***Extra, Extra!***

FVJS Needs Teachers for 2012-2013!

Teach at FVJN’s innovative religious school!

Openings for 2012/13 school year:

Hebrew teacher

Preschool-2nd grade teacher

You don’t have to be a certified teacher, but some knowledge of Judaism is helpful.

Competitive pay, twice a month program, Geneva location.

Contact Barbara Anderson: barb.anderson58@att.net.

Volunteers Needed to Help Make Geneva Beautiful!

May 19, 8 a.m.

FVJN מתנדבים (and friends!) are needed to help with planting on Saturday, May 19, starting at 8 a.m.

The garden we are responsible for is on the southwest corner of State St. (Rt. 38) and Third St., in Geneva.

You can just show up or contact our volunteer garden coordinator, Marci: marci@worddesigner.net.

If able, bring gardening gloves, shovel, trowel, clippers, etc.

Planning for this year’s FVJN booth at Swedish Days (June 19 – 24) has begun!

This is one of our biggest fundraisers, and you can help out and have a lot of fun at the same time! Contact Mike at: Mikey@fvjn.org to volunteer at our booth!

Our FVJN Swedish Days committee members are:

Mike Yackley, chairperson

Dan Simon

Kimberly Fivelson

Dave Larson

Born in 1860, Henrietta entered the world on the eve of the Civil War. Eighty-five years later, in February of 1945, in the waning days of World War II, she died.

Henrietta Szold was born a fighter. She dedicated her life to fighting ignorance, injustice, anti-Semitism, and disease. She never stopped fighting the fears and hatreds that divide people and nations. She fought with all her strength to build a better world.

Well educated, Henrietta’s confidence, ability, and drive landed her a position as the first female editor of the Jewish Publication Society—then the premiere publisher of Jewish liturgical and secular texts.

Henrietta enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the training ground for the conservative rabbinate. Although women rabbis are commonplace today, in the early 1900s such a thing was unheard of.  While the Seminary allowed her to take classes, it was on the condition that she promised not to pursue the rabbinate.

While living in Baltimore, she saw the suffering of Jewish immigrants who came to this country from Russia and Eastern Europe. Henrietta decided to help by organizing English language and American citizenship night classes. Her model of nighttime ESL schools continues to this day.

Fast-forward to 1909.  Henrietta and her mother took a trip to pre-state Israel, where they witnessed the starvation and disease that afflicted the people of the region.

It was a seminal moment in Henrietta’s life. Upon her return to the U.S., she soon founded Hadassah, a volunteer women’s organization with the biblical mission of Aruhat Bat Ami: the Healing of the Daughter of my People.

Her new organization’s first mission was to send two nurses to Palestine to provide pasteurized milk to infants and new mothers, and to eradicate trachoma, an easily cured eye disease, that was robbing thousands of sight.

By 1918, Hadassah had sent an entire medical unit, composed of 45 doctors, nurses, dentists and sanitary workers, to bring American-style medical care to serve all, regardless of race, creed, or ethnicity.

From these early efforts developed the beginning of the Israeli healthcare system, which today includes some of the world’s leading research and treatment hospitals, and schools of medicine and nursing.

Today at 100 years old, with 300,000 members, Hadassah is the largest Jewish organization in America, and one of the largest women’s volunteer organizations in the world.

(adapted from www.hadassah.org)

Monday-Friday.

Gan Israel Program:

Ages 5-12 from 9:15 -3:30 pm

Mini Gan Israel:

Ages 3 & 4 From 9:15-1:00 pm

Location: Chabad Jewish Center-Naperville.

For more information visit www.CGINaperville.com or call the camp office at 630-344-9770

June 10, 2012, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

St. Paul Woods, Oakton St., Morton Grove, IL

www.jewishfestival.org

The Greater Chicago Festival is one of the largest and longest running Jewish festivals in the US, and the largest Jewish event in the Chicago area.

Featured performers this year include: Steven Page, formerly of The Barenaked Ladies; Blue Fringe; Rabbi Joe Black; Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, Lucky Break Blue Grass Band, and many more!

At 7 pm on Friday, June 15, Pricele$$ will be shown free of charge to the community at the UUSG. Pricele$$ shines a light on the corridors in our nation’s capitol to reveal how campaign money from deep-pocket special interests can influence both our electoral process and national policies like food and energy. In addition to time spent with seasoned lawmakers, lobbyists, and a few dauntless citizen watchdogs, the filmmakers visit farmers and an unusual group of Iraq War veterans with strong opinions about policies that have changed their lives.

FVJN SHABBAT FAMILY SERVICE & Potluck!

**Service, Story & Potluck!*

May 11, 6:30 p.m. at Peck Farm Park’s Orientation Bar

The ערב will begin with a short service and a story related to the week’s Torah portion, followed by a vegetarian potluck.

Please bring non-meat dishes, only.

RSVP asap and to rachely@fvjn.org with what you will bring (so we can plan accordingly):

If your last name begins with:

A – G: Salads or side dishes

H – N: Main dishes

O – T: Desserts

U – Z: Set-up/clean-up (*Please come 15 minutes early and stay 15 minutes after.)

Peck Farm Park is located on Kaneville Rd. in Geneva, just west of Peck Road.

Services will continue throughout the year.

Please see our calendar at www.fvjn.org.

Our services are always interfaith-friendly.

Neighbors~

Welcome to May!  This time of year is literally springing forth with new life and opportunities.  If you would like to take advantage of the many opportunities to help the local area–whether it is the planting we have going on May 19th to help keep Geneva beautiful, the Wednesday nights at Pushing the Envelope Farm helping to feed our neighbors, our monthly cooking for Lazarus House, or upcoming Swedish Days events–please read on for more details.  All of these events invite us to help others, and what better way to instill a sense of community among Jews and our partners, family and friends, than to give of ourselves?!?

Another opportunity to come together is our May 11th Shabbat Evening which will be led by Rachel Yackley and will take place at Peck Farm.  For those of you new to that venue, it is an absolutely ideal location for our services during the spring and summer months!  Rachel will be leading us through a brief service–complete with storytelling–before we enjoy a meal and good conversation together.  As always, this is a family and interfaith friendly event!

Please take one of these opportunities to join us in helping our neighbors and getting to know our FVJNeighbors a little better in the process!

As always, the best to you and yours and we hope to see you at a FVJN event very soon!

Warmest wishes,

Tammie

Volunteers Needed to Help Make Geneva Beautiful!    

May 19, 8 a.m.

FVJN volunteers (and friends!) are needed to help with planting on Saturday, May 19, starting at 8 a.m.

The garden we are responsible for is on the southwest corner of State St. (Rt. 38) and Third St., in Geneva.

You can just show up or contact our volunteer garden coordinator, Marci: marci@worddesigner.net.

If able, bring gardening gloves, shovel, trowel, clippers, etc.

About Us: Pushing the Envelope Farm is a Jewish educational and community farm. The farm grows and sells organic produce and has milking goats, laying chickens, and honey bees.