Kulanu Families
Kulanu means “all together” in Hebrew. It’s a fun, family-oriented group that builds community and connects Temple Isaiah families with kids ages K-6th grade through informal Jewish programs and activities and special experiences. We’ll be designing ways for families to connect and have fun together both virtually and in-person (when possible) throughout the year. Questions? Contact Rabbi Miller.
Kulanu is made possible by a generous grant from the Rodan Family Foundation.
- Family Camp 2024 Information
TEMPLE ISAIAH’S FAMILY CAMP
For families with children in K - 12th grade
Friday, April 19 - Sunday, April 21, 2024
at CAMP NEWMAN in Santa Rosa!
Are you ready to make unforgettable memories with your family and not have to plan it?
Look no further than Temple Isaiah’s Family Camp Weekend!On this weekend we’ll leave the distractions at home and focus on family, fun and connecting with Isaiah friends new and old. Experience time in the beautiful Sonoma hills, bonding over campfire sing-a-longs, and family friendly competitions. From unstructured time to Shabbat services, art and crafts, sports, opportunities for new Jewish discoveries, games and more, we have something for everyone to enjoy. There will be time for families to do things together and time for us to have our own age-level fun.
Who can participate?
All Temple Isaiah families with at least one child in Kindergarten through 12th grade are encouraged to come. You are welcome to bring younger children as well. Programming will be geared for kids preschool age and up. Participants in 7th-12th grade will be Counselors-in-Training and Counselors. Rabbi Miller will be in touch with them after registration.Where will we sleep?
We will be staying in Camp Newman’s NEW cabins. All families will stay in private cabins with their own bathrooms. We’ll provide the beds, BYOB (bring your own bedding).Children in 2nd grade and above will stay in cabins with adult and teen staff. If younger children who are thinking about overnight camp would like to try this experience, we will try to accommodate. Older children can also choose to opt out of the kid’s cabin.
Camp Newman has opened their new adult lodge. If we fill all the cabins (which is likely to happen), adults who have children sleeping in the kid cabins will be assigned to the lodge. The lodge has rooms with two queen beds and private bathrooms. It is more like a hotel room than a camp cabin.
What will this wonderful weekend cost?
This year thanks to a grant from the Rodan Family Foundation, this experience is being highly subsidized.Adults: $225
Preschool-8th Graders: $160
Children Ages 3 & Under: Free of Charge
9th-12th Graders: $80 (a discounted rate as they will be counselors)Financial aid is available. There is a space on the registration form to request. Rabbi Miller will then reach out to families who request one.
Deadline to register is Monday, March 25.
Space is limited.
Wait! We still have more questions!
Please contact Rabbi Miller at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or (925) 284-9191.
Adult Camp
Temple Isaiah’s Adult Camp
- a weekend of r & r -
Friday, November 8 to Sunday, November 10
Temple Isaiah’s weekend getaway to RELIVE our camp experiences (or child-like joy) & REFRESH our souls at Camp Newman’s New Retreat Center.
After the pure JOY of last year’s inaugural adult camp, we are excited for the return of this Isaiah camp-style weekend where we will disconnect from the stressors of daily life and tap into our ageless inner child. We’ll connect with other Temple Isaiah adults, creatively engage with Jewish teachings and traditions, and participate in new and nostalgic summer camp activities. It’s a Jewish camp weekend for adults! Rabbi Miller, Rabbi Perlman and Cantor Korn can’t wait to hang with all of you.
There will be community-wide moments and activity options throughout the weekend for you to find the vibe that suits you.
GET READY FOR…
Sing-a-longs around the campfire
Camp style Shabbat Services
Meaningful Conversations on Jewish Topics
Maccabiah (color war) Adult-style Competitions
Time in Nature
And so much more…
WHO: Temple Isaiah Adults
Come on your own. Come as a couple. Come with friends. Anything goes.
Loved the Family Retreat and now an empty nester? Miss spending your summers at camp? Never went to camp and wish you did? This is for you!
Your body is no longer up for 8elay races? No worries. There will be fun ways to participate for all physical abilities.
