MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

• Feb. 5: FVJS at Pushing the Envelope Farm
• Feb. 25: FVJN Volunteering at NIFB!
• Feb. 26: FVJS at FVJN
• Feb. 26: FVJN Film Club

FVJS at The Farm: Feb. 5, 9:30 to 11:30

All FVJS students will spend a fun morning at Pushing the Envelope Farm in anticipation of Tu B’shvat. Please drop off and pick up your children at the front entrance to Continental Envelope: 1700 Averill Rd, Geneva.

FVJN Film Club: Feb. 26, 4 to 6 p.m.

FVJN is starting a documentary film and discussion group and we’d love to have your vote on films you’d like to see. Please click http://www.fvjn.org/fvjn-film-club/ for film suggestions and additional information.

FVJN SHABBAT FAMILY SERVICE & Potluck! March 9, 6:30 p.m.

Please join us for a family service especially for our FVJS students!

The evening will begin with a vegetarian potluck. Please bring non-meat dishes, only. Please let Rachel know what you will bring: mry98@aol.com.

• If your last name begins with:
• A – G: Salads or side dishes
• H – N: Main dishes
• O – T: Desserts
• U – Z: Beverages

Service will continue throughout the year. Please see calendar at www.fvjn.org. Our services are always interfaith-friendly.

Our Volunteers Rock!

FVJN is very fortunate to have a number of volunteers who consistently give so much of their time and energy to our religious school, Fox Valley Jewish School (FVJS).

• On the FVJS Committee:
• Barb Anderson
• Mim Evans
• Julie Coller
• Fred Margulies (who also volunteers as the B’nai Mitzvah/Hebrew teacher)

FVJN Volunteers at the Food Bank: Feb. 25, 9 – 11 a.m.

On Saturday, February 25, from 9 to 11 a.m., some FVJN families and individuals will have the opportunity to work a Youth Volunteer session at NIFB (Northern Illinois Food Bank).

If you wish to participate please let Rachel know, ASAP (mry98@aol.com). For this session, volunteers can be as young as 8 years of age. If you’ve done this with us before, you know how fun it is, and it’s a terrific way to help our greater community!

FVJN Lazarus House Volunteer Project

Bethany Kural has arranged with Lazarus House, a homeless shelter in St. Charles, for FVJN to provide dinner once a month. Please consider helping with this FVJN Volunteer Project!

What this entails is the following:

1. Go to Lazarus house some time the week before the 1st Wed of the month and “shop between 9am and 9pm” for donated items. Supplement from your own home as needed OR shop on your own at your own expense.

2. Prepare a dinner meal of your choice that will feed 85 guests.

3.  Deliver the prepared meal to Lazarus House on the Wednesday you signed up for.  The preferred time for drop off is between 6-6:45 p.m., but if needed can be dropped earlier and kept warm in their ovens.  Please specify to staff that your food is for the dinner meal.

• Tips:
• *Cook with others!
• *Large casseroles as well as stews in large pots are good.
• *Do the cooking a bit at a time and/or ahead of time
• *Buy big casseroles (e.g. from Costco)

We still need volunteers to cover April 4 and May 2! Please respond to Bethany asap! bkural73@hotmail.com or 630-208-6301

Please Continue to Support FVJN

Thank you to all of you who donated to the annual FVJN Fundraiser! Your generosity will help fund programs, education, operating costs, and more, throughout the year.

FVJN gratefully accepts donations throughout the year. You can easily donate right on our website: www.fvjn.org, or by sending a check to: FVJN, PO Box 8, Geneva, 60134.

Jewish FAQ: Tu B’shvat!

(adapted from: www.chabad.org)

Tu B’Shevat, the 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar — celebrated this year on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 — is the day that marks the beginning of a “New Year for Trees.” This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.

We mark the day of Tu B’Shevat by eating fruit, particularly from the kinds that are singled out by the Torah in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. On this day we remember that “man is a tree of the field” (Deuteronomy 20:19) and reflect on the lessons we can derive from our botanical analogue. The master kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria, would eat fifteen types of fruit on this day!

Why do trees celebrate their New Year so much later than we do? It has to do with the rainy season in Israel, which begins with the festival of Sukkot. It takes four months for the rains to saturate the soil, nurture the trees and coax them into producing fruit.

Here are some traditional Tu B’shvat practices:

Eat some fruit on this day. Best if you can get some of those fruits for which Israel is famous: olives, dates, grapes, figs and pomegranates.

