8/15 Alane & Rex Russell
8/16 Ina & Mike Minsky
8/19 Carter & Louis Smith
8/22 Lori & Rob Axelrod
8/25 Lianne & Dave Wood
8/29 Louise & Steve Garrell
8/31 Arden Levy & Mark Lurey
8/25 Lianne & Dave Wood
8/29 Louise & Steve Garrell
8/31 Arden Levy & Mark Lurey
Defining what Jewish humor is and is not.
What do we mean by Jewish humor? To begin, it is humor that is overtly Jewish in its concerns, characters, definitions, language, values or symbols. (A Jewish joke, goes one definition, is one that no goy can understand and every Jew says he has already heard.) But not all Jewish humor derives from Jewish sources, just as not all humor created by Jews is necessarily Jewish. In these matters it is best to examine not the singer but the song.
Jewish humor is too rich and too diverse to be adequately described by a single generalization. Jewish theologians used to say that it is easier to describe God in terms of what He is not; the same process may be useful in understanding Jewish humor. It is not, for example, escapist. It is not slapstick. It is not physical. It is generally not cruel and does not attack the weak or the infirm. At the same time, it is also not polite or gentle.
But individual humorists come to mind immediately to negate each of these tendencies: The Marx Brothers are slapstick performers; Jerry Lewis and Sid Caesar are physical; Don Rickles is cruel; Sam Levenson is polite and Danny Kaye is playful. So much for generalizations.
What Jewish humor is may be even more difficult to determine, and we offer the following broad statements in full awareness of the possible futility of the exercise:
It is about something. It is especially fond of certain specific topics, such as food (noshing is sacred), family, business, anti-Semitism, wealth and its absence, health, and survival. Jewish humor is also fascinated by the intricacies of the mind and by logic, and the short if elliptical path separating the rational from the absurd.
As social or religious commentary, Jewish humor can be sarcastic, complaining, resigned, or descriptive. Sometimes the “point” of the humor is more powerful than the laugh it delivers, and for some of the jokes, the appropriate response is not laughter, but rather a bitter nod or a commiserating sigh of recognition. This didactic quality precludes laughing “for free,” as in slapstick humor, which derives its laughter from other people’s misfortunes.
It ridicules grandiosity and self-indulgence, exposes hypocrisy, and kicks pomposity in the pants. It is strongly democratic, stressing the dignity and worth of common folk.
This edge creates discomfort in making its point. Often its thrust is political–aimed at leaders and other authorities who cannot be criticized more directly. This applies to prominent figures in the general society, as well as to those in the Jewish world, such as rabbis, cantors, sages, intellectuals, teachers, doctors, businessmen, philanthropists, and community functionaries. A special feature of Jewish humor is the interaction of prominent figures with simple folk and the disadvantaged, with the latter often emerging triumphant. In general, Jewish humor characteristically deals with the conflict between the people and the power structure, whether that be the individual Jew within his community, the Jew facing the Gentile world, or the Jewish community in relation to the rest of humanity.
It frequently satirizes religious personalities and institutions, as well as rituals and dogma. At the same time, it affirms religious traditions and practices, seeking a new understanding of the differences between the holy and the mundane.
Reprinted with permission from The Big Book of Jewish Humor (HarperCollins Publishers)
Dear members,
On Friday, June 30, 2023, our Rabbi, Yossi Liebowitz, retired after 20 years of service at our Temple. This is an incredible accomplishment as
Rabbi Liebowitz has held numerous B’nai Mitzvahs, weddings, funerals,
Brown Bag Lunches, and over 1000 Friday evening services and Saturday Morning Services or Torah Talks. Wow, Rabbi, just wow! Thank you for all your time spent with us at Congregation B’nai Israel.
On Friday, June 23, 2023, our Rabbi led a wonderful service and expressed how grateful he is that he became a Rabbi. He told stories of how rewarding his career has been. If you did not attend the June 23rd service or watch it on our Temple Facebook page, I encourage you to take time to watch this service and listen to our Rabbi’s sermon. It is touching to hear the Rabbi talk of his reasons for being a Rabbi all these years.
At the end of the service, Rabbi Liebowitz was honored with a “stone” to be added to our Tree of Life at the end of our main social hall. This stone will represent how our Rabbi has been a rock for our Temple for two decades. Our Rabbi was also given a beautiful painting that will be placed in the Sunday School, along with a plaque honoring Rabbi Liebowitz. The artwork is created by Elena Kotliarker, born in Kiev, Ukraine. She studied at the Spiritual Art Academy in Ukraine. She specializes in spiritual representation through art. Elena currently lives in Israel. Kotliarker’s painting is called “Miram with Timbrel-Tanakh Story”.
