What do Jews do on their summer vacation?

Dear Friends,

What do Jews do on their summer vacation? Why, talk about what they are going to do on their winter vacation, of course! (This is the corollary to, "What do Jews talk about at lunch? 'Where do you want to go for dinner?' Of course!") You know that if you are with family or friends on vacation right now, or about to go on vacation, the topic is going to come up if it hasn't already. So, NU, what ARE you going to do for winter vacation? Well, here's a thought: Why not join your fellow congregants and their family members on a trip to Israel? If you haven't heard, 55 people have already registered for our congregational Israel trip, which will take place from December 20, 2012 through January 1, 2013. This is a very nice sized, intergenerational group. But, I'm greedy. I want more of you to join us! I want you to join us because I know how much fun we are going to have and how meaningful it will be to you, your family, your Jewish identity and to your relationship with us at Temple Sinai. It's lovely to go on vacation to other places but there is nothing like being in Israel. It is, after all, our second home.

To make sure that you have some time to make a decision and register we have extended the deadline for registration one last time, to September 15th . But, don't procrastinate. Sign up now! Below you will find the registration form and other information about the trip - just click on the links. If you have any questions, for example, about your child or grandchild becoming bar/bat mitzvah with us on this trip, please email me at rabbimillstein@templesinaibc.org.

On a related note I am pleased to be able to announce that Temple Sinai is one of several Bergen County synagogues which, together with the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, will be participating in the new "iEngage - Engaging Israel" education program of the esteemed Shalom Hartman Institute this coming fall. As part of this exciting, new venture we will be bringing major scholars from the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem to our community. The core of the program will be a series of weekly sessions on different topics impacting our relationship with Israel as American Jews, aimed at creating a new vision for that relationship. These sessions will be taught at each of the synagogues by their rabbis and other staff using brand new video and other materials from the Hartman Institute. More information will be made available shortly on how to register. In order to decide when these sessions will be held at Temple Sinai, our adult education committee would like me to ask you whether you would be more likely to participate if the sessions were held on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. or Mondays at 8:00 p.m. Each session will be an hour and a half. Please email me at rabbimillstein@templesinaibc.org to let me know. Your feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Shabbat Shalom,
Jordan

Israel Trip Registration Form
Israel Trip Itinerary
Israel Trip Budget and Flight Information
Eilat and Petra Extension Information