Emanuel Congregation

Emanuel Congregation Annual Report 2007-08 ▪ 5767-68 128 th Year

Emanuel Congregation is:

בית תפילה

Beit T’filah

A House of Worship

בית מדרש

Beit Midrash

A House of Study

בית כנסת

Beit Knesset

A Place of Community

בית תפילה Beit T’filah▪ A House of Worship

Senior Rabbi’s Report

Congregational Cantor’s Report

Ritual Committee’s Report

Senior Rabbi’s Report Rabbi Michael R. Zedek How to pick highlights and special moments for the congregational year? Impossible, yet to offer a few and insufficient examples:

The overflow attendance at family services at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

The generosity of so many to support this sacred enterprise.

The amazing group of women who gather every Tuesday morning, our Sewing Ladies.

Senior Rabbi’s Report, continued

Working with Rabbi Schaalman, Cantor Friedman, Rabbi Aaron, Anna Cabey, David Silverman, Danny Banks, Danny Banks Jr., Charles (Leonard) Williams;

The MRJ/Ham-It-Up Band Talent Show and WRJ program for ARZA that preceded the talent show;

The amazing investment of time, talent and treasure by so many as they selflessly assist our congregation to grow and to serve and to become an ever more holy place, a sacred community.

Congregational Cantor’s Report Michelle Drucker Friedman

High Holy Day Choir : Our accompanist/conductor, Gregory Sabetta, did a wonderful job; despite challenges, each singer worked to create a cohesive sound. Our talented choir continues to be an integral part of High Holiday worship.

Student Torah Readers : Additionally, Rob Moss and Clara Ledsky, learned to lain the Torah portions in the mode for the High Holidays.

Ham-it Up Band : The 100% Kosher Ham-it-Up Band enlivens every Share-Shabbat.

Hebrew School : The Cantor continues to teach the Hey class. In addition to Hebrew, the class is working on a tzedakah project to benefit Amit.

Cantor’s Report , continued

B'nai Mitzvah is a strong program at Emanuel. This year Rabbis Zedek and Aaron joined the Cantor in a three-part seminar that demystified the process for parents of our up-and-coming bar/bat mitzvah students. In addition, Rabbi Aaron and Cantor Friedman will meet with parents and students in May.

Bar/Bat Mitzvah Grad Program : From its beginning three years ago, more than thirty-one students have read Torah again for the Congregation .

Adult Participants : Emanuel is lucky to be part of a Congregation committed to Jewish learning.

Shabbat-a-Tot : A new program initiated by Rabbi Donni Aaron allows small children to celebrate Shabbat with song, dance, and just plan running around. The majority of newcomers have chosen to affiliate with Emanuel.

Cantor’s Report , continued

Special thanks to those who have helped with services:

Music : Ted Yusen, Al Tractenberg, Susan Bruck, Suzy Fox, Seth Fitter, Daniel Sniderman, Ruth Seidner, Diane Weil, and Eric Eligator.

Readings : Jill Gardner, Deb Porter, Marcey Rosenbaum, Anne Krantz, Sandi Fernbach, Diane Weil, Ruth Seidner and Devorah Heyman Hannah Fitter, Lloyd Bachrach, Naomi Mine, and Natalie Mine.

Ritual Committee Report Debra Porter, Chair

This year we began using the new Reform prayer book, the Mishkan T’filah , which were contributed to the Congregation by

Elaine and Floyd Manilow.

The new siddur was introduced at Shabbat

morning services before being used at Friday

evenings.

Special thanks :

The Brotherhood for ushering for High Holy Days;

Daniel Banks, Sr. and our maintenance team for

doing so much to make logistics successful.

Committee : Devorah Heyman, Marcey Rosenbaum, Floyd Manilow, Jerry Yusen, Natalie Feldman, Sam Sagi, Barbara Andrews, Jill Gardner, David Fleischman, and Linda Projansky.

II. בית מדרש Beit Midrash▪ A House of Study

Religious School

Rabbi Donni C. Aaron

Adult Education

Diane Weil, Chair

Religious School Report Rabbi Donni C. Aaron

Religious School : Our Sunday program has 155 students this year. We are continuing to implement the URJ's CHAI curriculum. This has also included an evaluation component that Emanuel piloted last year along with only one other Temple in the country.

Confirmation Class : Rabbi Aaron co-taught the Confirmation class this year with Rabbi Zedek . The main project for the year with Rabbi Aaron has been to create a documentary on Rabbi Schaalman as a gift to Emanuel Congregation from the confirmation class. This will be debuted in the fall.

