiple achievements of the brilliant and sexy Amelia: favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets and a collaborator on the plays who, in addition, became the first woman to publish a book of poetry in the English language. Was she the only outstanding woman of Jewish heritage of her era? Even that assumption is now under revision. Who were the others? Find out on October 24 at Temple Rodef Shalom!

Come at 6 pm and enjoy a BUFFET DINNER COURTESY OF Temple Rodef Shalom! For planning purposes, please register no later than Thursday, October 21.

More Info: http://brooksdinner.eventbrite.com/

 

Location Details:

Temple Rodef Shalom Sanctuary
2100 Westmoreland Street
Falls Church VA 22043

 

Come join us in helping to preserve our local natural habitat by cleaning up Accotink Creek on Sunday, Oct. 17, at 1:15 PM. For more details, please click here. This is a perfect way to engage the entire family in the mitzvah of "tikkun olam," making our world a better, healthier place in which to live.

Adat Reyim is once again offering our Tot Shabbat service, this time on Saturday mornings at 10 AM, beginning on Sept. 24. For more information, please click here. Come join us for our family-friendly service, where we truly observe the directive to "teach our children."

Start the New Year with one (or all!) of the exciting programs sponsored by two of Adat Reyim's most active groups. Our Sisterhood has several events planned for this fall; for more information, please click here. And don't miss what the Men's Club has in store for us; details can be found here. Please plan to join us this fall to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones! 

Below is the schedule for High Holiday services at Adat Reyim for the year 2010/5771. Please click on the links where indicated for more detailed information on specific events. In addition, this year we're raffling off 2 prime-location parking spots! (Please click here for more information.) We wish everyone in our congregational family (as well as their extended families) a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

 

Saturday, September 4 - Selichot Program

7:30-8:00 pm           Wine and Cheese social

8:00-10:00 pm         Movie and Discussion

10:30-11:00pm        Havdalah/Reception

11:00–Midnight        Selichot/Healing Service

 

Wednesday, September 8   (Office closes at 1PM)

7:00 pm                   Family Erev Rosh Hashanah

                                    Service*

8:30 pm                   Erev Rosh Hashanah Service

 

Thursday, September 9 (Office closed)

8:30 am                   Rosh Hashanah Service

10:45-11:45 am       Youth Service-1^st -7th Grade

11:45 am-12:45 pm   Teen Experience-8^th-12^th Grade

2:00 pm                   Family Rosh Hashanah Service*

 

Friday, September 10 (Office closed)

8:30 am                   Rosh Hashanah Service

10:45-11:45 am       Youth Service-1^st - 7^th Grade

11:45 am-12:45 pm Teen Experience-8^th -12^th Grade

4:00 pm                   Tashlich Service at Lake Accotink Park

4:30 pm                   Ice Cream Social at Lake Accotink Park

5:00-5:45 pm           Kabbalat Shabbat Service at Lake Accotink Park

8:00 pm                   Shabbat Evening Service at Adat Reyim

 

Saturday, September 11

9:30 am                   Shabbat Shuvah Service

 

Sunday, September 12

11:00 am                 Community Memorial Service/

                                Kever Avot at King David

 

Friday, September 17 (Office closes at 1PM)

6:30 pm                   Kol Nidre

 

Saturday, September 18

8:30 am                   Yom Kippur Service

9:45-10:45 am         Youth Service-1^st -7^th Grade

10:45-11:45 am       Teen Experience-8^th -12^th Grade

1:00 pm                   Yizkor

2:00 pm                   Family Service*

3:15 pm                   Holiday Reflections

4:30 pm                   Martyrology

5:00 pm                   Afternoon Service

6:30 pm                   Ne’ilah

8:05 pm                   Tekiah Gedolah

 

Wednesday, September 22

7:30 pm                   Erev Sukkot Service

 

Thursday, September 23  (Office closed)

9:30 am                   Sukkot Services

 

Friday, September 24  (Office closed)

6:30 pm                   Picnic in the Sukkah

7:30 pm                   Folk Music Shabbat Service

 

Wednesday, September 29

7:00 am                   Hoshanah Rabbah

                                Service & Breakfast

 

Thursday, September 30 (Office closed)

9:30 am                   Shmini Atzeret Service

11:45 am                 Yizkor

7:30 pm                   Simchat Torah Celebration

 

Friday, October 1 (Office closed)

8:00 pm                   Shabbat Services

 

 

*Family Services-preschool to 5^th grade

Child care available; please click here to make reservations (required).

 

Please join the Religious School as we honor our Chai-Lifelong educators at this very special brunch.

When: Sunday, November 7th, 10-12pm

Who: Entire Adat Reyim Community

Where: Congregation Adat Reyim

Why: Did you know that 11 of our 22 Religious School faculty members have spent at least 18 (Chai) years or more in Jewish Education?

Please help us honor these fabulous educators and recognize their dedication and commitment to our children.