WHEN: Friday, November 8 - Sunday, November 10, 2024
We’ll begin late afternoon on Friday to give ourselves time to ease into Shabbat and our programming. We’ll end before lunch on Sunday to allow you time to hang out in Sonoma County or head home with time to get ready for the week ahead.
WHERE: Camp Newman in Santa Rosa
Nestled in the hills of Santa Rosa, under the shade of the Sonoma redwoods, their brand-new Retreat Center is state-of-the art while also providing the feeling of Jewish overnight camp.
HOUSING ACCOMMODATIONS: Two Options
(1) Most will be staying in The Lodge, a brand new, upscale, hotel-style facility. Each room has 2 queen beds, a private bathroom, mini fridge, microwave, Keurig coffee maker and small outdoor seating area.
(2) Once the lodge is full, or for all who prefer, participants will stay in new modern camper cabins (also really nice) for a lower cost. Cabins have four bunk beds, with thick mattresses and private bathrooms. We have secured cabins near The Lodge, next to the field/dining hall. You will be charged according to your accommodation requests at the time of registration and room assignments once all registrations have been processed.
Due to space, we cannot guarantee requests for single rooms in either the lodge or the cabins.
FOOD:
We might be reliving some of our childhood experiences, but don’t worry it won’t be all grilled cheese and pizza. We will be creating a more sophisticated menu that is healthier and tasty; and will meet most dietary needs. Please share specific dietary needs as indicated during registration.
COST:
$425 per person in the lodge
$295 per person in a shared cabin
Financial aid is available and may be requested on the registration form. Rabbi Miller will follow up regarding financial aid needs pending registration.
DEADLINE TO REGISTER is October 18
CANCELLATION POLICY:
If you must cancel, please do so 2 weeks prior to the event (10/24/24) to receive a full refund. Refunds will not be issued for cancellations less than two weeks prior to the event. If you must cancel, notify both Rabbi Miller and the temple office and be sure you receive confirmation of cancellation from Rabbi Miller to assure a refund.
QUESTIONS: Contact Rabbi Alissa Miller at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Click here to register for Adult Camp!
Justice Trips
Join Temple Isaiah for a Civil Rights Journey to the South
Thursday, December 5 - Sunday, December 8, 2024
Come follow in Martin Luther King Jr.‘s footsteps through Alabama and Georgia with Rabbi Perlman and your Temple Isaiah community. Partnering with Etgar 36, this trip is an opportunity to discover what it means to be a Jew in the South, interact with our nation’s history of civil rights, and grapple with the Jewish tradition of justice. We will meet with leaders who worked and strategized with Dr. King, hear personal testimony from those who participated in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, and visit with the Equal Justice Initiative to follow the trajectory from the slave trade to the long history of lynching to segregation to mass incarceration. Through our Jewish lens, we will consider what our country’s legacy asks us to do today.
Register today to secure your spot!
Questions? Email Rabbi Rabbi Perlman at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Itinerary:
Civil Rights Trip Itinerary
Pricing
$ 1,150 per person
Shalom Baby
Come join us in sharing the joys and challenges of welcoming a new baby into your life. Whether it’s the sleepless nights or teething troubles, having a supportive community to vent, share, and encourage each other can make a world of difference. This playgroup is specifically for parents of infants 0 -3 months, providing an opportunity to bond and build friendships with other parents starting Jewish families. No Temple membership is required to participate in Shalom Baby or to receive your Shalom Baby box filled with gifts and resources.
If you are interested and/or if you know an East Bay family who recently welcomed a new baby through birth or adoption into their Jewish home, please email Temple Isaiah’s Assistant Director of Engagement Joy Plummer at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call (925)283-8575.
Kid-ish Club
Kid-ish Club are activities for tots and the adults who love them. They are a fun way to celebrate holidays, immerse in Jewish culture and connect with other Jewish families. Thanks for a grant from the Contra Costa JCC we will be holding fun events throughout the year.
Save the dates:
Oct 21, 2023 - Shabbat Noach: Animal Fun @ the Ranch
Feb 4, 2024 - Jewish Cooking
Mar 17, 2024 - Tot Purim carnival
May 2023
May 2023
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It is also AAPI Heritage Month, National Clean Air Month, and the month for recognizing various other groups and causes. As Cantor Korn discusses in his cover article, May is notably Jewish American Heritage Month – a connection I find most interesting.
