March 2024 President's Message
Greetings Havurah members,
I’m afraid this month’s message is a little long, but I have four things I’d like to talk about:
First, if you haven’t submitted your 2024 dues yet, please hurry! When you don’t renew your membership in Havurah by March 1st, our website automatically removes you from our email list, and you will no longer receive invitations, notifications, and newsletters. If we receive your renewal check after March 1st, you will resume receiving our messages once we have an opportunity to process your payment. If you opt not to renew, I would love to hear from you about why. I am always looking for ways to improve our Havurah, and if we fall short in some way, I want to know about it. I can’t fix something I don’t know about. I certainly understand that we can’t please everyone 100% of the time, but I’d like to come as close as we possibly can.
Second, I hope you’ll join us for our Quarterly Membership Meeting on Wednesday, March 6th at 6:30 pm. We have a special election that evening to fill the vacancy on our Leadership Team. Carol Levey stepped forward to serve in the position and has already begun working with Ricki Weintraub to plan several New Member Meet and Greet functions and has numerous wonderful ideas to engage our new Members to help them feel comfortable and make new Havurah friends. In addition, we have a wonderful program planned for you by Susan Dubin and Hart Hoffman, People of the Book: The Story of the Haggadah. It will include the fascinating story of how the Sarajevo Haggadah has survived many close calls with destruction.
Third, the RSVP deadline for our “Purim Around the World” Party is Friday, March 8th, or when we reach capacity. It is going to be a blast! We have several games to play in the courtyard, including mini golf, ring toss, and corn hole. We have small prizes for the games and bigger prizes for three featured activities: our HULA HOOP CONTEST, PURIM PURSUIT, our trivia game, and last but not least, our COSTUME CONTEST! I encourage you to attend in costume. We ask that everyone also bring a box of MACARONI AND CHEESE. It will serve as your grogger during the event, and then we will collect and donate all of the boxes to a food bank. Thank you to Alan Alterbaum for sharing that idea a long time ago. This event is a bargain at $18 per person. We’ll have delicious Chinese appetizers and, of course, hamantaschen for dessert. We will provide the water; you bring the wine! If you are wondering why we chose to change this event to a Happy Hour at Independence Center, we knew that having two events in the ballroom a month apart would be tough on people’s pocketbooks.
That brings us to the fourth thing I want to talk about: Passover. We are very excited to have our first large-scale community Seder on the first night of Passover, Monday, April 22nd. Jan and Helene, your Event Leaders, have done a brilliant job working with Yorktown Grill to keep our price down to $58 per person for Havurah Members and $65 for guests. We will give Havurah Members and their guests priority registration through March 18th. After that, we will open to the rest of the SCA community if space allows it. The deadline to RSVP will be Monday, April 1st. We will have a dynamic Seder led by Havurah’s own Rabbi Danny Gottlieb and Cantorial Soloist and Jewish Educator Ricki Weintraub (P.S.-yes, they are a couple for those who haven’t met them yet). Due to the nature of a Seder, this meal will be served in various courses throughout the evening, not a buffet like we do for other occasions. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about anything.
If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read this.
Warmest Regards,
Debbie
debbieblonder@icloud.com
(703) 624-0897
Membership Meeting and Program-Wednesday, March 6th
Our next Quarterly Membership meeting is Wednesday, March 6th. We will have a fascinating program about the Sarajevo Haggadah, and the history of Haggadot. Please bring your favorite Haggadah to display.
Click here for complete details.
Purim Party-Saturday, March 23rd
Join us for our Purim Around the World costume party/Happy Hour
Click here for the complete details.
February 2024 President's Message
Notes from the President, Debbie Blonder
Greetings Havurah members,
We had an outstanding Shabbat dinner & Program in January. Thank you to Helene Laefer for arranging a delicious meal, Jan Grinel for coordinating everything and being the emcee for the evening, and Hart Hoffman, Carol Anne Smart and Wendy Linow for researching and creating an entertaining and beautiful presentation of the fascinating life of Gustav Klimt. Just as important is the tremendous army of volunteers that stepped forward to assist that evening. Set-up volunteers, sign-in volunteers and clean-up volunteers are just as important to the success of the evening. Thanks to all of you!
February is here, which means that your Havurah dues need to be paid by February 28th, or your Havurah membership will lapse. What happens on March 1st? You no longer receive our e-mails, and no longer qualify for member pricing for our functions. I truly hope you choose to renew if you have not already—we have quite a lineup of exciting things planned this year.
We postponed our February 7th Membership meeting until Wednesday, March 6th due to a scheduling conflict. Susan Dubin and Hart Hoffman will do a fascinating presentation about the Sarjevo Haggadah. You’ll learn about the incredible story behind this circa 1300’s masterpiece.
Coming up on Saturday, March 23rd, we have a “Purim Around the World,” Costume Party featuring a fun Happy Hour with games and prizes, a Hula Hoop contest, appetizers, and of course, Hamantaschen. This will be an “open seating” event, with no table assignments.
Monday, April 22nd will be our first Passover Seder, led by Havurah’s own Rabbi Danny Gottlieb and Ricki Weintraub. We are finalizing the details and expect an invitation to go out in a couple of weeks.
