Annual Tzedakah Event and Purim Party !!!

Saturday February 27th 6pm - 9.30 pm
Smith Hall at the Harvard Hillel

"‘If it please Your Majesty,’ Esther replied, ‘let Your Majesty and Haman come today to the feast that I have prepared for him.’ The king commanded, ‘Tell Haman to hurry and do Esther's bidding.’ So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared.”
             (The Book of Esther, Chapter 5 verses 4-5)

Please come to our Purim feast, Megillah reading, and Tzedakah auction on February 27th starting at 6 pm. We will be collecting money for Yad Chesed and holding an auction to benefit our Minyan’s selected Tzedakah charities. We guarantee you will find something to desire, from Roz Aroson's famous lemon pie to a week in Wellfleet -- see the catalog below.

   If you have any questions or comments about this catalog, please send them to me at:   Tzedakah Catalog Queries   Thanks, Michal

   Learning:

1. Two singing workshops with Rabbi Norman Janis: Pesach songs, some with variations, some in Hebrew, some in English. Bring your tape recorder. Session at Norman’s house on Tuesday, March 23, from 7:30-8:30 P.M.
   Offered by Norman Janis
   Starting bid: $18 (10 highest bidders included)


2. A workshop on nigunim to counter sorrow and encourage joy. Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav said that when a rabbi wants to help one who is experiencing despair, he must leave behind logic and turn to music. One session at Norman’s house, scheduled by mutual agreement.
   Offered by Norman Janis
   Starting bid: $18 (10 highest bidders included)


3. Take a tour of the courtyards of the sixth chapter of Mishna Eruvin. We will look at how intention and relationship create Sabbath space. A study session with Maurie Fox-Warren, to be scheduled by mutual agreement.
   Offered by Maurie Fox-Warren.
   Starting bid: $18 (6 highest bidders included)


4. Learn to Leyn! Have you wanted to learn to chant Torah or Haftarah trope? Sherry Leffert will teach a class of several sessions, place and time to be set.
   Offered by Sherry Leffert.
   Starting bid: $18 (8 highest bidders included)


5. A conversation about Jonah. Ruth Anna Putnam has been thinking and writing about Jonah. Join her in a discussion about this text, to be scheduled by mutual agreement.
   Offered by Ruth Anna Putnam.
   Starting bid: $18 (8 highest bidders included)


6. A class with Tzvi Abusch about a passage in the Tanach of Tzvi's own choosing, to be scheduled by mutual agreement, most likely in the fall.
   Offered by Tzvi Abusch
   Starting bid: $18 (open enrollment)


7. For leaders of the Torah service, a chance to improve your musicality. A session with Lois Welber to work on pitch, rhythm, and phrasing of the Torah service, for 1 or 2 people, separately or together.
   Offered by Lois Welber
   Starting bid: $50

   Betterment and Beautification:

8. Up to 3 hours of gardening.
   Offered by Michal Goldman.
   Starting bid: $30 per hour


9. Kashering your kitchen for Pesach: you provide the brains, I’ll provide the brawn for up to 3 hours.
   Offered by Michal Goldman.
   Starting bid: $36 per hour


10. Beautiful beaded bracelets: you can make them yourself! Learn how in one session.
    Offered by Arlene Holtzman and her son Sam.
    Starting bid: $36 (6 highest bidders included)


11. Career Testing and/or Personality Testing: 2 sessions, including introduction and results processing. The career testing evaluates your skills and interests in relation to 6 career characteristic clusters and hundreds of potential professions. The personality testing provides a detailed perspective on your personality makeup and is based on the most widely researched theoretical model of personality traits.
    Offered by Jim Leffert.
    Valued at $285; starting bid: $120


12. Macintosh website design by Micah: Would you like a website of your own? Here’s your chance. Up to 4 hours of design time, spread over several weekends.
    Offered by Micah Reid.
    Valued at $10/hour: $40 total; starting bid: $30

   Pleasures and Holidays:

13. A landscape painting lesson en plein air, working in the medium of your choice.
    Offered by Peggy Fox-Warren.
    Starting bid: $12 (4 highest bidders included)


14. One quart of homemade cranberry liqueur from Les Caves d’H&H.
    Offered by Hélène Lipstadt and Harvey Mendelsohn.
    Starting bid: $40


15. Six 8-ounce jars of wild-blueberry jam from Maine made with hand-picked fruit, available August 2010.
    Offered by Laurie Feldman.
    Starting bid: $60


16. Dinner for 2 at Il Capriccio, one of Waltham’s finest restaurants.
    Offered by Maurie Fox-Warren.
    Certificate valued at $100; starting bid: $80


17. Exploring the Jewish sites of Boston Harbor: a sailboat tour and refreshments for four.
    Offered by Francis Ganong and Sam Fuchs.
    Starting bid: $120; includes your guides Sam and Francis, and four guests.


18. A pair of tickets for a Celebrity Series concert: Sunday, April 25, at 3:00 P.M., Symphony Hall. An all-Chopin program, with pianist Maurizio Pollini. The tickets provide excellent seating in the first balcony.
    Offered by Sandra Shapiro.
    Face value at $144; starting bid: $130


19. A long autumn weekend in Truro in an architect-designed home. Cedar clapboard and glass, broad decks with a dramatic view of hills and bay, lovingly landscaped gardens. Double living room with fireplace, large kitchen/dining room, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. Walk to bay; short drive to ponds and ocean beaches. Available from October 1-4, 2010.
    Offered by Sally and Barbara Sass.
    Starting bid: $400


20. A week in Wellfleet in a modern, 1,200-square-foot house with large expanses of glass. Living/dining room with open kitchen and fireplace. Three bedrooms, a half bath, indoor and outdoor shower. Plus a kennel for your dog. Walking distance to bay beaches and town. Available for a mutually agreeable week in April, May (but not Memorial Day weekend), June, or mid-September through October.
    Offered by Martha and Elliot Rothman.
    Starting bid: $1,200; the bidder must be the user.

   Feasts and Desserts:

21. Roz Aronson’s famous lemon pie--actually, 2 of them, to go to the 2 highest bidders, for any occasion (except Pesach), with 2 weeks’ notice.
    Offered by Roz Aronson.
    Starting bid: $18 per pie


22. A homemade tart of your choosing—fruit, chocolate, nuts, you name it, or we’ll figure it out together.
    Offered by Susie Kron.
    Starting bid: $18


23. Kosher Mexican dinner (can be vegetarian or not) for up to 12 guests. Date negotiable.
    Offered by Ellen Messer.
    Starting bid: $20 per person


24. A Shabbat dinner with your rabbi and his rebbitzn for up to 6 guests. Date negotiable.
    Offered by Norman Janis and Patricia Herzog.
    Starting bid: $36 per person


25. Birthday cake and ice cream—homemade, of course. For example, gateau a l’orange and lavender ice cream.
    Offered by Andrea Wilder.
    Starting bid: $50


26. Five-course dinner with wine pairing for up to 6 guests. Date negotiable.
    Offered by Ilana and Marc Cohen.
    Starting bid: $50 per person

   The Celebration Mitzvah:

27. Bid for the Tzedakah aliyah (third aliyah) on Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur, one for each service.
    Starting bid: $18 (2 highest bidders included)