Many of us probably think of mental health as a newer phenomenon. We knew vaguely of its existence, but it wasn’t something that was discussed, much less understood. In ancient times, mental illness was believed to be caused by supernatural forces or demonic possession. People have locked others away in asylums from as early as the 17th century. Today there are more avenues to get treatment and more people seeking help, but a strong stigma still exists against those with a mental illness.
If you look at Jewish texts, it is clear that some of our most important figures struggled with mental illness. In “A Prayer for the Healing of Mental Illness,” Rabbi Elliot Kukla mentions
Jacob, King Saul, Miriam, Hannah, and Naomi, all of whom “lived with dark moods, hopelessness, isolation, and terror, but survived and led our people.” Finding stories of mental illness in the Tanach (Torah, Prophets, and Writings), stories where that person wasn’t the villain, but was a leader of the Jewish people, struck a deep chord with me. In his prayer, Rabbi Kukla interprets the descriptions of dark moods and hopelessness as a depiction of mental illness. Our language around mental illness has changed drastically over time, and those terms were often used as euphemisms for more severe emotions than those words may make us think of now. Whether or not you read these stories this way, each person struggles differently, and you can see how this interpretation arose.
If our ancient texts can depict people with mental illness in a positive light, why is that so difficult to find in more modern times? There are a host of films such as “The Shining,” “Psycho,” and “Fatal Attraction” where the antagonist has a mental illness which is usually portrayed very inaccurately. The media often uses words like “crazy,” “deranged,” and “insane” when describing someone with a mental illness. They often make the disease the person’s defining characteristic and describe violence as being common and normal. People tend to repeat what they hear and see, even if they don’t intend to be hurtful. When you’re constantly being bombarded by a way of seeing a certain group, it’s all too easy to internalize it, to develop a bias.
This May, let us recognize both Jewish American Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month. Let us remember our ancestors, the struggles they faced, and how they made lasting contributions to our people. Let us fight stigma wherever we encounter it, creating a safe space for all those who struggle with mental illness.
Please check Shavua Tov for special upcoming events in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month.
Rina Kirsch, Mental Health and Wellness Committee Member
February 2023
Love and Growth
By Michaela Frydman
Ever since the secular New Year began, I’ve been seeing red everywhere I go. I’ve also been seeing pink, white, an abundance of teddy bears, balloons, and an increasing amount of chocolate candies. It’s official: Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. Another (far less advertised) holiday coming up is Tu BiSh’vat. But what do Valentine’s Day, Tu BiSh’vat, and Mental Health have to do with one another?
In his article titled, “A Jewish Valentines Day”, Rabbi Benjamin Blech writes, “Love, for at least one of the major Talmudic Sages (Hillel), represents the ultimate mitzvah.” Rabbi Blech goes on to connect Valentine’s Day to the verse in Leviticus (19:18) which reads “love your neighbor as yourself”, placing emphasis on the importance of first loving ourselves before we can truly love others. To do this, Rabbi Blech offers several anecdotes that tell of people who treat others poorly because they dislike themselves, or stories where someone has complete understanding and respect for their personal value which helps them easily navigate their relationships in the world. Sadly, self-love and self-respect can be extremely challenging goalsfor some, especially those who suffer from the effects of mental illness or who were raised in environments where they were not allowed to fully explore their individual identities.
This is where the lessons and practices surrounding Tu BiSh’vat come in. The Rabbis of the Talmud established Tu BiSh’vat as being the new year of the trees [Tu BiSh’vat is one of four established “new years”, the other three being a new year for the Jewish calendar date (aka Rosh Hashanah), a new year for establishing the reign of kings, and a new year for tithing the animals of Jewish farmers to be given to the Temple]. Tu BiSh’vat is all about celebrating and respecting the growth of trees, but nothing is stopping us from also learning from this holiday about how to celebrate and respect our own personal growth. Like all living things, human beings are constantly growing and, just as we act as stewards caring for the trees, we must also care for ourselves.
