August/September 2016 Tammuz/Av/Elul 5776 Volume 20, Issue 6

From Our Spiritual Leader

Cantor Henry Shapiro

Turn It Over We just started the final book of the Torah, D’varim or in English, Deuteronomy. The previous books of the Bible are comprised of a number of themes - narrative, nation building, covenant, laws and more. Deuteronomy begins with Moses speaking to all of Israel. The root of the word Torah means teaching and instruction. Like any lesson, the final book consists of a review of many previous chapters; their high points, summarizing stories and action, and making sense of everything learned. So much so, that the repetition and reminders have given Deuteronomy another label, mishne torah - meaning review of Torah. This final book also signals my preparations for the High Holidays. Every year we go through the cycle of Jewish holidays. However this year, one other thought occurs to me, this is the first time I’ve read through all of the Torah. In the three years of reading Torah at PJC, I’m finally finishing leyning all of it, the whole of the triennial cycle of Torah reading. Three years ago I started with the first third of the triennial cycle, last year the 2nd, and this year is the final third. As I’ve pointed out at the beginning of this year to Saturday morning regulars, you can get a different view by reading only the final third part of the Parsha. Sometimes it’s a genealogy leading to a main character in the next chapter, sometimes a side-story or law that is out of the main narrative sequence. The question naturally arises, whether we read the Torah every year or every three years, what’s the point in rereading it? Norman J. Cohen an author and professor addresses this point in his book, The Way Into Torah. There’s a passage we’re reading this

Coming Events

Friday Night Shabbat Services - 6:00 PM Saturday Morning Shabbat Services - 9:30 AM September 9th & 10th Birthday Shabbat October 2nd Erev Rosh Hashanah Services 8:00 PM October 3rd 1st day Rosh Hashanah Services 8:30AM October 4th 2nd day Rosh Hashanah Services 8:30AM October 9th Tashlich @ B-Y Park 10:00 AM October 11th Kol Nidre Services 6:30 PM October 12th Yom Kippur Services 8:30AM & 5:20-7:30PM Shofar & break-fast 7:30PM October 17th 1st Day Sukkot 9:30AM October 23th Erev Shemini Atzeret w/Yizkor 7:00 PM October 24th Shemini Atzeret w/Yizkor during Torah Service 9:30 AM Erev Simchat Torah - w/Live music and refreshments! 7:00 PM

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week in Deuteronomy 11:13, shamor tishm’run . It's the command form of Hebrew for listening and could mean ‘you shall surely listen’, but is often interpreted as ‘diligently keep’. In referencing an early work call Sifrei Devarim, the Books of Deuteronomy, Cohen points out one is obliged to study Torah even if one cannot fulfill the mitzvah. Indeed, one might argue that studying the words of Torah is a way of fulfilling the mitzvah. There’s a couple of other reasons to repeat the Torah or other texts. First is to be careful not to lose one’s learning. The other is the insights you will have by rereading and re-studying it. This is most famously summed up in a saying by Talmudic Rabbi Ben Bag Bag (really that is his name). "Turn the Torah over and over for everything is in it. Delve into it, grow old and worn over it, and never move away from it, for you will find no better portion than it.” Cantor Henry Shapiro The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers, 2013 Documentary I saw the above documentary on Netflix and found it quite interesting and informative. Yehuda Avner was an Jew from England who made aliyah before Israel Independence. He worked for the Israeli government as a speechwriter and editor. His personal recollections of Israeli Prime Ministers, Israeli politicians, world leaders and people of the time is quite revealing, entertaining and well worth watching. The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership, book published 2010 from the book dust cover: The Prime Ministers is the first and only insider account of Israeli politics from the founding of the Jewish State to the near-present day. It reveals stunning details of life-and-death decision-making, top-secret military operations and high level peace negotiations. The Prime Ministers brings readers into the orbits of world figures, including Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Henry Kissinger, Yasser Arafat, Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana and the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Written in a captivating literary style by a political adviser, speechwriter and diplomat, The Prime Ministers is an enthralling political memoir, and a precisely crafted prism through which to view current Middle East affairs. The Prime Ministers is the basis of a major documentary produced by Moriah Films, the Academy Award-winning film division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

