The Bay Area Loves Israel we never never stop celebrating it’s Birthday

I told you last year, we love to celebrates Israel’s birthday, and it’s 60th year is no exception. The Bay Area has all kinds of events going on to honor Israel at 60. One such event is coming up in SF in just over a week, see the add below. The next night the Israelity Tour hits SF, celebrating Israel with one of it’s hottest musicians.

***FREE ADMISSION***FREE PARKING***ALL AGES WELCOME

Israeli Extravaganza
Saturday, February 9th 7:00 – 9:30 p.m.

Congregation Beth Israel-Judea
625 Brotherhood Way,
near Highway 280 and Lake Merced,
San Francisco 94132-2992

Enjoy live Israeli folk music with Achi Ben Shalom, leader of the band
Adama, who is also musical director of the Nigunim choral ensemble and
the East Bay Jewish Folk Chorus. Guided Israeli folk dance instruction
will be provided by Bruce Bierman, artistic director of the Jewish
Dance Theatre. Lyrics to the songs in the first set will be projected
onto a screen so non-dancers can sing along if they like.

In the second music set, experience the new sound of young Israeli
music as performed by the popular Israeli Band Kol Creation, with Lior
Ben-Hur and Yaniv Assouline. You can have a natural henna tattoo
applied by Darcy, of the Henna Lounge, and there will be refreshments,
informational tables, Israeli-made items for sale, and a big raffle
drawing at the end of the evening.

This event in honor of Israel @ 60 is co-sponsored by the Consulate
General of Israel, San Francisco Hillel, the Israel Center of the
Jewish Community Federation, TZAVTA, the Jewish Community Relations
Council, JIMENA, B’nai B’rith and BBYO. Everyone – young and old,
dancers or not — is encouraged to attend. Schmooze, tap your feet to
the music, eat, dance, drink and have a great time at the biggest
community bash we’ve had in a long time!

For more information, contact Sonya Hicks, Chair of Adult Education at
Congregation Beth Israel-Judea (415)678-0327 or go to www.bij.org

Let’s Get this Party Started–Give your input for CBD’s Purim Carnival

Every year Congregation Beth David (CBD) celebrates Purim with a carnival along with Megillah readings and other joyous events. This year there working on making it even better and catering to the child in everyone young and young at heart. Which means you’re in the target population for this congregational and community event. The event will be March 16, 2008. The planning committee is conducting a survey that they’d love immediate response to. Please see below. We’re also planning Purim events for young adults only, check our blog or join our Google group to be sure you find out about them as details become available.

You can also contact cbdyag[at]gmail.com for more info. Their survey is just a few short questions, please take the time to give them your feedback BEFORE THIS TUESDAY FEB. 5, 2008

PLEASE RESPOND TO: survey@beth-david.org

PLEASE REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE NO LATER THAN END OF DAY TUESDAY — FEBRUARY 5TH

Dear Congregation Member,

Purim quickly approaches. At CBD we’re doing our best to assemble the
biggest and most enjoyable Purim Carnival ever — one Queen Esther would
run away from Persia to attend. The planning committee and many additional
volunteers have developed some excellent ideas but we need the memberships’
QUICK feedback, guidance and participation to support our planning efforts.
With your assistance and support we are confident that the Carnival on
Sunday, March 16th (45 days away) will be the talk of the town and will
create indelible memories for you and the children.

While we continue to focus most of the efforts on children’s games and
activities we’re complementing the party agenda with activities designed to
appeal to older children and adults. One way we’re achieving this is by
doing a better job of involving the older youth groups in our planning
efforts; similarly we’re entrusting them with greater responsibility and
encouraging leadership. We’re also trying to make the planning effort more
inclusive which is the objective of this letter.

Your response will be forwarded to all the members of the planning committee
who will review your responses, suggestions and feedback. These are also
the volunteers who’ll contact you as appropriate with next steps.

Purim is one of the most festive of Jewish Holidays. Your comments,
suggestions and participation will help us kick the festivities up several
notches!

______________________________

I. We’re considering making a room/area available with several stations
where members can show / present / explain various hobbies they enjoy (stain
glass painting, sculpturing, flying, parachuting, wine making, radio control
devices/airplanes, etc.); two objectives support this idea

a. Having the kids learn something
b. Getting the adults to interact and learn more about their fellow members

Questions:

1. Would you find the Purim carnival more compelling if this was included?
2. Are you interested in showing your hobby/interest?
3. What hobby would you present/discuss?

II. We’re considering a number of options for on-stage performers. One of
the best ideas is to have those members of the congregation with special
skills / talents perform. If you are a musician, juggler, magician,
story-teller, acrobat, tight rope walker, etc., we want to hear from you.

Questions:

1. Would you find the Purim carnival more compelling if this was included?
2. Are you interested in performing?
3. What would you do?

III. For older kids and adults we’re considering offering some great prizes
this year for various raffles and contests; some examples include:

Apple iPods
Sony Playstations
Nintendo WII
Microsoft xBox 360
Movie Tickets
Weekend at CBD’s members vacation house

The issue with above is that we have very limited funds to support the
event. However, for many firms mentioned above donating a prize is less
than a rounding error. For the donation they would get a mention of their
brand and would support the community in general and children in particular.
If you work for an employer that would be appropriate, or would be
interested in donating or contributing toward a high-end gift, please
contact Gene Tenberg on the committee by email or at 408-370-6600.

IV. Also for older kids, we’re considering putting on a video game
tournament. We’ve heard great things about Guitar Hero and various other
popular games. If you have these game in your home would you volunteer to
bring these games in to CBD to use during the carnival?

V. Other

1. What else would you like to see at the carnival?
2. What have you seen at other Purim carnivals that might work well at ours?
3. Do you want to get involved in the planning and development? Can you help
during the day of the event? There’s still plenty of room for more people