Every year the Religious School is charged with raising funds to supplement our tuition and fees and the generous subsidy we receive from the Congregation.  This year we are planning two fundraisers.  One is our traditional activity of preparing Mishloach Manot bags to be distributed during Purim, fulfilling the Mitzvah on Purim, to send two items of food to at least one person.

Our second fundraiser is this letter.  The Education Committee is sure that, when you read what we plan to do with these funds, you will enthusiastically support us.

One of the first things we plan to do is honor our educators in the Religious School.  Did you know that 11 of our 22 faculty members have spent at least 18 (Chai) years in Jewish Education?  To recognize their dedication to our children, we are planning a Sunday brunch and celebration towards the end of school on Sunday, November 7th.  SHHH……can you keep a secret?  We’re inviting Ester Greenblatt and Elaine Brand to return to also be recognized at this event.

This Fundraising Letter will afford us the opportunity to honor our Chai-Lifelong Jewish educators, while tapping onto the theme of Lifelong Learning promoted by the synagogue Gala this past spring.  At the brunch, we will formally honor all the Religious School educators who have dedicated their lives (Chai) 18 years or more to Jewish Education.

Everyone in the Congregation will be able to participate in this event by decorating a leaf for the Religious School’s “temporary” Etz Chayim (Tree of Life) that will be prominently located in the synagogue. Moreover, your donations will go toward the purchase of a permanent leaf on the synagogue Tree in honor of our educators.

In addition to honoring our educators at the Chai-Lifelong Learning brunch, the funds that we raise from this letter will also be used towards:

• Subscription  to ‘One Call’ or a similar service which allows you to register as many phone numbers as you wish to receive automated announcements when, for example, school is canceled due to snow or power outages.  Imagine how nice it would be for your cell phone to ring and to hear a message that the school is closed because we have no power, something that in fact happened last spring.  If the power hadn’t come back on at 5:10 pm, we would have been waiving you off in the parking lot!  How much better it would have been for you to have received a phone call before you left your driveway!  And if you remember, this outage was caused by a fire at Rolling Road and Old Keene Mill.  We could have sent you a message telling you about the fire so that those of you who got stuck in the traffic mess could have found alternate routes to the synagogue. This service should eliminate any need for a phone tree.
• Purchase additional books and materials for Junior Congregation/Learners’ Minyan.  These are materials that benefit the whole school and indeed the entire Congregation.
• Supplement our students’ health and welfare by providing more of our teachers with CPR and First Aid training.  This training costs approximately $75 per teacher. Luckily some of us are certified from sources outside the school, but we’d like to get more people certified in case of a medical emergency.
Provide additional faculty development opportunities as well as additional resource materials.

These are just some of the things we would like to do if we can raise the funds.  (Our minimum fundraising commitment is in fact already figured into our budget; this is how we would spend anything we raise on top of this minimum amount.)  We see a real benefit in being able to provide these additional opportunities for our teachers and services for you.

 
Through the generosity of the congregation, we did not have to increase our tuition and fees this year.  But if our enrollment declines, so does our income.  Yet our expenses do not decrease to meet that decline in income.  We cannot, for example, eliminate any teacher positions; as it is, half our teachers are professionals who actually volunteer their time altogether or receive a very minimal stipend.

 
We ask, therefore, that you give as generously as you can.  Help us continue the theme of this year’s Gala, Lifelong Learning, and join us as we celebrate our fabulous Chai-Lifelong Religious School educators.

Suggested contribution amounts are:

$18.00 – Chai
$36.00 – Double Chai
$54.00 – Triple Chai

 (Or whatever donation you would like to give – Thank you!)

For every $18, your family will receive a leaf to decorate that will then be posted on our Etz Chayim (Tree of Life), as discussed above.
If you would like to give a more substantial donation to the Religious School please check here and we will call you personally.  
Thank you for your time and consideration.

Amy Brener - V.P. Education (Religious School)
Sharone Weizman - Education Director

June 1, 2010

100 Local Teens Fund $85,000 in Grants to Nonprofits World-wide 
through the Partnership’s Six Youth Philanthropy Groups

3 Adat Reyim Teens Participate in the JYPI Program Blending Grant-making with Jewish Values

Rockville, MD – One hundred local teens just completed this year’s grant cycle with the Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning’s Jewish Youth Philanthropy (JYPI) Program.  The JYPI program provides the opportunity for teens to engage in the grant-making process and to become active community leaders, empowered citizens and responsible Jewish adults.

Included in the group of teens were three congregation members – Lia M., Sami R. and Ryan A. They met with teens from across the Washington DC Metro area to learn about the principles of philanthropy, explore the needs of society and then make a group funding decision in response to grant proposals submitted by a variety of local, national and international nonprofits – both in and out of the organized Jewish community.

“With so many pressures on teens, JYPI is a program that enables teens to get involved personally in philanthropy and to broaden their perspectives as Jews regarding individual and communal responsibility,” said Dr. James Hyman, CEO of the Partnership. “Many alumni have noted that this type of experience – from the non-profits they visited to the experience of reaching consensus for funding – has carried a lifelong impact for them.”