The blessing on fruit:

Baruch Atah A-donay, Elo-heinu Melech ha’Olam borei pri ha-etz.

[Blessed are You, our G‑d, ruler of the universe, who creates the fruit of the tree.]

If tasting a fruit for the first time in its season, recite the Shehecheyanu blessing before saying the fruit blessing:

Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-he-nu Me-lech ha-olam she-heche-ya-nu ve-ki-yi-ma-nu ve-higi-a-nu liz-man ha-zeh.

[Blessed are You, our G‑d, ruler of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.]

 ELSEWHERE

Pledging for Friends

FVJN participant Kimberly Fivelson is walking in the Avon 2-Day Breast Cancer walk in June and could use your support. Please take this opportunity to honor the women you love by donating to the cause. Every donation really helps, big or small. Donations can be made online at www.avonwalk.org (click on “Join Us” à “Find a Walker/Team” and then type in her name) or email her at kimberlyfivelson@gmail.com with any questions.

******************

Tu B’shvat Seder: Discover the Plant World Through Spices: Feb. 8, 6 – 9 p.m.

Head over to Pushing the Envelope Farm to learn about Tu B’shvat through exploring spices. This event includes a potluck, so bring fruit or a vegetarian dish to share.

For more information about this and other programs please visit http://www.pushingtheenvelopefarm.org/calendar.

Cost: $5 if you sign up at least a week in advance, $15 at the door. Please RSVP to GenevaFarm@gmail.com

Pushing the Envelope Farm is located at: 1700 Averill Road, in Geneva.

******************

 Where Do You Give? 

www.wheredoyougive.org

American Jewish World Service is delighted to announce the arrival of Where Do You Give? a project designed to reimagine the future of tzedakah. Our national design competition officially opens today!

Enter this design competition at www.wheredoyougive.org/about and reimagine the traditional tzedakah box. You could win $2500 and a chance to travel with AJWS! The deadline to submit is March 1, 2012.

 ******************

A Special Offering from www.InterfaithFamily.com

Love and Religion — Online is a four-session workshop for interfaith couples who are seriously dating or newly married, on exploring the issue of religion in their relationships. This workshop offers a safe environment for couples to work on creating religious lives together. The sessions will be each Wednesday for four weeks, starting February 1 in person, and then online February 8, 15 and 22. Each session runs 7:00-9:00pm and includes online resources, including facilitation via videoconferencing. The cost is $36 per couple.

Interested couples can learn more, and watch a short video, about the workshop and then find more details and register here.

Raising a Child with Judaism in Your Interfaith Family is a one-of-a-kind, eight-session class for interfaith parents thinking about whether and how to bring Judaism to their home, their lives and their parenting. This class runs February 27 through April 27. Participants will learn one session each week online, with two additional in-person meetings for the whole family: a Shabbat experience on March 23 and a wrap-up session on April 22.

Each of the eight sessions addresses a major parenting situation, looking at how Jewish teachings and traditions offer insights into making these times meaningful and spiritual. We will explore bedtime and meal-times, marking time with meaning on a weekly and yearly basis, doing good deeds, loving learning, spirituality and personal journeys. Class materials include: background essays and slide shows on Jewish teachings; “hear/read” resources to help participants learn how to say blessings; videos; family projects; bedtime book suggestions; personal stories written by other interfaith families; journaling questions and discussion prompts for talk between partners and with other parents; and more!

Interested parents can get more details and register for the class here.

******************

Registration for Taglit-Birthrght Israel Chicago Community trips run by Shorashim Opens February 15!

Are your congregants ages 18-26?  Are they ready for an Israel experience?  Please share this exciting Birthright opportunity with them.

Travel to Israel with Israelis on a Chicago community trip through Shorashim, a partner of JUF. Registration for Taglit-Birthright Israel opens on Wednesday, February 15 at 10 am EST. Priority registration for returning applicants opens Tuesday, February 14 at Noon EST.

Check out http://www.israelwithisraelis.com/ for more information.

• MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
• Jan. 13: Shabbat Family Service
• Jan 22: FVJSchool
• Feb. 25: FVJN Volunteering at NIFB!

FVJN SHABBAT FAMILY SERVICE  Jan. 13, 7 p.m. at FVJN Shabbat evening with Rabbi Fred Margulies. Please join us and bring a treat for the oneg, if able. Service will continue throughout the year. Please see calendar at www.fvjn.org. Our services are always interfaith-friendly.