It is going to be a bit confusing with two events so close together, so please, make sure your RSVPs for Purim and Passover are done in separate envelopes. Each invitation will have clear instructions on how to RSVP. For our new members, we do not need an RSVP for Membership meetings, but all other functions have a firm RSVP deadline (though we will start a waitlist after the deadline). For functions in the Morris/Nelson/Penn rooms, we limit the number of attendees for everyone’s safety and comfort. Cancellations made after the RSVP deadline can only be refunded if we find someone to take your place.
We have a significant number of new members. You will be hearing from us soon! We are planning some smaller functions to welcome our new members and help you meet some new Havurah friends.
Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. I will be out of the country 2/9-2/18, visiting my favorite little boy in the world. Please don’t tell my dog, Bo, that he has competition!
Warmest Regards,
Debbie
debbieblonder@icloud.com or (703) 624-0897
DIVE INTO THE ENCHANTING REALM OF GUSTAV KLIMT: THE EXTRAORDINARY HAVURAH PROGRAM!
Havurah kicked off the year with an electrifying Shabbat Dinner on Friday, January 26th, that left taste buds tingling with the scrumptious delights of Jewish comfort cuisine expertly crafted by Bagel Café. The night was anything but ordinary as it unfolded into an exhilarating journey through the mesmerizing world of Austrian artist Gustav Klimt.
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The atmosphere buzzed with excitement as a visually stunning presentation was unveiled. Hart Hoffman created the presentation's PowerPoint slides with research vetted by Program Committee members Hart, Carol Anne Smart, and Wendy Linow. Brace yourself for an adventure into artistic brilliance.
Click HERE or the document link below to embark on this captivating program!
“Enrolling” for a meeting or event (This is the word for signing up)
- Login to your Havurah account.
- Go to EVENTS and then choose CALENDAR from the dropdown menu.
- Click on the event you want to sign up for.
- Click the green ENROLL button on the SESSION you want to enroll in. (If registration has not opened yet, you cannot sign up).
You will receive an email confirmation that you are enrolled, and a reminder 24 hours prior.
Need to cancel something you enrolled for? No problem. Log in, go to that event, and click on DROP. You will receive an email that you dropped.
If you have any trouble with the website, contact Debbie Blonder for assistance at debbieblonder@icloud.com.
Welcome to Havurah Club
Havurah, or friendship group, at Sun City Anthem, Henderson, Nevada, was formed in 2002 as a means for Jewish residents and others, new to the community or established, to meet, socialize and ease the transition from their prior locations. We often tell new members to think of us as their “new family.” This is achieved by organizing a variety of social, cultural, educational and recreational events throughout the year.
The SCA Havurah welcomes all SCA residents to join and participate in its activities.
All members and prospective members please watch this film about our club by Anthem's top videographer, Ary Mirochnik.
January 2024 President's message
Dear Havurah members,
December was an exciting month for Havurah. Our Chanukah Gala had a magnificent turnout. The food was terrific, the décor lovely, and the evening was a truly magical “Night of Light.” Thank you to the entire Chanukah Gala committee, led by Jan Grinel and Helene Laefer, for putting together a spectacular evening with incredible prizes and basket giveaways.
Our Menorah Lighting was a blast. Relocating to Independence Center worked out quite well. There were multiple reasons for changing our format, including newly instituted charges for refreshments at Anthem Center and the concerns expressed by Havurah members about security following the events of October 7th. After sharing those concerns with our Leadership Team, we agreed to forgo our usual ceremony in the parking lot and move the Lighting to the Independence Center courtyard. We also pulled back on the public advertising we usually do for the event. We enjoyed donuts, warm beverages, and the music of our newly formed Havurah ensemble with a room that was filled to near capacity.
I was delighted to hear how many members stepped forward to make calls for Chanukah. Thank you to Marilyn Lerner for coordinating these calls. Marilyn continually demonstrates the true meaning of Havurah.
Looking ahead, we have a Shabbat Dinner on January 26th (invitation linked HERE), a quarterly Membership meeting on February 7th, a Purim Party on March 23rd, and our first Passover Seder on April 22. Stay tuned for some more new offerings, perhaps in the form of small group learning opportunities (a Hebrew class, challah baking, and Jewish cooking have been suggested). We would love to hear from the gentlemen in the club with suggestions about what kinds of activities they would like us to offer.
We are looking forward to hosting several new member get-togethers soon. When we have dates, we will let you know.
Finally, if you haven’t paid your 2024 dues yet, please do so at your earliest convenience. Dues are $15 per person. You can make your check payable to Sun City Anthem Community Association, Inc. and place it in the Havurah mailbox across from the fitness desk at Anthem Center.
Am Yisrael Chai,
Debbie
P.S. Thank you to my wonderful Vice-Presidents, Wendy Linow and Ricki Weintraub, who edited this newsletter for me. They are both much better writers than I am.
Setting up your Havurah Website account
1) Click on login, then FORGOT MY PASSWORD. (If you share an email account with your spouse/partner, you each must set up your own login using your SCA ID #, not your e-mail address; your password setup links will still be sent to your email).
2) Go to your email inbox and find the email just sent from the Havurah Club. There will be a link for you to click on that will bring you back to the website set up a password.
3) Set up your password of choice and click SAVE.
Don’t worry if you forget your password. You can repeat this process any time you forget.