Parashat HaShavuah
(This Week's Torah Portion)
March 13
27 Adar
Birkat Hachodesh
Shabbat Hachodesh
Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudeia
Exodus 35:1-40:38 (annual)
Exodus 39:22-40:38 (triennial)
Maftir: Exodus 12:1-20
Haftarah: Ezekiel 45:16-46:18
Torah Sparks
Two-Minute Torah

• Read This Month's eNews

Helping Victims in Chile

As everyone knows, there was another cataclysmic earthquake, this time on February 27, in Chile. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. We know that many members of our affiliated congregations will want to donate to earthquake victims in Chile as they did for Haiti. This time, we are collecting money together with Masorti Olami, the umbrella organization for Conservative synagogues across the world outside North America and Israel. (There are six Conservative/Masorti shuls in Chile.) Click here to donate.

How Can We Really Make This Night Different?

In early March our early childhood consultant, Maxine Handelman, who combines an extraordinary understanding of young children with an adult’s clear eye and smart voice, will talk about how to bring the seder alive and engage all your guests of all ages in our basic foundational story. You can listen to the teleconference or look at the resourse list that accompanies it.

How to Apply for a DHS Security Grant

David Pollock, associate director of the JCRC of New York, led a webinar where he explained how representatives of U.S. nonprofits – including synagogues and other Jewish institutions - can apply for security grants from the U.S. department of homeland security. Information varies by state. To learn more, you can look at a plain power point presentation or you can see the Rashi – the power point as part of the webinar that explained it. Either way, your synagogue can benefit.

Strategic Planning Update

As a letter from the strategic planning committee lays out, we have taken the next step in our strategic planning by beginning to work with Dr. Jacob B. Ukeles and Dr. Steven M. Cohen, who will do the analytic work that will point to the next steps in our transformation.

This Year in Florida (or Las Vegas)!

Tired of changing all your dishes, hunting down every last crumb, and then trying to figure out what else to make with matzah? Do it differently this year. Join us for a luxurious Passover vacation retreat at the Westin Diplomat Hotel and Spa on the beach in Hollywood, Florida, or the Ritz Carleton Resort and Spa in Las Vegas. The food is kosher for Pesach, the sedarim are Conservative, the (optional!) lectures and, classes are intellectually challenging, and the facilities, views, beaches, pools, spas, and services are superb.

Outrage at the Kotel – DWF

In Israel, one woman was arrested and interrogated, another later interrogated and fingerprinted for DWF -- Davening While Female – at the Kotel, the Western Wall. Our president and international vice president sent an email and most of the organizations of the Conservative movement signed onto a statement deploring the outrage and asking our congregants to write in protest to Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, and its ambassador to Canada, Miriam Ziv.

Building Healthy Relationships

A sourcebook that offers teenagers clear-eyed advice on forming healthy relationships provided the backbone for the USY convention, which drew about 700 teens to snowy Chicago during the last week of December. The sourcebook, Summer Loving, was a joint venture by United Synagogue Youth and Jewish Women International.

Helping Haiti

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of lives and the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti. We have set up a fund for donations toward relief efforts for the earthquake victims.

Help Wanted?

If you are looking for help in hiring a synagogue professional – anyone! rabbi, cantor, executive director, education director, youthdirector … -- you’ve come to the right place. Start your search with us. And it's not too early to consider hiring acantor for the high holidays.

How to Hire a Synagogue Professional

Once you (assuming you are a synagogue leader) have found the right person for your shul, what are the next steps in the hiring process? Find out with our new Guide to Contractual Relations.

Conference at Mayyim Hayyim

United Synagogue is co-sponsoring a conference at Mayyim Hayyim, the community mikvah in Boston, October 10-12.

A Vision of Early Childhood

The Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide and the accompanying director’s manual, is our early childhood consultant Maxine Handelman’s groundbreaking new look at a how to introduce very young children to the joys of Jewish life through a Conservative lens. Read about it and look at the Vision and the directors’ manual themselves. A series of webinars will explain further.

Insurance Program for United Synagogue’s Afffiliates

United Synagogue is pleased to be able to offer member congregations a comprehensive property and casualty insurance program. This is one of Project Ezra’s programs.

Convention News

Learn more about our international biennial convention, which met in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in December 2009.

Two-Minute Torah

Want to study Torah but don’t have much time? Want a new, fast take on the text? Koach, United Synagogue's program for college students, has inaugurated Two-Minute Torah, a weekly podcast d’var Torahthat is available over the web at www.koach.org or by subscription on iTunes. They’ll be given by professional, lay, and student leaders - that range ofbackgrounds is sure to produce a range of styles and ideas. If you want a take on the Torah parasha that's both shortand smart, give it a try.

Going to Israel?

Take a trip with the Conservative movement! Here’s a list of trips offered by our member synagogues. They welcome you.

Transforming United Synagogue

In recognition of the changing world in which we live, the new realities our synagogues face, the challenging economic landscape that surrounds us, and the new opportunities new knowledge and new technology give us, United Synagogue is restructuring. To best meet the needs of our congregations and of Conservative Jews across North America, we have begun the process of transforming from smaller regions to larger districts, and using our skilled staffers as consultants in their own areas of expertise across this vast continent. At the same time, we have begun ongoing planning and re-visioning in earnest with Hayom: The Coalition for the Transformation of Conservative Judaism, which represents a number of Conservative congregations.