FVJN Film Club Feb.19, 4 to 6 p.m. FVJN is starting a documentary film and discussion group and we’d love to have your vote on films you’d like to see. Please click http://www.fvjn.org/fvjn-film-club/ for film suggestions and additional information.

Our Volunteers Rock! The FVJN annual Chanukah Party, held Dec. 18, was a huge success (and a lot of fun!) thanks to the time and effort donated by a wonderful group of volunteers:

• Erin DiSilvestro
• Bethany Kural  Kari Brandstedt
• Julie Coller
• Carrie Hubbard
• Jen Rothenberg
• Tina Gilman Tammy Weiss
• Marci Leibowitz
• Susan & Dennis Rizzo
• The Brottman family
• Kimberly Fivelson
• Julie Salomon
• Dani Moravec
• Tammie Weinberger

Have you seen our space, lately? Our stairwell is sporting a bright coat of paint, and each tread of the stairs is now graced with a carpeted stair tread. A huge thank you to Mike Yackley for all his hard work, and a very special shout-out to Greg Cibura for all his hours of help!

A Special Note The Yackley family would very much like to thank the FVJN Caring Committee and the FVJN Board for their TLC after the recent sudden passing of Rachel’s mother. We are so fortunate to be a part of this local Jewish community!

FVJN’s Annual Fundraising Campaign Thank you to all of you who donated to the annual FVJN Fundraiser! Your generosity will help fund programs, education, operating costs, and more, throughout the year. FVJN gratefully accepts donations throughout the year. You can easily donate right on our website: www.fvjn.org, or by sending a check to: FVJN, PO Box 8, Geneva, 60134.

FVJN Donates, Too! Each year, FVJN/FVJS donates a portion of what we receive to local organizations serving our community. Recently, we donated to NIFB (Northern Illinois Food Bank) and to TriCity Family Services. These two organizations were chosen by our FVJS students!

************

**VOLUNTEER WITH US!**

FVJN Volunteers at the Food Bank Feb. 25, 9 – 11 a.m.

On Saturday, February 25, from 9 to 11 a.m., some FVJN families and individuals will have the opportunity to work a Youth Volunteer session at NIFB (Northern Illinois Food Bank). There are only 20 spaces available for us, so if you wish to participate (and there is still plenty of room), please let Rachel know, ASAP (mry98@aol.com). For this session, volunteers can be as young as 8 years of age. If you’ve done this with us before, you know how fun it is, and it’s a terrific way to help our greater community!

FVJN Lazarus House Volunteer Project FVJN participant and volunteer Bethany Kural has arranged with Lazarus House, a homeless shelter in St. Charles, for FVJN to provide dinner once a month. Please consider helping with this FVJN Volunteer Project!

What this entails is the following: 1. Go to Lazarus house some time the week before the 1st Wed of the month and “shop between 9am and 9pm” for items that have been donated and then supplement from your own home as needed OR shop on your own at your own expense. 2. Prepare a dinner meal that will feed 85 guests at your home at your convenience.  Donna at Lazarus Hoouse explained they are so grateful for the preparation of the meals and you have complete freedom in your choice of meals. 3. Drop the prepared meal off at Lazarus House on the Wednesday you signed up for.  The preferred time for drop off is between 6-6:45 p.m., but if needed can be dropped earlier and kept warm in their ovens.  Please specify to staff that your food is for the dinner meal.

Tips:   Lazarus House provides the food.                                                                                         Cook with others! Partner up and make it a girls night or family activity.                       Large casseroles as well as stews in large pots are good.                                                           Do the cooking a bit at a time and/or ahead of time                                                                 Buy big casseroles (e.g. from Costco)

We still need to cover April 1 and May 2! When choosing the best month for your family, please respond to Bethany asap, to avoid duplication. Thank you so much!

• Bethany Kural
• bkural73@hotmail.com
• 630-208-6301

************

ELSEWHERE

Natural Brewing 101 at Pushing the Envelope Farm January 15, 2 – 4:30 p.m.      Spice up the winter with a home-brew! This workshop covers the basics of brewing natural drinks and the science behind fermentation. Learn to fight winter chills with ginger beer and hard cider, brew aphrodisiac mead, or boost your energy with kombucha. Participants over 18 are welcome, and those over the 21 will have a chance to try each drink. This program is part of the Etz HaSadeh workshop series for young adults.            For more information about this and other programs please visit http://www.pushingtheenvelopefarm.org/calendar.                                                                  Cost: $5 if you sign up at least a week in advance, $15 at the door. Please RSVP to GenevaFarm@gmail.com Location: Pushing the Envelope Farm, a Jewish community and educational farm. The address is 1700 Averill Road, Geneva, IL 60134.