Director of Education Report , continued

Hebrew School : Our Hebrew program on Tuesday afternoons has 95 students this year. Rabbi Aaron created a new Hebrew School curriculum that will be implemented in the 2008-2009 school year. This will be a spiral-up program that will begin in kindergarten during Sunday school, and continue with our third through seventh grade students on Tuesday afternoons.

Shabbat-a-Tot : A new program created

and staffed by Rabbi Donni C. Aaron and

Cantor Shelly Friedman to reach out to

families with small children. The mission

is to celebrate Shabbat, create a loving

community, and function as an outreach

tool to unaffiliated families in the community.

Adult Education Diane Weil, Chair

Continuing Programs

Beginning Hebrew with Diane Weil

Advanced Torah Text Study with Rabbi Zedek

Torah Study with Rabbi Schaalman

Lunchtime ( Limud ) in the Loop with Rabbi Zedek

Jewish Current Events with Rabbi Schaalman

Special Events

The Book of Leviticus , seminars with Rabbi Herman E. Schaalman

Reuniting the Cinematic Jewish Family, seminar with Matt Simonette

Entering the Tent of Prayer , course taught by Diane Weil

Early Zionist Political and Cultural Thought , seminars with Matt Nesvet

Adult Education, continued

From The Personal To The Political , The Jewish American and Palestinian American Experience and the Quest For Peace, with Aliza Becker and Saffiya Shillo.

The Book of Leviticus and the Family , Shabbat guest speaker Rabbi Norman Cohen

Mecklenburger Scholar-In-Residence Weekend, Rabbi Gary Glickstein

Brookings Institute Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies , Stephen P. Cohen, Shabbat guest speaker

Sacred Seeds: Children of Abraham Reading Sacred Test Together , interfaith study at St. Gertrude’s Catholic Church

בית כנסת Beit Knesset▪ A Place of Community

Chesed

Social Action : : Social Justice

Men of Reform Judaism

Chesed Dr. Jill Gardner, Coordinator

Planted 47 trees in Israel through the Jewish National Fund in memory of congregants or their immediate family members who died and in celebration of babies born to Emanuel families.

Sent 62 cards of congratulations, condolence, or get well wishes for births, bar and bat mitzvahs, deaths, and illness.

"The tree planting in Israel is such a beautiful ges-ture. Please know how much I appreciate this kindness and generosity by Emanuel on behalf of my brother. You have truly helped make his memory a blessing." "One of the many joys in our celebration of our grandson’s birth is the gift from Emanuel Congregation – the certificate telling us that a tree has been planted in Israel in his honor. It symbolizes a profound connection to our people and an affir-mation of continuing life in Israel. We deeply appreciate this meaningful gift. Thank you."

Chesed, continued

Expanded the Religious School holiday greeting card program to include not only those in assisted living or other facilities, but all members over the age of 85. These handmade greetings from the youngest to the oldest members of our community were sent to 19 people for Hanukkah and 22 for Pesach. Thanks also to Rabbi Aaron and Cantor Friedman for their help.

The activities of the Chesed Project are supported entirely through voluntary contributions . In the past year, 10 donations to the Chesed fund were received, for a total of $320.

Special thanks :

Sande Rhode , Chesed Project secretary, for her tireless efforts in sending greeting cards and coordinating the Religious School holiday greetings to seniors program.

Social Action Committee Judy Glaser : : Stephen Melamed, Co-Chairs

Ongoing

Dominick's Food Pick-Up and Delivery : Chaired by Glaser and Maness families, food is picked up from the local grocery store and distributed to local social service agencies.

Inspiration Cafe : Chaired by Marty Cohen , volunteers cook and serve meals at the Uptown Café every third Thursday of the month.

Mitzvah Day : Over 70 people participated—thanks to Religious School parents for donations of food for 300 bag lunches, which were delivered to the R.E.S.T. Center on Lawrence Ave.

Maot Chitim : Delivered 86 boxes of complete seder food parcels to the elderly Jewish residents, mostly recent Russian immigrants, at a Lincoln Park high rise. Also planned for Rosh Hashanah deliveries this fall.

LifeSource : SAC organizes two blood drives during the year.

Social Action , continued

Gardening : Green thumb congregants worked around Emanuel cleaning up the vegetable garden and planting starting seeds for the coming growing season.

new this year

Reach Out and Read : Sunday school children and parent volunteers sorted and counted more of the recently donated books, now totalling 760 books and counting. We hope to reach our goal of 1000 books by the end of the current Sunday School academic year (Sunday, May 18th).

Canvas Bags : 14 environmentally friendly canvas bags were purchased at $5.00 each and painted/decorated to use in place of paper and/or plastic bags at the grocery store.

