Summer is almost over but Elul is coming around the corner, Summer Suggestions to do

Lakeside at OSRUI

With the absence of very hot summer weather I suppose it is easier to imagine that Fall is around the corner.  Summer is a wonderful time to revive, restore, and rejuvenate.  Kallah Gimmel at OSRUI this summer where I was faculty was fantastic. What do we do at camp?  Check out my IMovie and you will see just a glimpse of what we do at summer camp. Working with madrichim, counselors, and chanichim, campers is my passion and studying Israel this summer was wonderful.  It was a bittersweet summer to study Israel and I have to be hopeful as I look to the future.

We still have a few weeks before we begin Religious School (Sunday September 7 at 10:00 am) and Hebrew school, (Tuesday, September 9 at 4:45 pm). You are probably thinking what could I do for the rest of the summer to get ready for the fall?  Look no farther I have a few ideas:

Now is the time to pick up a good book and finish it before the fall.  Need some suggestions?  Take a look at my Goodreads lists of Jewish books, books about Israel, or even someYoung adult books for some of the books I have been reading.  I am getting ready to read a few more before the summer is over.

Want to practice your Hebrew?  Come to Summer t'filot at Lakeside we start at 6:00 pm for a short outside service.  We will be JC Park Deerfield on August 22 otherwise right here at Lakeside.

Looking to practice Hebrew on your own at your house?  Check out Behrman House website for games and just to practice your Hebrew prayers.  You can listen and practice as much as you want, the computer never gets tired of working with you.

Be sure to register for Religious School and fill out paper work.  We want to see everyone's smiling face in the fall.

Religious and Hebrew school are important milestones for students.  I know I am biased but we have fun on Sunday mornings and Tuesday afternoons and this is just the first building block as you prepare to be a Jewish adult.  I have many students involved in many different competing activities from dance and sports, to drama and debate.  I like to say that my students may not become professional dancers, sports players or sing on Broadway but they will all become adult Jews.  I hope that the training they have at Lakeside stand them in good stead as they make their way through life.

If I do have a student who makes it big in any of the above arenas besides free tickets and a mention at the Oscars I hope that their Jewish education will continue to help them find their place in this world.  I hope that it will give them a strong Jewish identity and a basis to lead a happy and moral life.  As I continue to plan for this year I look forward to revving back up for the fall and hearing about everyone's summer experiences.

Hebrew Class at camp

PJ Library or Start reading as soon as you can

I love reading books, reading books to others, reading books with others and any other combination that include books.  If you have a child age 6 months to 8 years take a minute and sign up for PJ Library at http://www.juf.org/pjlibrary/.    The PJ Library Chicago program is available to families with children ages 6 months to 8 years living in the Chicago metropolitan area (Cook, Lake, Will, McHenry, DuPage and Kane counties).


What a great way to start your child's library.  PJ library has books about holidays, books about all things Jewish.  They are fun books and many of the books you can find in our own Lakeside Library.  I love this program and encourage our young families to take advantage of this program.  

My personal kids are too old for this program and I love that I can pass on how to sign up for this great program to Lakeside  and Children's Center families, and Chicagoland area friends.  

If you are reading books yourself please join me on Goodreads to see what books I am currently reading, those I have read in the past and the books I "want to read".  It motivates me to reach my yearly goal, lets me know if I am on track and I can easily see if when I am looking at a book if any of my friends have read the book and what they think of that particular book.  I am just finishing the Young Adult Divergent Series and can't wait to see the movie that comes out next week.  I also just finished  The List by Martin Fletcher am reading the Interestings by Meg Wolitzer.  

Let me know what you are reading.  I love to compare notes on books, young adult, children's, whatever you are reading.  

Books, Book lists and Book Group

I have a book group at Lakeside Congregation and this week before we met I updated our  list of books and discovered we have read 33 books.  We have been meeting since December 2011  and it all started when a few woman asked if we could do an evening book group.  We read Jewish books and being transparent here some of the books I have read before I recommend them and some I have just researched.  

We have appreciated most of the books and others we have come to appreciate after we have had our group discussion.  I think one of my favorite book group meetings was  The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal.  The book is well written; not particularly easy to read and is a family memoir by British ceramicist Edmund De Waal who tells the story of his family the Ephrussi, once a very wealthy European Jewish banking dynasty, centered in Odessa, Vienna and Paris, and peers of the Rothschild family. The Ephrussis lost almost everything in 1938 when the Nazis "Aryanized" their property.

At this meeting we all brought a meaningful family heirloom and we saw some beautiful family objects and learned even more about one another.  We are able to share stories and get to learn about one another at all of our book groups.  We come from different backgrounds, some of us were not born in America, some of us are married, some divorced, some with children and grandchildren, some with empty nests and some with full nests. I find our groups to be a relaxing evening of talking, sharing ideas and discussing our lives through the books we have read together.  Our hosts are all gracious and gives us delicious treats and fun drinks.  

We are not the first  book group on the block but I am very proud of our duration and the dedication of our members.  I also want to give special thanks to my mentors all of them book club mavens: Rachel Kamin at NSS Beth El, Lori Sagarin at Temple Beth Israel and Rabbi Phyllis Sommer at Am Shalom.  They share their book lists,  their expertise and  their comments in person, on Goodreads and over the internet.  I can't thank them enough.  

I love books and asking everyone I know; "What is the latest book you have read?"  I love young adult books, books about Israel and even a good romance novel now and then.  Next time you see me tell me what you are reading; take a look at my Gfoodreads page and see what I am reading.  I challenged myself to read 40 books this year and I am on track to make it.  The trip to Israel will put me over the top I am sure.  What trip to Israel....read about it next week.

Lakeside Book Group List:

December 2, 2011    Books we have read so far, 12-2-11:

1.    Plot Against America: Philip Roth

2.    People of the Book: Geraldine Brooks

3.    Away: Amy Bloom

4.    Rashi’s daughters: Maggi Anton

5.    Septembers of Shiraz:  Dalia Sofer

6.    To Begin Again:  Rabbi Naomi Levy 

7.    Eli Weisel’s Rashi

8.    Day after Night: Anita Diament

9.    Girl from Foreign: Sadia Shephard (Memoir)

10. All other nights: Dara Horn

11. Invisible wall: Harry Bernstein (part of a trilogy and a Memoir)

12. The Year of Living Biblically: A.J. Jacobs

13. History of Love: Nicole Krauss

14. Pigeon and a boy: Meir Shelev

15. My Father’s Paradise: Ariel Sabar  (Memoir)

16. Stations West: Allison Amend

17. 19th Wife: David Ebershoff  

18. Mr. Rosenbloom Dreams in English by Natasha Solomon

19. The Invisible Bridge: Julie Orringer 

20. The Jew Store: Stella Suberman 

21. Drawing in the Dust: Zoe Klein  

22. Dovekeeper: Alice Hoffman

23. Love and Shame and Love: Peter Orner

24. In the Garden of the Beasts: Erik Larrsen

25. Midwife of Venice: Roberta Rich

26. Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots: Deborah Feldman  

27. 2013 Hare with the Amber Eyes: Edmund De Waal

28. Home in the Morning: Mary Glickman

29. 10,00 Lovers: Edit Ravel

30. Second Person Singular: Sayed Kashua,  

31. Wayward Moon: Janice Weiszman

       32. What we talk about when we talk about Anne Frank: Nathan Englander

       33. Sweet Dates of Basra: Jessica Jiji

      

2014

       34. 2014 My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner: A Family Memoir:  Meir Shelev

       35.  The List: Martin Fletcher

       36.  The Illusion of Separateness: Simon Van Booy