בס״ד
Rabbi Eichenholtz’s Message:
Lag B’Omer is a turning point. Whether a moment or a transition, we suspend the
traditional solemness and mourning practices of the Omer period for a day of
celebration. Marked with weddings and haircuts, we take a collective sigh of relief. The
plague on Rabbi Akiva’s students is said to have lifted on Lag B’Omer and we can
certainly understand those feelings of sadness, fear, relief and jubilation all together. And
yet, Lag B’Omer isn’t the end of the Omer period and the next day the mourning rites
remain but in some communities others are lifted. It is a time of progression for the next
sixteen days as we prepare for Shavuot.
Shavuot when we will stand once again at Sinai, to receive the Torah with a mix of fear,
relief and jubilation. We, as the first generation of the Exodus and wilderness, commit to
this covenant with God. We stay up late into the night studying Torah, adorning our world
and ourselves with jewels of wisdom; we are awake and alive with anticipation. And
then….and then we join together the next morning for services as we read the Torah and
we stand as we did at Sinai, at the base of the mountain.
Shavuot is all about new beginnings, not only as a people, a new covenant with God, but
it is also the holiday of the first fruits, when we celebrate the abundance of the land and
the first of the harvests. Most of us aren’t bringing first fruits and offerings of vegetables
and grains to synagogue on Shavuot (our gardens are barely budding and no longer
frozen), but some of us are beginning to celebrate first visits, and hugs, vaccinations and
in-person activities.
And so this year, as we finish the counting of the omer, and buy and cook the diary,
noodle kugels, blintzes and cheesecake, we also look forward to the new
beginnings. What will we commit and recommit ourselves to. What covenants with God
and what covenants with others?
May the end of the Omer and Shavuot be a time of healing and rejoicing in our time as it
was in the time of Rabbi Akiva.
–Rabbi Eichenholtz
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Shabbat
Candle LightingTimes
Friday, May 7 – 7:33pm
Friday, May 14 – 7:40pm
Friday, May 21 – 7:47pm
Friday, May 28 – 7:53pm
Service Times:
Thursday Morning Minyan: We will be holding morning minyan at 7:15am or 8:30am on alternating weeks (see below)
Friday Kabbalat Shabbat 6:30pm
Saturday Shabbat Service 9:30am
**Services online or over phone**
Thursday Morning Minyan Schedule:
May 6 — 8:30am
May 13 — 7:15am
May 20 — 8:30am
May 28 — 7:15am
In-Person Services:
CAA is offering in-person Saturday Shabbat services for our members.
If you would like to attend in-person, please fill out our online registration
form by Thursday each week. Masks and pregistration are required to
attend, regardless of vaccination status. More information about our in-person
policies available from SJ in the office. Thank you for helping keep us all safe!
If you do not have access to the internet to fill out the form, you may call SJ in the office at (978) 534-6121
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If you need to make an appointment to speak to Rabbi Eichenholtz, please contact the office via phone or email to make an appointment. While the offices are closed to face-to-face meetings, Rabbi Eichenholtz is still available for consults over the phone.
978-534-6121
office@agudat-achim.org
MAY’S MITZVAH HERO
Roberta Gordenstein
From the Ma’asim Tovim Jar:
This month our Ma’asim Tovim submission recognizes Roberta Gordenstein for her dedication in
spotlighting individual members of our community. Every month in her Congregant’s Corner article, she shares the story of one of our members, helping us to know each other better! Thank you.
We need your submissions to the Ma’asim Tovim jar!
Did you notice someone doing something awesome? Is there a community member who deserves
recognition for being great?
You may send in submissions anonymously on the postcards included in your High Holiday boxes or by using the “message us” link on our website.
Or you can just email or call SJ in the office! Thanks!
Committee Meetings:
Board Meeting: Mon, May 10, 7:30pm
Office Closed:
Monday, May 17
Tuesday, May 18
Monday, May 31
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Community News
Health Insurance Open Enrollment is
extended until May 23, 2021
Visit https://www.mahealthconnector.org/ t
o sign up in Massachusetts
(www.healthcare.gov for other states)
You may want to check this link even if
you have insurance, as the pricing and
plans offered have changed this month,
and there may be new options available.