There are many tools we can use to begin cultivating self-care on our personal journeys towards self-love and self-respect. One of the most important tools is mindfulness. When we take a sip of water when feeling parched, that’s an act of self-care. When we try new things, like attending a Tu BiSh’vat Seder at Temple Isaiah on February 6th, that’s an act of personal growth worthy of celebration. When we reach out to friends or family for comfort, or we place our trust in the members of a support group, that is also an act of self-care, personal growth, and one might even call it an act of self-love.
As we approach Tu BiSh’vat and Valentine’s Day, may we all be mindful of our growth. We are, all of us, worthy of love and respect, just as every tree on our planet is worthy of celebration (even if they’re not being marketed by Hallmark).
Rabbi Benjamin Blech’s Article:
https://aish.com/a_jewish_valentines_day/
Tu BiSh’vat 101 from My Jewish Learning:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/tu-bishvat-ideas-beliefs/
Mental Health Tu BiSh’vat Seder from The Blue Dove Foundation:
https://educator.jewishedproject.org/content/mental-health-tu-bishvat-seder
December 2022
December 2022
December Holiday Challenges
“Happy Thanksgiving!”
“Happy Holidays!”
I don’t know about you, but that’s how I’ve been signing all my emails for the last few weeks. It’s that time of year. It’s the time of year that’s all about being with family and being happy, warm, and bright. I know for me though, there are lots of times during this season where I feel anything but those things. For me, it often feels like I have to keep a mask up and act happy and excited because everyone else is, because that’s how I’m supposed to feel during the holidays. I’ve felt disconnected and like an outsider because I feel depressed and anxious (and honestly, angry that I’m feeling depressed and anxious) when I’m supposed to be feeling happy and thankful. On top of that, I’ve had endless relatives asking me how I am, what I’ve been doing, and what my plans are for the future. It makes me incredibly anxious because half the time I don’t know, and the other half of the time, it isn’t the right venue to say “actually, I’m really depressed and want to go cry in the corner.” Those two experiences combined have left me completely drained and exhausted after holiday gatherings and I might be unable to do anything else for days after.
I felt like I was the only one dealing with issues like that over the holidays. Obviously, I knew that people get stressed with cooking, cleaning, and otherwise getting ready to host. But, it seems at least, that once the prep is done, they are actually able to enjoy the party. I’m a science person, and it really helped me feel less isolated when I saw that a study conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that 64% of people with mental illness report that the holidays make it worse.
Here is my advice: First, self-care is important. If you burn yourself out putting on a mask or pretending you’re ok when you’re not then you will no longer to be able to do things that matter; whether for yourself or for others. Second, a lot of people have trouble over the holidays. If you notice someone struggling, it may help them for you to check in. In fact, famous Jews have been thinking about those concepts for a long time. In Pirkei Avot (The Ethics of Our Fathers), Hillel said, “If I am not for me, who will be for me? And when I am for myself alone, what am I? And if not now, then when?”.
The word Chanukah translates to “dedication.” Which makes sense as part of what we celebrate is the rededication of the temple. So as we celebrate this year, let us also rededicate ourselves to our values. Take care of yourself. Reach out to others. Act now.
Here are a few Temple Isaiah event that bring may bring calm and connection :
• Every Friday at 12pm, WOI Connects Women Living Alone
• Every Saturday at 2pm, Sacred Chant Healing Circle
• 12/6 and 12/13 at 10am, Neshamah Yoga
• 12/11 at 3:00pm, Mental Health Support for Adults
• Zoom Candle Lighting 12/25 (the last night) at 6pm.
• 12/26 at 7pm, Mental Health Support for Family Members
Other resources:
7 Strategies for holiday stress management/Newport Institute:
https://www.newportinstitute.com/resources/mental-health/holiday-stress-management/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=NI_performancemax&utm_term=&kpid=go_cmp-17672242732_adg-_ad-__dev-c_ext-_prd-&gclid=Cj0KCQiA1ZGcBhCoARIsAGQ0kkpKGEBM-icAif77zz03bwFTO-_ivuESlUgLkP_UOollsX9n8ndXZxUaAl0eEALw_wcB
Stress, Depression and the Holidays/Mayo Clinic:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20047544