Friday 5/9
  5:30 PM  Family Kabbalat Keshet Service
  7:00 PM  Yom Ha’atzmaut Celebration

Saturday 5/10
  9:00 AM  Torah Study (read more)
10:00 AM  Shabbat Morning Services
11:00 AM  Junior Congregation
12:00 PM  Kiddush
12:30 PM  Dvar Torah and Minchah Service

Read about Darby and see his RRC Video Portrait.

Beginning with buffet dinner featuring Israeli delicacies and a delicious birthday cake, we'll fill the synagogue with sounds, smells and sights, for a joyous celebration of Israel's 60th birthday!  There will be folk dancing, Israel Jeopardy hosted by Jordan Sklar, delicious food and of course time to schmooze and sing. We celebrate the blessing of Israel's existence, of its accomplishments, at the same time with hopes for successful efforts to bring justice and peace closer. The
BK Israel Committee looks forward to dancing with all of you! For more information, contact Dorothy Schattner or Lauren Meyer.

Join us for the party Saturday 5/17, 7:00 PM. Enjoy our now-famous martini bar, followed by a full dinner catered by The Cooking Company. Desserts by Bobby Polton and Jen Zinman. Entertainment by Marty Fogel and his band, Thread of Blue. Songs by Betty, Tom and Howard! Admission $72 per person (strictly to cover expenses). Dress up or dress down - just be there. RSVP to the BK office.

An afternoon of celebration as we complete our new Torah. The fun begins at noon at Bnai Keshet with a barbeque, games, rides and entertainment. At 3:00 PM, we will gather with our sofer, Rabbi Kevin Hale, as we inscribe the final 18 letters in the Bnai Keshet Torah.

Join us for a weekend of fun, community, learning, singing, dancing, celebration and nature at Camp JRF in the Poconos. Families, couples and singles of all ages are invited to come together to creatively explore the value of Hidur Mitzvah, the beautification of mitzvah (good deeds). For details about the retreat and the registration form, please see the attached brochure.  We welcome all synagogue members to attend the retreat if possible. If cost is a deterrent, please talk to Rabbi Elliott, Carol Rotman or Betsy Tessler. No one will be turned away!

The Israel Committee Program this month will focus on Birthright Israel, which has now taken 160,000 young people from 52 nations on a ten-day trip to Israel. Just to give some perspective on this statistic, more people go on Birthright each year than have a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Six months ago, Rabbi Brenner took on the job of Vice President of Education at the Birthright Israel Foundation. Now his task is to develop educational programming for the 110,000 plus U.S. based participants. It has raised a ton of questions: What should the relationship of young people in the U.S. be to Israel? What relationship should they have to Jewish life in the Diaspora?

This month, Al Steiner will discuss reading the Bible. We will attempt to place the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) in an understandable context for a 21st century Jew. In dealing with English translations of this ancient set of books we can, by trying to project back to its origins, deal with the many contradictions, mistranslations of the colloquial language and word usage that differ from today's language. It's as though a future historian were to find a contemporary document about "wise guys." They might believe that the Mafia was an academy of scholars. The same kind of misdirection often appears in biblical scholarship. Reservations may be made at the BK office by Wednesday, May 14 at noon. All interested adults are invited; dinner is $12 and is payable at the office by check or credit card.

Immediately following Shabbat services. Manless in Montclair: How a Happily Married Woman Became a Widow Looking for Love in the Wilds of Suburbia is a story of love, loss, and finding your place in the world, even when you find yourself in the last place you thought you'd ever be. Once upon a time, Isabel, a woman of short stature and big dreams, was desperately searching for her niche. Enter Michael, divorced, 15 years her senior, a recovering alcoholic, and the last person Isabel expects to end up with. But love conquers much and when Michael proposes on their first anniversary in a New York deli, Isabel gleefully accepts.