​REMEMBERING PAST TAS SISTERHOOD and WRJ-PD PRESIDENT ELLEN A. POLLACK

Ellen A. Pollack was born July 9, 1951. She and her husband, Roger,moved to California because she hated the cold winters at home. They landed in the San Fernando Valley.Roger worked in a furniture store and Ellen raised their three children, Randall, and the twins, Katie and Rich. When the kids were older, she became the director of an after-school daycare program for children with working parents.

The Pollack family joined Temple Ahavat Shalom in the 1980s. In order to make friends in her new community, Ellen joined the Sisterhood.She moved right up the ladder of leadership and served as Sisterhood President from 1992-1994, and co-President with Sharon Weiss from 1994-1995. Her mentor, Esther Saritzky, z''l, saw her potential and urged her to become a WRJ-Pacific District (WRJ-PD) area director.

She served as an area director and vice president, and then as WRJ-PD president from 2004-2006. She also served several terms on the WRJ Executive Committee. She acted as as the Local Arrangements chair of the 2007 Convention in San Diego, the year of the publication of the Torah: A Women's Commentary. Wherever Ellen went she made friends -- she loved people. She always wanted to be in the know -- every little detail, please! And she hated it when her term of service was over because she really missed the opportunity to be with her friends across the country.

Ellen passed away August 14, 2018, from cancer.She will be greatly missed by all who were touched by her laughter and joy in living. She will be especially missed by her children and grandchildren, Leila and Nathaniel, Ruben and Alana.They were the absolute joy of her life!

A gold full page ad will be placed in the 2018 WRJ-PD Convention eTribute book listing the names of everyone who makes a contribution to WRJ-PD in Ellen's name. To make a tribute go to https://www.wrjpacific.org/tributes.html

Ellen's children have set up a GoFundMe page, accepting donations to defray the funeral expenses. To donate go to: https://www.gofundme.com/ellen-pollack-memorial-fund

​May her memory be for a blessing.

I heard a rumor that for the WRJ-PD convention, the rooms with two beds at the convention rate are all gone! Say it isn't so! If you are thinking of coming to convention (October 18-21) it is time to decide. There will be Sisterhood money to help with registration costs. Convention is a lot of fun, you learn a lot, and you make friends with some really intelligent and interesting women. You should decide to go!

Here's the link to register https://www.wrjpacific.org/2018-pd-convention.html.

Speaking of intelligent and interesting people, have you ever heard of Hertha Ayrton? Hertha Ayrton was born Phoebe Sarah Marks in Portsea, Hampshire, England, on April 28, 1854. She was the third child of a Polish Jewish watchmaker named Levi Marks, an immigrant from Tsarist Poland; and Alice Theresa Moss, a seamstress.

Ayrton studied mathematics at Cambridge's Girton College. During her time at Cambridge, Ayrton constructed a sphygmomanometer (blood pressure meter), led the choral society, founded the Girton fire brigade, and, together with Charlotte Scott, formed a mathematical club. In 1880, Ayrton passed the Mathematical Tripos, but Cambridge did not grant her an academic degree because, at the time, Cambridge gave only certificates and not full degrees to women. Ayrton passed an external examination at the University of London, which awarded her a Bachelor of Science degree in 1881.

In 1895, Hertha Ayrton wrote a series of articles, explaining that the tendency of electric arcs (in the electric arc lighting of the day) to flicker and hiss (a major problem) was the result of oxygen coming into contact with the carbon rods used to create the arc. In 1899, she was the first woman ever to read her own paper before the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). Shortly thereafter, Ayrton was elected the first female member of the IEE; the next woman to be admitted to the IEE was in 1958. Ayrton's work in the field of electrical engineering was recognized both domestically and internationally.

In 1906, she was awarded the Royal Society's prestigious Hughes Medal 'for her experimental investigations on the electric arc, and also on sand ripples.' She was the fifth recipient of this prize, awarded annually since 1902, in recognition of an original discovery in the physical sciences, particularly electricity and magnetism or their applications, and as of 2015, one of only two women so honored, the other being Michele Dougherty in 2008.

Ayrton died of blood poisoning (resulting from an insect bite) on August 26, 1923 at New Cottage, North Lancing, Sussex. She was definitely an intelligent and interesting woman!

Two well-documented benefits of friendship are: a longer life and a happier life. And the one aspect of friendship that makes us the happiest is doing things together with our friends. So the opportunity that I'm about to propose will, if accepted, enhance your life in meaningful ways.

We need 4(four) volunteers to work as Oneg Hostesses on the first Friday of each month. The current 'First Friday' team has decided to retire (from oneg service only), and give others the wonderful opportunity to work as oneg hostesses while making new friends and strenghtening existing friendships. It's guaranteed that you will enjoy this experience. It's fun and rewarding, and you will be one of an elite group of people who know the famous 'TAS Punch Recipe'.

If this sounds like something you would like to do please email Andy Mann or respond to this email. I look forward to hearing from you.
​Thank you.

Hard to believe that August is here already! That means that the high holidays are just around the corner. It's not to late to send honey wishes to the clergy and staff. This year, for only $36, you can wish the entire clergy and office staff a Sweet New Year.

You can get an order form from our website. Go to tassisterhood.org, click on the honey jar in the scrolling box, and print out the form. Forms are also available at the Temple. You can also still order jars of honey to be shipped to friends and/or family, but you will have to pay shipping.

Would you like your very own lulav and etrog to shake on sukkot? You can order that through Sisterhood, too. In fact, for lulav and etrog, you can order and pay all online. Go to tassisterhood.org, and click on the lulav and etrog in the scrolling box. Prefer to use a paper form? There's a link to print a paper form on the lulav and etrog page too. And forms are also available at the Temple.

Last Sunday was National Sister Day! And in honor of National Sister Day, we tell you about one of our amazing Jewish sisters, Vera Florence Cooper Rubin (July 23, 1928 - Dec. 25, 2016). Rubin was an American astronomer who pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates. She uncovered the discrepancy between the predicted angular motion of galaxies and the observed motion, by studying galactic rotation curves. This phenomenon became known as the galaxy rotation problem, and was evidence of the existence of dark matter. Although initially met with skepticism, Rubin's results were confirmed over subsequent decades. Her legacy was described by The New York Times as 'ushering in a Copernican-scale change' in cosmological theory.

Rubin spent her life advocating for women in science and was known for mentoring aspiring women astronomers. Her data provided some of the first evidence for dark matter, which had been theorized by Fritz Zwicky in the 1930s. She was honored throughout her career for her achievements. Rubin is just one of many, many amazing Jewish women.

In her honor, here is some astronomy humor:
Two atoms bump into each other.
          “I’ve lost an electron.”
          “Are you sure?”
          “Yes, I’m positive.”