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From the President’s Desk………………………….Robert E. Korfin Over the years we’ve talked about the miracle that is Parkway Jewish Center. The fact that we started the synagogue 60 years ago is one thing; but the reality that we are still alive in 2016 is yet another miracle. Shuls that were larger and with greater wealth have come and gone, and still Parkway remains the conservative voice in the Eastern Suburbs. Most of our Parkway Family no longer lives in the Eastmont area. Yet rarely a Shabbat goes by that we don’t have a minyan. I have to pinch myself when we have a minyan especially when the weather is lousy, when it’s too hot, when it’s too cold, when people are traveling over the summer months, or when there is a national holiday (Labor Day, Thanksgiving, New Year’s…..etc.) On so many Shabbat mornings, I doubt 10 members will arrive on a given Saturday to find that our minyan is in place at the start of the service. It’s unbelievable… Let me switch gears for a minute. At the High Holy Days we hear the recurring theme about the “Book of Life.” You know, who will live and who will die from now until the High Holidays are upon us in another year. Let me tell you something…..I never understood the meaning of all of that, but now it’s hit me like a ton of bricks. Since the High Holy Days of 2015 we lost Stan Markovitz, Irwin Feinberg, Allan Goppman, and Jack Kessler. We have our Saturday morning regulars. We call ourselves Saturday Morning Minyan-aires for lack of another name. In the case of Allan Goppman; he read the Haftorah each week and when Cantor Shapiro was away for any reason, Allan would also read the Torah. I’m talking two key members who came to shul each Saturday. And still we have a minyan just about every week. And the miracles just keep on a-coming. Look, we’re still here, but it’s getting harder and harder. When we lose members, we lose revenue. Just a couple of months ago, we were concerned about making payroll without having to tap into other Parkway bank accounts. What I’m trying to say is….miracles don’t last forever. Unless we all meet our financial commitments to PJC we too could become a synagogue that was and is no more. I will have more to say about this at the High Holidays. In the meantime, I want to wish you and your families the best of Health and Happiness in the New Year. And then we’ll talk again…

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Kiddush & Oneg Shabbat Sponsors PJC Sisterhood Linda Tashbook Marvin Tell Harold and Diane Bloomfield Lynda and Marvin Heyman Kiddush Oneg Sponsorships Sisterhood invites you to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and other Simchas by sponsoring an Oneg Shabbat or Saturday Morning Kiddush. You can also sponsor in memory of a loved one’s Yahrzeit. For more information, call Diane Bloomfield at 412-373-9240 or Leslie Rubin at 412-371-8437

Donation Contacts: Donations to the Marilyn Markowitz/Phyllis Stein Memorial Library Fund can be made by calling the shul office. Mazel tov to: Susie and Bruce Feldman on the Birth of their Granddaughter, Claire Davia Feldman Syma Levine, on the Birth of her Great-Granddaughter, Charlotte Levine

AUGUST ANNIVERSARIES 1 Leslie and Charles Rubin 9 Ronna and Richard Vrcic

17 Betty Ann and Ronald Secorie 19 Susan and Michael Tell

24 Diane and Harold Bloomfield 31 Debbie and Alan Iszauk AUGUST BIRTHDAYS

5 Bernie Bernstein 6 Rachel Reifman 8 Jenifer Kosko

9 William Drummond 23 Marvin Heyman

Brianne Reifman 25 Allan Goppman

26 Michelle Korfin Perl 31 Ron Brown

SEPTEMBER ANNIVERSARIES Myrna and Bob Korfin Gail and Alan Levine

Coleen and Scott Reifman Donna Wolfson and Jack Silverstein

SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAYS 3 Diane Bloomfield, Erin Mazer, Coleen Reifman

4 Steven Goppman 9 Adam Sandler

10 Efrem Schwartz Amy Irving

12 Shirley Holtzman Schwartz 13 Jeannette Kline

Mel Torme 15 Amy Mayer

16 Robert Caplan Belva Schiff

Peter Falk 17 Sandy Goppman Murray Goppman

Cass Elliot 20 Red Auerbach

Rob Morrow Leonard Cohen 24 Anna Rubin

Sheryl Sternberg Shel Silverstein

26 George Gershwin 28 Al Capp

29 Scott Reifman 30 Fran Drescher

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August Yahrzeits

Week of July 29, 2016 - 23 Tammuz Julius L. Tell, Dorothy Reidbord, Gary Reifman, Norma Levenson, Sylvia Tell, Morris Cohen, Mollie Feldman, Leo Schaer, Lillian Caplan, Bernard Mervis, Samuel Berman, Debbie Cohen, Sarah Liba Blumenthal, Helene Rose Hyman, David Iszauk, Enice Bloomfield Week of August 5, 2016 - 1 Av Nettie Brawer, Helen Horowitz, Fannie Melnick, Ralph Cooper, Dorothy Goldstein, Joel Allen, Cecelia Flansbaum, Samuel Stahl, Calvin Tannenbaum, Alvin Moldovan, Sidney Levine, Esther Direnfeld, Persh Melnick, Ben Cowen, Lewis Fisher, Meyer Handmaker Week of August 12, 2016 - 8 Av Minnie Landay, Rae Levine, Nathan Becker, Joseph Edelman, Melvin Moidel, Charlotte Becker Week of August 19, 2016 - 15 Av Kate Gross, Mathilda Levine, Louis Barnett, Margaret Krause, Alfred Spier, Harry Horvitz, Jennie Horvitz, Rose Murovitz, Meyer Hiller, Lou Harris Week of August 26, 2016 - 22 Av Evelyn Fait, Jerome Fait, Pearl Silverstein, Ida Haber Rosenfeld, Morris Goldstein If the name is printed in Bold, a Yahrzeit Plaque will be illuminated in the Sanctuary during the Yahrzeit week. If you would like to place a Yahrzeit Plaque in the Sanctuary, please call the Synagogue Office at 412-823-4338 between 9 am and 1 pm daily.