Two Special Offerings from www.InterfaithFamily.com                                      Love and Religion — Online is a four-session workshop for interfaith couples who are seriously dating or newly married, on exploring the issue of religion in their relationships. This workshop offers a safe environment for couples to work on creating religious lives together. The sessions will be each Wednesday for four weeks, starting February 1 in person, and then online February 8, 15 and 22. Each session runs 7:00-9:00pm and includes online resources, including facilitation via videoconferencing. The cost is $36 per couple.   Interested couples can learn more, and watch a short video, about the workshop and then find more details and register here.

Raising a Child with Judaism in Your Interfaith Family is a one-of-a-kind, eight-session class for interfaith parents thinking about whether and how to bring Judaism to their home, their lives and their parenting. This class runs February 27 through April 27. Participants will learn one session each week online, with two additional in-person meetings for the whole family: a Shabbat experience on March 23 and a wrap-up session on April 22. Each of the eight sessions addresses a major parenting situation, looking at how Jewish teachings and traditions offer insights into making these times meaningful and spiritual. We will explore bedtime and meal-times, marking time with meaning on a weekly and yearly basis, doing good deeds, loving learning, spirituality and personal journeys. Class materials include: background essays and slide shows on Jewish teachings; “hear/read” resources to help participants learn how to say blessings; videos; family projects; bedtime book suggestions; personal stories written by other interfaith families; journaling questions and discussion prompts for talk between partners and with other parents; and more! Interested parents can get more details and register for the class here.

Everyone’s invited to this Chanukah Party!

Grab your menorahs, bundle up the kids and come to the annual FVJN Chanukah Party, for friends, food, activities for kids, music and more!

A dairy/vegetarian potluck meal is part of our annual FVJN Chanukah Party! Please see the list below, and bring a dish to share.

Email Erin at erind2323@aol.com with what food you’ll be bringing. Please be sure to put “FVJN Chanukah Party” as the subject of your email response.

• Latkes
• Salads (green, tuna salad, tomato salad….)
• Matzo ball soup (but we then need to remember bowls/spoons)
• Bagels (cut into quarters since little kids often eat less than 1/2)/cream cheese
• Hummus and veggies
• Cheese/crackers
• Desserts

FVJN will provide sour cream and applesauce, as well as beverages and paper products (if you would like to donate any of these things, let us know!)

Party details:

FVJN Chanukah Party

Sunday, Dec. 18, 12:30 to 3 p.m.

Stephen D. Persinger Recreation Center,  3507 Kaneville Road, Geneva (NW corner of Peck and Kaneville roads).

Questions? Comments? Email info@fvjn.org.

This event is interfaith-friendly and there is no cost to attend.

FVJN now offers a new documentary film and discussion group and we’d love to have your vote on films you’d like to see. Films will be viewed every other month on Sunday afternoons at FVJN.

Please check/select the 5 films that most interest you.  If you would like additional information on these films, visit:  http://www.religionandprofessions.org/other-resources/films/free-film-library/.  If you are interested in a good website for other great social action films, check out www.ironweedfilms.com.  We also have access to some of these films, so if there are other films you would like the Film Club to consider, please send a note to nancyc@fvjn.org.

Defamation –  A provocative look at “What is anti-Semitism today?”  Does it remain a dangerous and immediate threat or is it scare tactic used by right-wing Zionists to discredit their critics?

Flight from Death:  The Quest for Immortality –   A look at humankind’s relationship with death.  The film uncovers death anxiety as a possible root cause of many of our psychological, cultural and spiritual behaviors

God in Government - This film explores the complex relationship between religion and politics in the contemporary world.  It asks what are the consequences when they mix and what is the appropriate relationship between “church” and “state” in a modern society.

Hiding and Seeking - This film tells the dramatic and emotional story of a Jewish father who journeys with his two ultra-Orthodox sons back to Poland to try to find the Christian farmers who hid their family from the Nazis.  He hopes that if he can find examples of decency among the Poles, his sons will recognize the potential for goodness in all people.

