Temple Bulletin, Volume 102, Number 5, November 1956 Page: 2 of 6
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Religious School
HANUKAH BALL
HANUKAH PARTIES
I
o-
re-
GIFT TO THE CONGREGATION
-o-
HANUKAH
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1
CRADLE ROLL
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FACULTY MEETING
Religious School Faculty Meeting
Monday evening —November 26 at
8 o’clock in the Temple Library.
Jewish homes, on Hanukah, are gladdened
with eight nights of celebration. Candles are
lit, one on the first night, and the number
is increased by one daily. This is a cere-
mony symbolic of our faith and hope that
the light of mutual trust, love and peace will
spread in the world, not diminish — that a
glorious future shall yet come to pass.
Service
by
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Fink have
presented the Congregation with a
lovely silver chafing dish in honor
of their son Don Michael Fink’s
recent Bar Mitzvah.
Congratulations on the arrival
Frederick Irving,
Charles Ben
Twin sons of Mr. and Mrs. Fred
Lewis.
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H
I'
TEMPLE BULLETIN OF
CONGREGREGATION
BETH ISRAEL
3517 Austin
Houston, Texas
Telephone JA 3-6679
Dr. Hyman Judah Schachtel,
Chief Rabbi
Bernard H. Lavine. Associate Rabbi
I. Mark Westheimer, President
Col. A. A. Kaufman, 1st Vice Pres.
Lou Lewis, 2nd Vice Pres.
Mose M. Schwartz, Secretary
James M. Baumohl, Treasurer
Mrs. Sam Robinson, Principal,
Religious School
Mrs. Max Levy, Jr., Editor
Leonard Gold, Executive Sec’y
jJbhe festival of Hanukah begins at sun-
I down Wednesday, November 28 and
j lasts for eight days. Hanukah is an
historical festival rooted in the Maccabean
struggle and victory over the numerically-
superior Graeco-Syrian forces back in the
second century before the common era. It
is a highly spiritual festival in that the
“why” of the struggle has the deeply reli-
gious overtones of freedom and self-deter-
mination.
We recall with pride our heroic forbears
who refused to compromise with the “ought”
in life, with its ethical and moral impera-
tives. There are areas, of course, where com-
promise is necessary and desirable, where
differences are real and legitimate, where
the best solutions are arrived at through
the give-and-take process of discussion and
debate. But where man’s inalienable rights
are concerned, those endowed to him by
his Creator, there can be no compromise.
Hanukah begins at sundown No-
vember 28, 1956 with the lighting
of the first candle. The final night
of Hanukah is December 5, 1956.
We live in a world replete with strife,
mutula distrust and deception. Nevertheless
and in spite of everything, we can and must
find a way out of these perilous times. Com-
promise of basic convictions rooted in God’s
law is nat the answer. The ultimate answer
is not in physical might nor in physical
power but in moral persuasion, in the pa.-
tient, ploddin-g efforts of rallying all peoples
around the banner of truth and understand-
ing.
NO COMPROMISE
A Hanukah Message By Rabbi Bernard H. Lavine
fl
El
What is God-given dare not be mad-destroy-
ed. Such is the impact of the Hanukah
theme.
On Sunday, December 2, there
will be Hanukah luncheons and pro-
grams. The Nursery and Kindergar-
ten will meet in Rooms 1 and 2,
— Grades 1-2 and 3 will meet in
the Lower Levy Hall. Grades 4-5
and 6 will meet in the Upper Levy
Hall. Religious School will meet at
9:30 as usual — the Hanukah Lunch
and Program will take place from
11:30 to 1:00 P.M. Parents please
arrange to pick up the children at
1:00 P. M. Mrs. M. S. Williams is
in charge of the Sunday parties.
Students will follow the holiday
tradition of classroom Hanukah gift
exchange Hanukah menorahs and
candles will be on sale. The beau-
tiful “Hanukah Service in the
Home” prepared by Dr. H. J.
Schachtel will be available in the
Religious School office upon
quest.
Exciting plans have been made
for Hanukah at Beth Israel Religi-
gious School. Mrs. Jerome Chap-
man, Sisterhood Chairman foi
Hanukah announces the following:
On Saturday, December 1 — from
8:30 to 11:30 P.M. there will be an
Informal Hanukah Ball with Max
Uzik and his orchestra in the Uppex
Levy Hall. This dance has been
planned by the Sisterhood Religious
School Committee with representa-
tives of the 7th — 8th and Con-
firmation classes. Beth Yeshurun
and Temple Emanu El students of
the same grade levels have been
invited as guests of Beth Israel. Mrs.
M. M. Lewis is in charge of ar-
rangements.
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"The Torah From Texas"
Makes Another Trip
When the ancient Israelites wandered
through the desert they carried with
them, we read in the Bible, the “ark
of the Covenant’’ containing the teach-
ings of their faith.
Today, the Torah Scroll is regarded
as the “constitution of the Jewish re-
ligion.”
Torahs are scarce. Scribes are no
longer numerous., as they were when
great Jewish communities flourished in
Europe.
The Union of American Hebrew Con-
gregations acutely feels the pinch of
the Torah shortage. New congregations
are created at the rate of about four
every month, and each new group needs
a Scroll for its services.
Rabb’s Albert G. Baum and Daniel
L. Davis, who help the Union form new
congregations, have prevailed upon old-
er temples with more than one Torah
td lend newer ones the precious Torahs.
One such Scroll is known as the “Torah
from Texas,” because it was loaned to
the Union by Congregation Beth Israel
of Houston, Texas, where the senior
rabbi is Dr. Hyman J. Schachtel.
The “Torah from Texas’’ has done
quite a lot of wandering. First, it, went
to Temple Beth El, of Laurelton, N. Y.
Its next stop was at a new temple in
Massapequa, N. Y. Then it went to an-
other Temple Beth El, this time in
Huntington, N. Y.
After a year, the Huntington congre-
gation obtained its own Scroll and back
went the “Torah from Texas” to the
House of Living Judaism. But soon it
traveled again. A brand new congregation
was formed in Manhasset, N. Y. Today
the Texas Torah is resting in a beauti-
ful new ark made by one of the mem-
bers of Temple Judea, of Manhasset.
(From the Nov. 4, 1956 issue of “Keep-
ing Posted” published by the U.A.H.C.)
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Congregation Beth Israel (Houston, Tex.). Temple Bulletin, Volume 102, Number 5, November 1956, periodical, November 19, 1956; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1383950/m1/2/: accessed June 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.