Yesterday's Sisterhood Leadership Day was great! Rabbi Kalfus gave the D'var Torah, and Debbie Lieber updated us about changes happening or coming up at the Temple. Madeline Eble, our WRJ Pacific District Area Rep talked to us about Leadership and we discussed similarities and differences between her Temple and ours.

After a yummy lunch from Stonefire, Laraine Miller led a discussion on what Sisterhood has done right that we should continue, and what new things we should incorporate. Then Jackie Zev led us in an informative and fun project that brought out our inner artist while learning more of the work of WRJ. We learned about the Women of Reform Judaism, and the plethora of ways WRJ makes a difference for Jewish youth, Rabbis, leaders, and for all of society. We took a break from listening to decorate fabric squares using the ideas we had just learned. Jackie will take those fabric squares and make them into a beautiful WRJ quilt. We ended the day by singing the WRJ anthem, Limdu Heitev. We sounded pretty good, too!

here are pictures from the day on our website. Go to tassisterhood.org and click on 'Photos' on the menu.

Here's just one of the things we learned today: One of the things WRJ supports is called 'PJ Library'. PJ Library sends award-winning books that celebrate Jewish values and culture to families with children 6 months through 8 years old. The books are sent monthly, and are free to the families receiving them. The entire program is supported by donations and WRJ has supported the program generously.

If you look in our own ECEC library, you will find numerous PJ Library books, donated to our preschool by the Friends of the Platt Library.

Today's humor was inspired by PJ Library: My mom’s argument against piracy is “Well, what if you wrote a book and one person bought it and then hundreds of people got to read it for free and you didn’t make any money!”
MOTHER, YOU HAVE JUST DESCRIBED
​ LIBRARIES.

One of the fun parts of our Sisterhood being part of the Women of Reform Judaism are the fabulous conventions they put on. They always have great speakers, wonderful musicians, and the people who attend are first-rate. Conventions can be all over the nation, but this year the WRJ-Pacific District convention is in San Diego - no plane flight needed!

The Pacific District Convention is October 18-21. Registration is $350 (if paid by Sept 14), but Sisterhood will be budgeting money to help defray that cost. Those who register by August 17 are entered in a lottery for a free hotel room.

If you've been to convention, you know what a wonderful experience it is. If you've never been, you should try it! But be forewarned - they can be addictive! Why? How else will you have the opportunity to hear and interact with Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, editor of 'The Torah: A Women's Commentary' and Rabbi Marla J. Feldman, Executive Director of WRJ North America, who will both be at convention? Details on other dignitaries have not been available, but past conventions have included amazing musicians such as Michele Citrin and Julie Silver.

You can register online at https://www.wrjpacific.org/2018-registration.html. Let me know if you can come, as we are working on room and carpool arrangements.

Come to convention with me and make some new friends!

Friends are the Fruitcake of our lives. Some are nutty, some are soaked in alcohol, some are firm, some are sweet, but together they are great to have in your life.' 

Planning for the 2018-2019 Sisterhood year is well underway. Do you have ideas for what we should do in the coming year or something we did not do well last year that we should do better next year? We'd love your input! Just reply to this message and let us know your thoughts.

Remember that you do not have to be a board member to attend Board meetings! Everyone is welcome to provide input to the Board. In general, Board meetings are the first Thursday of the month at my house.

​Planning quote of the week: “If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else.” Yogi Berra

​Do you have ideas on how to make our Sisterhood even better? You should come to one of our summer planning meetings and tell us what they are!
The Membership planning meeting is Wednesday, July 11, 7pm at Judy Stehr’s house.
Our Program planning meeting is Thursday, July 12, 7pm at Efrat Yakobi Gafni’s house.
Our Leadership Training is Sunday, July 29, 9am at TAS Social Hall.
Our Budget meeting is Thursday, August 9, 7pm at Robyn Blachman's house.
Reply to this email and let me know which meetings you are attending, and I'll send you the location.

Thought for this week: If Plan A fails, remember there are 25 more letters. 

If you are signed up for Area Day this coming Sunday, please let me know.  If not, why not?  Perhaps you will be on vacation.  It's a day filled with interesting workshops and intelligent people, and it's at Beth Hillel, so it is close by.  You can still register until July 5, although the price is now $45.  And Sisterhood will still cover $39 of your registration price if you attend.
To register, go to https://www.wrjpacific.org/southern-california-area-day.html
For a $1.50 service fee, you can pay for your registration online via credit card or paypal.  Or you can send a check to Margie Meadow, 6652 Lennox Ave, Van Nuys, CA, 91405.
The keynote speaker is Sister Gretchen Hailer who will be speaking on “Homelessness, Hospitality and Aging: Community Problem and Responsibility"  So, here is a little humor on the topic of aging:
Seeing her friend Sally wearing a new locket, Meg asks if there is a memento of some sort inside.
“Yes,” says Sally, “a lock of my husband’s hair.”
“But Larry’s still alive.”
“I know, but his hair is gone.”