House and Grounds : Dedicated crews of Emanuelites were out spreading mulch in the front of the building, took care of the building’s gutter maintenance, cleaning out all gutters along the perimeter of the building.

Social Action , continued

The Green Team : One team of Emanuelites headed out to Thorndale Beach and Schaalman Park to pick up garbage and police the surrounding areas. Emanuel has adopted Thorndale Beach through the Alliance for the Great Lakes and are participating in their programs to survey the water quality on a regular basis.

Religious School Supply Closet : This closet was cleaned and organized. This is an ongoing job that always needs attention and assistance to maintain it.

Men of Reform Judaism David Fleischman : : Barry Glaser, Co-Presidents

In 2007-08, the MRJ sponsored 3 round-table discussions :

“ Reinvigorating the Partnership in Congregational Leadership”

“ When is it appropriate to do genetic testing? When is it not?”

“ Reform Judaism in Israel ”

The MRJ also provided a speaker from the national office, Douglas Barden, along with Dr. Sherry Blumberg, to discuss the unique needs of men and congregational life.

The Second Night Passover Seder is the event that is used to raise the funds for the OSRUI Scholarships.

MRJ , continued

Currently, the Brotherhood is in its third year of donating to the five-year Torah Project .

The Brotherhood funds the Youth Group’s Purim Carnival and helps with the cooking.

The Ham-It-Up Show was revived and helped to fund improvements to the sound system.

High Holiday ushering is organized and supervised by the Brotherhood.

Administration

Membership

Building and Grounds

Space-Sharing

Communications

Manna Committee

Deaths of our Members

בית כנסת Beit Knesset▪ A Place of Community

Administration

Thanks to our Office Staff :

Anna Cabey, Accounting Manager

David Silverman, Office Assistant

and to our office volunteers :

Myra Wagner

Debra Porter

Belle Mest

Barbara Gordon

Harvey Rabin

Shirley Swislow

Marlene and Luc Dodinval

Andrea Ginsburg

Les Jacobs

Devorah Heyman

Rosalie Bertocchi

Lila Yusen

Membership Jan Lisk, Chair

At the beginning of the year, there were 416 membership units : : including singles, couples, and families.

Of these, 45 were new members.

The number of children in religious school at the beginning of the year was 144 .

Building and Grounds Barry Glaser : : Carolyn Heyman, Co-Chairs

Despite the challenges of an aging building and mechanical systems, and a limited budget, the Committee and volunteers gave many hours to continuing maintenance and repairs .

In addition, the Committee was also instrumental in installing new windows for the first and second stories on the West side of the building, thanks to an anonymous donor. New windows have already saved at least 20-30% on heat .

Special thanks : Mark Warnaar, Brian Lisk, and our maintenance team: Dan Banks, Sr.; Dan Banks, Jr.; and Charles (Leonard) Williams. Committee: Werner Heimann, Phil Arendt, Brian Lisk, Les Jacobs

Space-Sharing Alice & Steve Marx, Co-Chairs

Most of Emanuel’s facilities available for space sharing are in use . Emanuel’s current space sharers, Or Chadash, Chicago Jewish Day School, Fusion, and Council for Jewish Elderly are continuing their relationship the temple.

Special thanks : Floyd Manilow, for his many efforts.

The Committee was involved in analysis, consulting, and providing advice for negotiations with our current space sharers and coordinating efforts toward receiving possible funding from governmental resources.

Communications Barbara Gordon, Chair; Judy Mass, Editor; Leah Jones, Web

Produces the Bulletin, email announcements, website, and is a resource for other print and promotional material.

Provides members, prospective members, and interested members of the community at large with accurate and interesting information about the Congregation in a timely manner.

Streamlines the dissemination of event and program information, saving staff and committees time and money, producing a consistent and and professional public image of Emanuel , and improving the effectiveness of congregation communications. Committees may ask for help from Communications to professionalize their materials.

Writers, graphic artists and proofreaders are invited to join us to plan and work on future projects.

Committee: Dorothy Ascher, Alice Fript, Larry Gordon, Gertrude Kasakoff, Shirley Swislow

Manna Noreen McGowan : : Jeanne Cole, Co-Chairs

During the past year, 29 congregants purchased cards at least once; however, only 7 congregants in addition to the Emanuel office buy Manna cards on a regular basis.

Special thanks : Tremendous thanks are owed to Jeanne Cole , who places orders, sorts cards, and keeps track of everything, as well as to Julia Smith for creating the Manna posters.

Emanuel Congregation 1880—2008 ▫ 5640-5768