From The President

Summer time, and the living is easy....

Shalom, Chaverim,

As we enter the final months of summer and start gearing up for fall and the high holy days, I hope that most of you have had the opportunity to meet Rabbi Larry, Andrea, and Samuel. If you have not been to services or to our welcoming party last month, you will have another opportunity to meet Rabbi Larry at the summer social on August 2 at the home of Bob, Sue, and Adam Levy. A wonderful menu has been planned and great entertainment. Please make sure to RSVP with the office.

My fondest memories of summer always go back to the years I spent at summer camp, once as a camper and several years as staff. I had the opportunity to attend Camp Solomon Schechter in Olympia Washington when I was in high school. Years later I learned how to be a kosher cook and baker at Camp Arazim (aka the wandering Jewish summer camp). In fact, Joel Youngheim and I first met at Camp Arazim. Its founder, Sheldon Mitchell, was both my USY advisor in Sacramento and my mentor. He was a huge advocate for Jewish summer camps and one of the reasons he founded Camp Arazim was to have a camp in Northern California for Northern California Jewish kids. Sheldon had quite an influence on all the kids that came in contact with him. He died too young in 1978.

Joel and I were two of those people who were touched and motivated by Sheldon. He believed that a Jewish camp experience, followed by membership in a Jewish youth group, was the best way to keep children connected to Judaism for life, and camp was one sure way to make sure that our children, our children's children and their children's children will continue our Jewish traditions.

We are fortunate that we have Joel as a member of CBS. He has been driven to continue Sheldon's legacy to give every Jewish child a Jewish camp experience. Frustrated that CBS did not have sufficient scholarship money set aside to send our kids on a Jewish summer experience, he came up with the idea of Latkas and Vodkas to raise money for that very purpose. After 3 successful years of L&V, as well as some prodding of parents by Joel, CBS was able to provide scholarship money from the L&V funds to send FIVE of our religious school children to Jewish summer camps this summer. In fact, I hope that in the coming months we will hear from these kids as they share their camp experiences with our congregation.

I urge you all to start thinking NOW about next summer and which Jewish summer camp you would like your child to attend. I hope to have representatives from the major camps come to CBS to give presentations to help make your choice easier. And for those of you who don't have children or grandchildren to send to summer camp next year, I hope you will continue to support Latkas and Vodkas by attending the event this year and encouraging your non-member friends to attend as well. The next time you see Joel Youngheim, thank him for his vision for one of the best fundraisers we have ever had and also for his commitment to the future of our children--L'dor v dor. I hope that next year we send 10 children to Jewish summer programs.

This month I would like to introduce you to another volunteer opportunity with AVC--Advancing Vibrant Communities, a faith-based volunteer organization that provides home services to seniors and other area residents. They have volunteer opportunities for everyone with tasks ranging from installing grab bars to yard work to driving people to doctor's appointments.

They are a very simple non-profit organization, always looking for new volunteers. If you are interested in helping this worthwhile organization, contact Elaine or Pastor Mike at 544-9571. They are located at Coffee and Scenic in Modesto. Please tell them you heard about it from CBS.

B'shalom.

From the Religious School

As the summer quickly comes to a close, we find ourselves ready for the beginning of religious school at CBS.

As our new Rabbi begins to integrate himself into our community and I enter my second year working with the kids, parents and school I can commit to you one thing--Change is Constant. With that said, please allow me a moment to enlist your support and explain the changes being made at the CBS religious school.

Now allow me to explain the changes approved by the CBS Board for the religious school at the end of June:

Our classroom format will change to a more inclusive atmosphere that will allow the students to develop a stronger bond with their peers who will be having B'nai Mitzvah in the year around their own. That means we will be having only two complete classrooms on each day of school and we will only have two teachers on any given day. In one respect, this could be considered a "one room schoolhouse" program.

Our curriculum will be based on a two-year educational program. We know that our Chai Curriculum for Religious Education has 27 one-hour lesson plans per level. That gives us 54 lessons for each "class" to cover over 24 months of religious school. The classes will be divided by age group with a special in-class program developed for our kindergarten students based on more activities rather than book learning. There will also be lab breakouts when the program allows separate learning for students by age group.

One major benefit of this format is to allow the students to develop a closer relationship with their classmates. Rather than two to four students per class, we will have six to eight in each class. This makes it more productive for the teachers as well as the students. We expect this will be more fun as well!

Our school year will begin on Sunday August 30th with Hebrew School also starting that Thursday, September 3rd. Both days will have an introduction and parent/teacher meeting to assist in your understanding of the programs. Core learning will begin immediately following Labor Day with students focusing on the High Holy Day services that are in late September.

Please let me know of any questions or concerns you may have. You can call me at home weekends or evenings, or at my office by day. And, please let me know if you are interested in working with the school or even being a substitute. I anticipate having enough teachers to work out alternate Sundays throughout the year.

Thank you for your time, understanding and support of our religious school.

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