Refuah Schleimah A Speedy Recovery to: Syma Levine, Denise Goppman, Tammy Blumenfeld, Edy Dickman

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September Yahrzeits Week of August 26, 2016 - 22 Av Evelyn Fait, Jerome Fait, Pearl Silverstein, Ida Haber Rosenfeld, Morris Goldstein Week of September 2, 2016 - 29 Av Julius Richman, Sherman Hershman, Arnold Hackman, Nathan Rosenfeld, Ruth Samuels, Dora Fisher, Jennie Gottlieb,Samuel Flansbaum, Helen L. Speck, Stanley E. Holtzman Week of September 9, 2016 - 6 Elul Bertha Green, Sheila Uran, Bernard B. Dickman, Helen Moss Weinberger, Ann Halperin, Goldie Goppman, Herman Goppman Week of September 16, 2016 - 13 Elul William Hoffman, Mitchell A. Michaelson, Lenore Caplan, Sidney Garfinkel, Morris Kessler, Jack Morris Week of September 23, 2016 - 20 Elul Harry Seiner, Isidor Ackerman, Sherman Cohen, Dora Lederman, Herman Bloomfield, Herbert Klein, Melvin Harris, Max Leff, Mollie Gertrude Maysels, Stanley Glaser Week of September 30, 2016 - 27 Elul Esther Feinberg, Sidney Schaer, Jennie Berkover, Murray Kaye, Max Levine, Herman F. Mervis, Morris Izenson, Alexander Kain, Emil & Cacilia Kaplan, Saul Klawansky, Norman Lucker, Bertalan & Fannie Kain, Jacob & Sarah Leah Sokal, Gertrude Zubin, Magda Kain Berkowitz & Family, Fred A. Goldberg, Louis Lipsitz, Samuel Temeles, Harold Weinberger

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Library News The High Holy Days are a time of self-examination and accounting for past actions. Our library has a variety of books to prepare us spiritually for this journey through Elul and Tishrei. “Elul is the last month of the year..it encompasses the entire spectrum of existence---the three pillars on which the world stands…Torah, Prayer, Kindness” from the book—60 Days—A Spiritual Guide to the High Holidays. Listed are the books available to assist in your preparation for this spiritual journey. 1) Days of Awe—Shumel Yosef A Treasury of Jewish Wisdom for reflection, repentance and

renewal.

2) 60 Days-a Spiritual Guide to the High Holidays—Simon Jacobson

3) Do Unto Others-How Good Deeds Can Change Your Life—Rabbi Abraham Twerski, MD

4) It’s Not As Tough As You Think—how to smooth out life’s bumps—Rabbi Abraham Twerski, MD

5) I’d Like to Call for Help, but I Don’t Know the Number—the search for Spiritually in Everyday life—Rabbi Abraham Twerski, MD

6) Words that Hurt, Words that Heal—how to choose words wisely and well—Rabbi J. Telushkin

7) Happiness and the Human Spirit—The Spiritually of Becoming the Best You Can Be—Rabbi Abraham Twerski,MD

8) Small Miracles for the Jewish Heart—extraordinary coincidences from Yesterday and Today—Yetta Halberstam

9) Angels Don’t Leave Footprints—Rabbi Abraham Twerski

The first day of Elul will begin September 3rd on the secular calendar so there is ample time to begin your spiritual journey for the High Holy Days. L'Shana Tova!! Betty Ann

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Parkway Jewish Center 300 Princeton Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15235

DATED MATERIAL PLEASE DO NOT DELAY

Or Current Resident

Congregation Sha’ar HaShamayim 412-823-4338 www.parkwayjewishcenter.org

Cantor Henry Shapiro, Spiritual Leader (henryshap@aol.com or henry@henryshapiro.com)

Officers President Bob Korfin

Board Members Marvin Heyman Mike Jacob Ira Mazer Harold Bloomfield Donna Wolfson Committee Chair Persons

House Chair Alan Levine Ritual Chair Hal Lederman Cemetery Chair Arnie Levine & Syma Levine

Office Administrator Gail Levine

Sisterhood Officers President Laurie Barnett Levine Vice Presidents

Membership Susan Mazer Program Vera Greenberg Fundraising Vacant Catering Leslie Rubin & Diane Bloomfield

Corresponding Secretary Vacant Financial Secretary Amy Mayer Treasurer Lynda Heyman Auditor Lynda Heyman

Scribe Staff Editor Harold Bloomfield

PUBLISHED MONTHLY VOLUME 20, ISSUE 6

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016 PARKWAYJC@VERIZON.NET

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