Board members selected this painting because of the theme of Miriam being represented through art. As many of you are aware, our Rabbi sings the song “Miriam by the Sea” almost every Friday evening at services. It is an iconic song that will always remind our congregation of the time Rabbi Liebowitz spent with us.
The painting has many Hebrew words incorporated into the artwork. The Hebrew words include Success, Luck, Happiness, Love, and Health, all of which we wish our Rabbi as he embarks upon the next chapter of his life.
Kotliarker’s painting also includes Traditional Jewish Symbols that include a pair of birds for love and harmony, pomegranates for joy and fruitfulness, and five fishes for abundance.
Beginning July 1, this painting will be on display in the foyer of our Synagogue for the month of July. Please stop by to view it before it is added to the walls of our Sunday School Building.
If you have not had a moment to speak to our Rabbi and wish him well as he begins his retirement, please be sure to send him an email, text or even better, an old-fashioned phone call or hand-written note.
Please check our calendar for events and services throughout the summer. Even though our Rabbi has retired, there will still be fellowship and services at our Temple.
Many wishes to you for a happy and healthy summer!
Warmly,
Tina Lyon
A big thank you to everyone who came to help us make butterflies on June 4th. It was nice to have so many helping hands and to visit as we worked. We have over 500 butterflies in the freezer ready to package for our November 2nd sale.
Our next baking day will be on August 9th. Come help and learn how to make strudel.
This year, in addition to the usual things you help with, we will need lots of cookies and bars. We will be packaging them for our inside sale. It has been a long wait, but this year the sale will be open to the public in the social hall.
Pre-orders are due by October 20th. On October 27th we will be packaging everything. We will also fill the pre-orders and get them separated in the freezers. We will need any baking you can help us with before the 27th of October.
The freezers in the Sisterhood closet and the silver one off the kitchen have lists taped to the doors and a pen for you to mark what you have put into the freezer. This list will help us keep track of the pre-sales to ensure we can fill all the orders and have enough for the day of the sale. Please label the items so we know what they are.
August 31st we will put together pot pies at my home. They were so popular last year that we will need to make at least 50 this year. Please let me know if you would like to come help.
Again, thank you for all your help making the Sisterhood Bake Sale a success.
Peggy Ann Buchman
7/9 Wanda Greenfield
7/11 Laura Filler
7/11 Mark Packer
7/11 Mauro Wilk
7/14 Susan Abelkop
7/14 Nancy Anderson
7/18 Miriam Gordin
7/20 Hannah Keen
7/21 Barbara Barnet
7/26 Cheryl August
7/29 Linda Tanenbaum
7/3 Sandy & Gary Smiley
7/3 Shannon & Steve Smiley
7/5 Ruth & Paul Friedberg
7/11 Lorraine & Joseph Wachter
7/16 Joan & Tom Barnet
7/21 Kim & John Pickett
7/1 Lucy Britanisky
7/1 Abraham Gelburd
7/1 Milton Vogelstein
7/2 Betty Freed
7/3 Marvin Singer
7/4 Edith Silverman
7/8 Dorothy Cohen
7/8 Ida Litoff
7/9 Sandor Teszler
7/10 Maurice Abelsky
7/10 Barry August
7/10 Benjamin Levin
7/12 Maurice Bromley
7/14 Lillian Lustgarten
7/15 Miriam M. Price
7/17 Frances Briller
7/18 Kathy Steinberg
7/19 Evelyn Fleishman
7/20 Richard August
7/20 Reba B. Morewitz
7/20 Jack Steinberg
7/21 Miriam Shapiro
7/22 Sherron Weinberger
7/23 Louis Anderson
7/26 Abraham Freedman
7/26 Edward Reichel
7/28 Jack Garrell
7/29 Toba Mary Segal
7/29 Linda Steinberg
7/30 Herb Moglin
7/30 Fannie E. Poliakoff
Small people talk about other people— Average People talk about things—Great people talk about ideas—
(A sign on hanging on a wall at a Jerusalem Kiosk)
Dear friends,
By my reckoning this will be not only my last note to the Congregation’s Temple topics, but my 200th offering. I thank so many for the journey that we have taken these past twenty years. It was a journey filled with study, prayer, and charity. (Scholars in residence, Thanksgiving interfaith services (3) that helped to raise funds for various charities, caring committee visits, life cycle events, musical events, and some estimated 1200 and more Sabbath and holiday services etc.) In past notes I have offered accolades to a few members, often at the risk of not noting many others as deserving. Some of those sadly are no long with us in body, but still remain so in spirit. They include those steadfast attendees of our services who have made up a minyan and those who gave of their resources to sustain your temple. Others, still alive have moved away from Spartanburg, including some of the children, now grown whom I had the great joy of officiating at their Bar or Bat Mitzvah and subsequent weddings.
