Don’t Forget:
Daylight Savings Time
the newsletter of woodlands community temple
Set your clocks BACK at bedtime on Sat, Nov 3! November 2018 Heshvan-Kislev 5779
From WCT Intern to Rabbinic Leader: Dan Geffen Returns for a Weekend of Learning by Fran Smith
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any of us at Woodlands remember Dan Geffen as an astute, engaging, amazingly lovely almostrabbi when he was here as our intern in 201314. He is now the much-loved rabbi of Long Island’s oldest synagogue, Temple Adas Israel, and a leader in revitalizing the Jewish community of the East End. But we get to borrow him for an exceptional weekend of learning, celebration and eating, Nov 30 - Dec 1. Don’t miss it! It’s a wonderful opportunity to hug our old friend (or meet him and find out why we like him so much) and to immerse yourself in scholarship and reflection on integrity and mentshlikhkeit. Can any topic be more urgent in our world today? Continued on page 2
Giving Thanks Interfaith Thanksgiving in America
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hanksgiving expresses gratitude for the abundant blessings we (and our ancestors!) have received. Jewish tradition overflows with expressions of thanks. In Psalms:
Hodu l’Adonai kee tov ... give thanks, for God is good; such grace lasts forever Ps 136:1 It really is a good world in which we live. The journey may not be easy, but it’s excellent to be on the path.
Happy
Service
Sun, Nov 18 4:00-5:00 pm Each year, Woodlands Community Temple joins with the Greenburgh Interfaith Caring Community for shared worship before Thanksgiving. Always an inspiring, multi-denominational gathering, we encourage you to bring your family and model what it means to be a wonderful neighbor! Share in the true meaning of Thanksgiving, standing side-by-side with friends of different religions and cultures, reading and singing of fellowship, communal joy, and goodwill toward humankind.
Thanksgiving!
Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk Music? by Pam Chernoff
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ne doesn’t usually think of “punk rock” and “Judaism” in the same sentence. But on Friday, November 16, at this year’s Book Fair Shabbat, author Michael Croland will make the connection. In 2005, Croland, a book editor who lives in Astoria, was working on a review of “Fiddlin’ on Ya Roof” for New Voices, when the editor asked for some context. The Jewish punk band Yidcore’s full-length cover of “Fiddler” was masterful, Croland says. But did it exist in isolation or was it part of a larger scene? Answering that question led to a feature on Jewish punk bands, then covering a West
Coast Hanukkah tour of Jewish punk bands for The Forward. He continued to write about the Jewish punk scene, which led to his book, Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk, which covers both the history of Jews in punk music and the musicians who use punk to put their Jewish identities front and center. From punk music’s start in the 1970s at CBGB’s nightclub, some of the key players in punk music have been Jewish, including CBGB’s owner, two of the Ramones, and all of the Dictators. Punk is infused with nods to Jewishness, whether it’s humor as a coping mechanism, demands for social justice, or a Continued on page 4
The Greenburgh Interfaith Caring Community has been in business since 1983, when Ardsley pastor Bob Godley called on our local houses of worship to form a permanent organization that has “an independent existence, distinct from any denominational or religious tradition, but which, at the same time, reflects all of us.” Interfaith meets monthly, rotating between the different houses of worship and doing what it can to respond to local need in the Rivertowns area. Interfaith’s annual Thanksgiving service is, quite simply, beautiful. Just to see the rainbow of clergy Continued on page 4