“Teens who come to the JYPI program do so with such energy and excitement about the opportunity to give back to our community,” said Leah Siskin, Director of the JYPI Program at the Partnership. “They make careful and thoughtful decisions, and they truly understand the impact their decisions have on others.”

Since JYPI’s creation in 2000, more than 2,000 teens have participated in the program, awarding nearly $675,000 in grants to 180 non-profit organizations and completing over 10,000 hours of community service. The JYPI program qualifies for Student Service Learning (SSL) credit counting toward most high schools’ graduation requirements. Please visit www.pjll.org for a full list of the 2010 JYPI grantees, and contact Leah Siskin at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for information about the program.

The Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning is a non-profit, communal agency that takes an innovative approach to Jewish learning.  We look beyond books and classrooms, and deliver high quality programs and ideas that integrate Judaism into daily life, making Jewish learning joyful at all ages. By providing research that identifies key challenges and creative solutions; offering dynamic programs through local partners or our own staff; advancing local educators’ professional development; and collaborating with other community organizations, our staff of nationally recognized educators provides the vision, leadership and resources for real change in the Washington Metro area and beyond. For more information call 240-283-6200 or visit www.pjll.org

The Adat Reyim 2010 Gala held on the 10th of Sivan, 5770 (May 23, 2010) at Springfield Country Club was a wonderful and successful event for our synagogue. Our community of friends shared in a wonderful night of honoring our long-standing educators and Rabbi.

Click here to view the program from the event

This event could not take place without the generous support of our event sponsors. Please visit them for your future needs. Below is a list of the sponsors from this event.

1. Beryls Cake Decorating & Pastry Supplies - www.beryls.com
2. Hough Building & Remodeling, Inc. - www.houghbuilding.com
3. Lenny Marsh at Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. - www.lennysellshomes.com
4. Atlantic Settlement Group, LLC. - Richard Oppenheim, Jr. - 703-425-9777
5. Stuart Hill Photography - www.stuarthillphotography.com
6. Cameron Cafe - 4911 Brenman Park Dr., Alexandria, VA 22304
7. Summit Renovations, LLC - www.summitrenovations.net
8. Nebel Financial Services, LLC - 703-658-0080
9. Dr. Stuart L. Kramer (Podiatrist) - 703-642-5340
10. WTD (What's The Deal) - sowhatsthedeal.com
11. Media Masters - www.mediamasters.tv
12. Laurie L. Rosen LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) - 703-239-2600
13. The Kugel Lady - www.thekugellady.com
14. Pink Posey Florest - www.pinkposeyflorist.com

Dear Friends,

 

You can help the relief effort in Haiti by donating specific items to be assembled into hygiene kits and distributed by the Church World Service. The kits that Adat Reyim puts together can mean the difference between sickness and health for struggling families in Haiti. We are working in conjunction with Burke Presbyterian Church to collect these items, assemble them in kits, and deliver them to CWS in early April. Donate one item, or donate many. This is a great family or group project. And know that you are part of making a difference. (All items donated must be new.)

 

Items needed for a Hygiene Kit:

 

• One hand towel measuring approximately 16" x 28"
• One washcloth
• One wide-tooth comb
• One nail clipper (no metal files or emery boards)
• One bar of soap (bath size in wrapper)
• One toothbrush (in original packaging)
• Band-Aids
• One Gallon plastic bags with zipper closure

 

Funds are also needed to cover the processing, completion and shipping costs of these Hygiene Kits. Checks should be made payable to Adat Reyim with "Haiti Hygiene Kits" in the memo section.

 

Please bring items to Congregation Adat Reyim 6500 Westbury Oaks Court, Springfield, VA 22152. There will be a collection bin in the front lobby.

 

If you have any questions or if you are interested in the final portion of the project -- the assembly of the Hygiene Kits -- please contact Andrea Cate at (703) 503-4525.

 

Join us for our monthly Sunday Morning Wellness Program! Relaxation and Self-Care Practice Sessions will be offered monthly at Congregation Adat Reyim on Sunday mornings.

Each gathering will incorporate a range of relaxation techniques and stress mastery exercises of gentle movement, breath work, mindfulness, meditation, and self-massage. Join us to learn and practice fun and effective tools to optimize your health, enhance your joy, your inner peace, and your overall sense of well-being.

Members and non-members of Congregation Adat Reyim are welcome to participate. Immediately following each practice session, all are invited to stay for our group sharing time which will meet from 10 to 10:30 AM. A suggested donation of $5 per session is recommended but not required. A sign in front of the synagogue will state the meeting location on the date of each program.

Email contact Lisa Eidelkind at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for additional information.

On Yom Kippur, we read a haftarah which offers the ultimate reason that we fast. The prophet Isaiah says that fasting is only meaningful when we use it as an opportunity to care. "It is to share your bread with the hungry and to take the wretched poor into your home. When you see the naked, clothe them. Do not ignore your own kin." As we fast this year, we need to think about how to take care of our own and those in need in a time of economic crisis.