Many who are members presently may have only heard of these men and women from the past. That sometimes saddens me as some have lost sight of them. It is fair to say that the Temple has been like a turnstile with some new members en- tering and others exiting. It is now my time to exit. I do so with a sense of gratitude to many and a bit of self-imposed amnesia to the very few who were in conflict with me.
Recently I was given a nationally recognized award by Wofford – The Algernon Sydney Sullivan award for humanity. At first, to quote Groucho “I would never join a club that would have me as its member!” Such is my self-deprecating humor, which one dear colleague noted to me and to which I then said, “Yes, but I don’t do that all very well!” He then added“Worry not! Others will surely deprecate you instead!” Such is a reality that every rabbi without exception knows to be true. As one touching Israeli song would have it “accept the bitter with the sweet!” I want you to know that with all sincere modesty that the award is a tribute to this Jewish community. There are hundreds of Churches and other religious institutions with their religious leaders who have not been so honored. It is clear to me that through your communal support, the award was yours.
The quote shared above is an aspirational one for me and should be for all an incentive to become better Jews and better human beings. How well we spend our three score or more years on this plane of existence may be assessed by how we have pursued greatness in those ideas and deeds that have been placed before us. In our Midrashic tradition we as a people were bid to become “a nation of scholars and saints!” Easier said than done!
I wish one and all continued fulfillment as B’nai Israel – Children of Israel
Rabbi Yossi J. Liebowitz D.D.
P.S. Thank you, Jan for being my right arm, my wife Carrie and my children for their forbearance and love.
Dear Congregants,
Congratulations to our Rabbi on his recent award, The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, a prestigious award given by Wofford College each year during commencement! Also, a tremendous congratulations to our recent high school and college graduates. Good luck to you as you begin your next chapter!
It is no secret in my family that I LOVE summer, especially a South Carolina summer. I can find something I love about every season, but summer has my heart.
It could be I grew up on a South Carolina peach farm and summer was the season in which my family was the busiest and there was never a dull moment. It could be that school was out and I felt I had infinite amounts of free time, when I was a student and later on in life, when I was a public school teacher. It could be the South Carolina beaches that beckon me from the mountains each summer. Or it could be the mountains that become green and lush which offer somewhat of a reprieve from the summer heat.
Whatever it is, I just LOVE summer.
This summer I am looking forward to enjoying time with my family and incorporating several hobbies such as reading several books (pre-selected and lined up on a shelf), needle- pointing (a hobby I literally cannot wait to do in the evenings), sketching and perfecting my not so perfect calligraphy skills. This year, I am adding playing Pickle Ball and learning to knit to this list. Maybe just maybe there will be time to do all these things along with my daily responsibilities because summer is simply, summer. The season where days are long, and time seems to move slower.
Even though it is summertime, our Temple is still open and offering several things to be involved in during the month of June. Please check our calendar and if anything interests you, please join our Rabbi and others who make our fellowship and activities possible.
I wish you all a happy, safe and relaxing summer!
Warmly,
Tina Lyon
As you may know, during the past few months we’ve considered four applications for the position of Sole Spiritual Leader of our congregation. One candidate received an offer from another synagogue, one withdrew his candi- dacy shortly after the interview, and neither of the other two seemed to fit our needs.
There are several reasons why the process has been so challenging. Chief among them is that we didn’t know we would need to look for a new rabbi until several months after the job announcements are typically posted. Our late scheduling certainly set us back, but we will be ready to go on time and in good order once the search process resumes in September.
In the meantime, the Placement Director at the Central Conference of American Rabbis has informed us that there is a sizeable applicant pool of prospective visiting rabbis who could perform such functions as conducting High Holiday and some Shabbat evening services. Such an arrangement will allow us to get our basic needs covered while we prepare our job announcements and conduct interviews in the months ahead.
While this process is unfolding, we wish to extend an invitation to all members of the congregation to help the temple by serving on committees, teaching Sunday school, helping to arrange and prepare social events, or contributing to the community in any other way you might wish. Please let me know at your earliest convenience if you think you may be interested in volunteering.
Thank you so much for your patience. I’ll certainly be keeping you informed about our progress during the summer and beyond.
Mark Packer
Vice President
Search Committee Chair
