Melanie Einbund
No, it isn’t a misprint! The New Jewish Year is 5785! Congregation B’nai Midbar at SaddleBrooke will be holding Rosh Hashanah evening services on Oct. 2 and morning services on Oct. 3. Yom Kippur services will be held on Oct. 11 (evening) and Oct. 12 (day).
Rabbi Danny Price will be officiating in his role as our new rabbi. Cantorial Soloist Eliyanah Powers and Dr. Josh Nichols, our accompanist, will be returning to the pulpit.
Getting to Know You
We are fortunate to live in a community of many activities and events. Often, we are too busy to just relax and say ‘Hello’. This year is a bit different in welcoming a new Rabbi to our pulpit and learning more about our cantorial soloist and accompanist. In that spirit, B’nai Midbar invites all members and non-members of the Northwest Tucson Jewish Community to gather to meet Rabbi Price, Eliyanah Powers, and Josh Nichols on Aug. 25 from 4 to 6 p.m. on the Patio Tennis Courts.
Let us celebrate with each other and the coming of the high holidays. Make new friends and rediscover our friends to share experiences, stories, and have, of course, light snacks and cool drinks! Please RSVP to Esta Goldstein at 520-825-1181 by Aug. 20.
A Tradition!
At the end of Rosh Hashanah morning services B’nai Midbar offers honey cakes to attendees in celebration of the New Year. To have enough honey cakes we look to volunteers ‘The Honey Cake Bakers’ to bake. Please contact Melanie Einbund at [email protected] if you are willing to bake and help B’nai Midbar make 5785 a sweet new year.
Remembering, Honoring, and Worth Repeating
All of us have experienced at one time or another the loss of someone dear. A Jewish practice is Yahrzeit (the Yiddish word for “anniversary”) and refers specifically to the anniversary of the date of a person’s passing. We commemorate the event with a candle and recite the Mourner’s Kaddish.
B’nai Midbar is fortunate that Jeff Syden and Joel Wyner created a web page for our congregation who wish to honor the passing of a person(s). Jeff took me through the learning curve to access and add my loved ones to the site. But some background information first. The site has (the site still uses the name IJSS) partnered with the National Jewish Memorial Wall to provide a way that Congregants and friends can commemorate and acknowledge their deceased. Since we don’t have a permanent building this website augments the plaque and Yahrzeit memorial that would normally be in the synagogue. The site identifies the Yahrzeit remembrance, sends reminders, and has a place where you can store your personal memories of the deceased. Primarily this is a platform for our community to capture family history and heritage through the sharing of stories and pictures.
You can access the site at NJMW.org/ijss or nationaljewishmemorialwall.com/ijss. Once on the site you will find many choices you can explore including Online Plaques, Yahrzeit Reminders, Planting a Tree in Israel, and other options. We encourage you to look and review plans and their pricing. If you need assistance, please reach out to Joel Wyner at [email protected] or Jeff Syden at [email protected]. They will be happy to assist you. Know that the name change to B’nai Midbar will occur at a later date.
B’nai Midbar is a welcoming congregation. Our members and their needs are our primary focus. If you have questions or wish to join our congregation, please contact Esta Goldstein at 520-825-1181 for information.