Don’t forget!
Tax Day was extended to May 15, which is coming up soon!
Reminder: If you feel unsafe at home, help is available.
Journey to Safety is 1-781-647-JFCS (5327) –a program of Jewish Family and Children
Services – Boston.
National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233 –also available by text and internet
chat on their website.
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Mia Clements Bat Mitzvah
Saturday, May 8th at 9:30am
Alana and Nathaniel Clements are happy to invite the congregation to join their
family at services on May 8, when their daughter, Mia Clements, will be called to
the bimah as a Bat Mitzvah.
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Torah Study and Cooking over Zoom
continues on Fridays in May!
Pirkei Avot 3:17 says
” Where there is no bread, there is no Torah; where there is no Torah,
there is no bread. “
Join Rabbis Eve Eichenholtz and Rabbi Aviva Fellman for Torah and
Cooking on Fridays.
Login to Congregation Beth Israel’s Zoom for Rabbi Fellman’s Parsha Study at 10:00am,
then log into CAA’s new community meeting room immediately following (around 11:00am)
to continue with Congregation Agudat Achim as Rabbi Eichenholtz shares how to cook some of
her favorite recipes!
You will need to log out of the Torah Study meeting and then log into the Cooking meeting if
you plan to attend both. Cooking will begin at approximately 11am, immediately after the Torah
Study concludes.
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SHAVUOT
Sunday, May 16
Congregation Agudat Achim is excited to partner with Beth Israel on our “Triangle TIkkan” Shavuot program!
We will be sharing teaching sessions and more over Zoom throughout the evening on Sunday, May 16.
Watch for an email with the finalized times and topics as we approach Shavuot.
Rabbinical Assembly is holding a livestreamed Tikkun Leil Shavuot again this year
May 16, 12:00pm – May 17, 12:00pm
You may sign up here:
https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/story/optional-registration-tikkun-leil-shavuot-
5781
Or watch the stream on the Rabbinical Assembly’s YouTube page, here
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCULd63LkZvzwsa9O37IBSsg
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Congregant’s Corner
Welcome to our Congregant’s Corner feature! The purpose of these brief sketches is to
highlight members of our Agudat Achim community so that we may all get to know each other a
little better. If you’d like to suggest someone else to spotlight, please contact me at 603 899-
2221 or gordensteinr@elms.edu. I appreciate your feedback. –Roberta Gordenstein
Dave Fashing grew up in Brooklyn in a rough neighborhood with many gangs. His
parents sent him to a Hebrew day school and later to the Crown Heights Yeshiva for high
school. It was there he got a solid education in Hebrew and Judaism which is very evident
when you listen to him daven in shul. While he was in high school, he met Izzy Zwerling who
became his mentor and coached him in boxing and taught him many important values which
have influenced him until now. Dave loves boxing and he even participates in a couple of
matches every year.
Dave came to the Leominster area in 1988 when he got a job at the Fernald State
School, at the time, the oldest residential facility for mentally challenged adults in the US. He
worked directly with residents and really enjoyed it. He started a theater group and produced a
number of movies with the staff and residents. He also organized sporting events, day trips and
all kinds of recreational activities. He was also a representative of the union, advocating for
workers’ benefits. Dave retired after 25 years when the state closed the facility.
He originally belonged to the Fitchburg synagogue and came to Agudat Achim when
that closed. He has been active at our shul, organizing a fund-raiser with a baseball theme
after the shooting at the Pittsburgh synagogue. He’s also organized soccer and Australian
football events, and a chess tournament, which he won!
Dave has many interests. He often works out at a gym and loves to be outdoors,
hiking, camping or just enjoying wildlife. He plays chess often with friends at the local Barnes &
Noble, as well as rugby and cricket. He reads widely, on spiritual topics and philosophy, as well
as detective novels set in Brooklyn or in Las Vegas, dealing with organized crime. He
volunteers at local assisted living facilities, teaching chess or staging Shakespeare plays with
residents. He also advocates for better public transportation for the homeless. As you can see,
he is a very busy and involved person!
