Israeli Shlicha Letter to the Communities

October 29, 2007

Shalom Paducah, Carbondale, Benton, Belleville and Alton!

It’s been a little over a week since my last letter to you, but since then I’ve had the chance to meet many new people. I was happy to join the Jewish community of Belleville for services last Friday and listen to their wonderful Rabbi Dale Schreiber who with her soft, relaxing voice and beautiful words of wisdom has made that Friday night service a special experience. I’m thankful for having the chance to introduce myself to the congregants and speak to them a little bit of why Israel is such a special place and such a special case.

Also, thanks to Emily Martinez from the Belleville congregation for inviting me to spend Shabbat with her, it was fun.

I was also happy to attend Friday night services at the Beth Jacob Carbondale congregation the previous weekend and enjoy the beautiful sermon of their sweet Rabbi Lynn Goldstein who spoke about the Lech-Lecha torah portion.

Now I’m looking forward to meeting the Jewish communities of Alton, Benton and Paducah soon!

This week I was blessed with a great turnout of people for the Hebrew class I started at SIU Edwardsville – 17 (!) students attended (and more are expected to attend in the coming few weeks), among them are faculty, staff and students at that campus. Hopefully, starting something Jewish going at this campus will be like a small spark that would start a beautiful fire of Jewish activity on this campus. I would like to thank Gail Lipe of Glen Carbon for letting me spend the night in her home after class so that I wouldn’t have to drive all the way back to Carbondale in the dark.

Also, I was happy to meet the Carbondale Sunday school kids and tell them a little bit about Israel. Hopefully, we’ll be able to learn a little Hebrew too and increase our knowledge of modern day Israel and Israeli culture. The kids are sweet and eager to learn, which makes my teaching experience with them a joyful one!

I was also happy to meet Dr. Sam Goldman for lunch this week. Sam will be awarded the Service to Southern Award by the SIU Alumni Association of Jackson County on Nov. 4th for the wonderful things he has been doing for the benefit of the community in Southern Illinois, and we are all proud of him!

A big Kol Ha-Kavod goes also to Dr. Marvin Zeman for his amazing achievement in the Columbus Marathon in Columbus, Ohio where he placed second in his age category of over 60 with a time of 3:39:04 for the 26-mile run, which is faster then the average time of 4:19:34. Of 10,000 registrants only 3972 completed the run, and Marvin placed 864th overall. He got the news that he placed second while driving back to Carbondale, and his wife Laura Dreuth-Zeman was there to support him and cheer him on. Thanks go to Rose Weisburd for sharing this happy notice with us!

On a different tone: Tuesday, October 30th, is the World Solidarity Day with the Israeli abducted soldiers. Communities and campuses around the globe are going to hold events to raise awareness to the captivity of our soldiers in the hands of those who are not willing to accept a Jewish State at their border. Standing at the front line to defend the State of Israel, our soldiers fell to the hands of those for whom our very presence in the Middle East is an unbearable reality, and efforts to release them since then have not met with any success. Our Hillel here at SIU Carbondale will join the efforts and hold an event on the Solidarity Day, in which we will discuss the background of the soldiers and review the little information available on the their situation today. We will watch short films about the abduction, sign a petition demanding more efforts from the UN to bring to their release and hold a prayer for their safety and quick return home. We will be happy to see you there at 6:30 pm at the Hillel house of Carbondale (at 605 W. Elm St.). Those of you who cannot attend are warmly encouraged to sign a petition on the soldiers’ behalf here: http://www.mia.org.il/petition/ and lit a candle in prayer of their quick release and safe return home!

The motto of this campaign is aptly phrased: Don’t let apathy kill them!

And as the Prophet Jeremiah said: “Thus saith the Lord: Let thy voice cease from weeping, and thy eyes tears: for there is a reward for thy work, saith the Lord: and they shall return out of the land of the enemy” (Jeremiah 31:16). Amen!

Last but not least, we hope to see you all at the 66th Annual Meeting that will be held on Sunday, November 4th, 2007 (11 a.m – 2 p.m) for brunch and meeting at the Third Degree Glass Factory on 5200 Delmar, St. Louis, Missouri. Speaker will be the amazing Alina Gerlovin Spaulding which will speak about how different Jewish agencies helped get her out of the Former Soviet Union. There will be drinks and delicious Kosher food and all this in the midst of the beautiful glass artifacts all around. Don’t miss this great event!

Wishing you a wonderful week and looking forward to meeting more of you soon,

Yours,

Revital

(P.S – I’ll be away for a week starting Sunday, Nov. 4th for a Jewish Agency conference in NY. I could still be reached by cell phone # 314-956-9247. You can leave me a voicemail message if I’m not available and I’ll call you back as soon as I can).

 

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Revital Yona
Israel Emissary to the Jewish federation of Southern Illinois, Southeastern Missouri and Western Kentucky
314-956-9247
revitalsimokyfed@gmail.com