Jesus Camp - The film follows 3 children to a camp in North Dakota where they are taught to become dedicated Christian soldiers in “God’s army” and are schooled in how to “take back America for Christ.”

A Life Apart - In New York City, the Hasidim are a common sight, but their way of life remains a mystery to those outside their community. We are taken into the depths of the Hasidim’s joyous, sometimes harsh, and often beautiful world.

Out of Faith - This film follows three generations of a family being torn apart by conflicts over interfaith marriage.  The grandparents, who survived three years in Auschwitz, feel in their minds, their grandchildren marrying non-Jews represents a posthumous victory for Hitler.

Sister Rose’s Passion - An unlikely activist and powerhouse who made the battle against anti-Semitism her life’s work.  A chronicle of Sister Rose Thering’s life who had courage, toughness and passion to resist the status quo and push for what she believed was right.

The Fire of Yoga:  A Documentary Film -  Spotlights the stories of three everyday people using yoga to help inner-city teens change their lives, another uses yoga to help while battling cancer and a third is an 81 year old yoga instructor and former alcoholic and absentee father.  The film is an inspiring testament to yoga’s transformative, regenerative and transfiguring power.

Budrus  – A documentary film about a Palestinian community organizer who unites local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save his village of Budrus from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter jumps into the fray.

FVJN is maintaining a yahrzeit list, and adding all dates on the FVJN calendar. If you have a name to add to our list, please send the name you wish to add, your name and relationship, the yahrzeit observance date, and your contact information to: info@fvjn.org.

If you wish to make a donation to FVJN in memory of someone from your life, you can print out and send the form below, or click on the “donate” button on this site.

A network of Fox Valley faith communities invites you to a community-wide celebration of the International Day of Peace (Peace Day) on Saturday, September 17, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The first “Peace Day” was celebrated in September 1982, after being established by a United Nations resolution to coincide with the opening of the General Assembly. The International Day of Peace provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of peace on a shared date.

The local celebration of the International Day of Peace will kick-off with a gathering at 10 a.m. for the dedication of the recently installed Peace Pole at Fox Valley Jewish Neighbors (FVJN), located at 121 S. Third St., in Geneva (just across from the old Kane County courthouse, at the yellow awning).

This Peace Pole is part of the international Peace Pole Project. It bears a phrase “May peace prevail on earth” in Hebrew, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Algonquin (Native American language indigenous to the area), and Swedish, along with “May peace be in our homes and Communities” in English.

Activities will continue a block east at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva (UUSG), located at 110 S. 2nd St., in Geneva.

At 10:30 a.m., come attend an enlightening, interactive program titled, “Have you heard the one about: How to respond to hate language,” presented by nonviolent communications trainer, Thom Thomas.

Ask questions of religious leaders in a panel on Building Bridges, from 11:45 to 12:45, with representatives from the Islam, Unitarian, Jewish and Christian faiths. A panel discussion with young adults will follow at 1 p.m.

Children of all ages will be treated to puppet shows about diversity, craft projects, along with the opportunity to meet and greet children from other religions and ethnicities, from 1 to 2 p.m.

Additionally, the UUSG sanctuary will be open throughout the Day of Peace event for meditation and reflection.

Preceding Saturday’s event will be a free public screening of “Divided We Fall,” at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16, at the UUSG. This prize winning documentary features stories of Sikhs, Muslims and Arabs in America, and interviews with scholars, lawyers and legislators about race, religion and security in post-9/11 America.

This local celebration of the International Day of Peace is a secular event, open to everyone of all ages and faiths.

Saturday, Aug. 27, 6:30 – 8 p.m.

Wheeler Park, Rt. 31/Geneva Rd. and North St., in Geneva

Please join us at Wheeler park for a picnic dinner and short Havdallah service (led by Rachel w/guitar), at sunset. This is a family and interfaith friendly event. We will gather under the shelter to the west of the playground, next to Stone Creek Miniature Golf.

RSVP to: tammiew@fvjn.org and let her know what you will bring from the following list:

Hot dogs, burgers, veggie burgers, buns

Lettuce, tomatoes, onions

Ketchup, mustard, relish

Chips

Veggie tray

Side dishes to pass: pasta, fruit salad, etc. (including serving utensils, please)

Beverages: water, juice

Desserts

Wet wipes, paper towels

**FVJN will get the grill going and provide grilling utensils, plates, napkins, and cutlery.

***Be sure to bring your own flashlights and bug spray!