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Yahrzeits for May 2021
May 1 – 8
David Charney, Nina Cohen, Saul Krevoruck, Jacob Margolin, Arnold Sharpe, Steven Williams,
Jacob Chatkis, Fannie Fay Rubin, Maurice Tonkin, Philip Salney, Morris Katz, Sara Schwartz,
Leon Sojcher, William Stone, Esther Orlov Student, Ida Wein, Pauline Bloom, Arthur Brodkin,
Harry Horwitch, Sarah Smith, Joseph Finkelstein, Alexander Jones, Thomas Eliot Kline, Cyril
Farb, Harry Leo Lipkind, David Lawrence Zomlefer, Beatrice Glickman, Regina Jerus, Herbert
Kahn, Lena Weinstein
May 9 – 15
Ruth Boverick, Hyman Cohen, John Coleman, Anna Gelfand, Dora Kopelman, Philip
Rubinstein, Annie Silverstein, Rebecca Candelmo, Alberta Feldman, Marie Flaherty, David
Press, Helen Kline, Elaine Gardner, William Cerier, Milton Resnick, Samuel Slome, Hyman
Weiskott
May 16 – 22
Ruth Schwartz, Joseph Silberberg, Sydney Levine, Abraham Scharmett, Randi Weizer,
Bernard Framowitz, Pepi Framowitz, Samuel Gelfand, Irwin F. Levine, Minnie Paretsky,
Abraham Ashkenas, Morris Nissenbaum, A.I. Rome, Isaac Rosenberg, Richard Schack, Laurel
Slotow, Leon Rome, Lester Rome, Ida Winthrop, Gertrude Schwartz
May 23 – 31
Irvin Chaplin, Ralph Epstein, Melvin Kahn, Ben Katz, Jacob Parnes, Jaqueline Rubin, Maxwell
Treewater, Lisa Buzanoski, Rose Ensler, Naomi Hirschfield, Benjamin Willner, Ruth Borofsky,
Rebecca Frankel, Harriet Spitaleri, Miriam Bernstein, Louis Forgelman, Samuel Grand,
Blanche Shapiro, Sadie Britton, George F. Joseph, Etta Rosen, Joshua David Kalin, Merrill
Garber, Lillian Kay
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CALENDAR FOR MAY 2021
Saturday, May 1: Shabbat Services Zoom and in-person 9:30am (RSVP for in-person!)
Thursday, May 6: Morning Minyan via Zoom 8:30am
Friday, May 7: Zoom Parsha Study 10:00am
Zoom Cooking Class following Parsha Study
Kabbalat Shabbat via Zoom 6:30pm
>>Saturday, May 8: Mia Clements Bat Mitzvah & Shabbat Services Zoom & in-person 9:30am
(RSVP for in-person!)
>>Monday, May 10: Board meeting 7:30pm
Thursday, May 13: Morning Minyan via Zoom 7:15am (early time this week)
Friday, May 14: Zoom Parsha Study 10:00am
Zoom Cooking Class following Parsha Study
Kabbalat Shabbat via Zoom 6:30pm
Saturday, May 15: Shabbat Services Zoom and in-person 9:30am (RSVP for in-person!)
>>Sunday, May 16: Tikkun Leil Shavuot over Zoom 7:00pm
>>Monday, May 17: Shavuot Services 9:30am
Office Closed
>>Tuesday, May 18: Office Closed
Thursday, May 20: Morning Minyan via Zoom 8:30am
Friday, May 21: Kabbalat Shabbat via Zoom 6:30pm
Saturday, May 22: Shabbat Services Zoom and in-person 9:30am (RSVP for in-person!)
Thursday, May 27: Morning Minyan via Zoom 7:15am (early time this week)
Friday, May 28: Zoom Parsha Study 10:00am
Zoom Cooking Class following Parsha Study
Kabbalat Shabbat via Zoom 6:30pm
Saturday, May 29: Shabbat Services Zoom and in-person 9:30am (RSVP for in-person!)
>>Monday, May 31: Office Closed
**Services will remain available via phone and online. We will let you know when more services
become available in person. Thank you for your patience and adaptability!