Yikes!  How did November get here so fast?  Well it's going to go by just as fast, because November is a busy month - The 5th is Mitzvah Day (not a Sisterhood event, but we hope you will be there.)  The 12th is the Paid-up luncheon (just for members and Friends) and the 19th is our Holiday Boutique (bring your friends, both Jewish and non-Jewish to this one!)
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RSVPs are necessary for the Paid-up luncheon!  If you haven't RSVP'ed yet, RSVP to Judy Stehr at [email protected], or just reply to this email.
Here are some links in case you want to know more about these events.
Mitzvah Day:
https://www.tasnorthridge.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Mitzvah-Day-2017-Donations-and-Details.pdf
Paid-up luncheon: 
http://tassisterhood.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/9/0/109022497/paid_up_membership_event_2017.pdf
Holiday Boutique:
​http://tassisterhood.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/9/0/109022497/tas-sisboutique-2017.pdf
The other day someone asked if they could come to the paid-up, even though they weren't a member or a Friend of Sisterhood.  Sure!  Cost is $45.
Somewhat pricey for a lunch, but they also get free admittance to all Sisterhood general meetings for the rest of the year.

Why did we, your Sisterhood Presidents, choose to step up and lead Sisterhood?  We love Judaism, our Sisters nurture and support us, our Temple community benefits from a strong Sisterhood, and Sisterhood won't thrive unless capable women step up to leadership.

Now we are faced with what may be the most difficult times at the Temple since it began over 50 years ago.  But we promise that the following things won't change: Sisterhood will continue to support the Temple and the Temple kids.  Sisterhood will provide opportunities for us to enjoy Judaic , educational, and social events.  Sisterhood will provide leadership training and growth opportunities.

Just as our Sisterhood is more than our Presidents, our Temple is more than our clergy.  Our Temple is men, women and children who share a common thread: Judaism.

The coming days will challenge all of us.  There will be passionate opinions on all sides.  Please don't just walk away. If, just  like us, you care about Judaism, want our Temple family to continue, and want our Sisterhood to thrive, show it by keeping an open mind, by listening as well as talking, and by being respectful (even to someone who doesn't deserve your respect.) Families *can* disagree and still stay together.  Consider stepping up and being part of the solution, rather than running away from the problem.

We look forward to working with you to make our Sisterhood and our Temple vibrant and successful,  because, as the WRJ slogan says it all, we are "Stronger Together." 

We are happy to report that we currently have 118 Members and 7 Friends of Sisterhood.  We are so pleased that you are one of our Members!  We hope you will be able to join us at our paid-up membership luncheon on Sunday, November 12.  Jill Gold Wright will be speaking to us on the Immigrant Experience and its Impact on American Theater.  It will be very interesting. 
The Holiday Boutique is the following Sunday (November 19) - a great way to get your holiday shopping done and support Sisterhood at the same time!
Have you been to our website yet?  It's www.tassisterhood.org.  We have program flyers under "Program/Monthly Programs," flyers for our fundraisers under (can you guess?) "Fundraisers," and photos under - well, you know it.  We only have photos of this year's events so far, but we are planning to add past photos too.
Some Jewish humor to finish off this email:
Shul committees should be made up of three members, two of whom should be absent at every meeting.
It was mealtime during a flight on El Al. "Would you like dinner?" the flight attendant asked Moshe, seated in front. "What are my choices?" Moshe asked. "Yes or no," she replied.
An elderly Jewish man is knocked down by a car and is brought to the local hospital. A pretty nurse tucks him into bed and says, "Mr. Gevarter, are you comfortable?" Gevarter replies, "I make a living....

Our Sukkot celebration last Thursday was wonderful - great attendance, good food (loved the spanakopita!) and Cantor Ken did a very nice job leading our Sukkot celebration.  Our thanks to Jo and Jim for hosting us - what a great sukkah they have!
We have pictures posted!  One of our goals this year is to regularly post pictures from Sisterhood activities.  To view them, go to our Sisterhood website (tassisterhood.org) and choose the "Photos" menu item.   If you don't see any menu items, look for the three horizontal lines in the upper left corner and click on that to bring up the menu.  If you see the message "This section requires Adobe Flash to be installed," just ignore it.  It's not true.
One nice thing about our new Sisterhood website is that all the emails we send are posted there (on the "Blog" page) and all flyers are posted there (on the "Meetings" and "Fundraisers" pages.)  So if you can't find an email or want to double-check the time or location for an event, go to our website  (tassisterhood.org)!
Our next event will be our Paid-up Membership luncheon on Nov. 12, to which all Sisterhood Members and Friends are invited to attend free of charge.  The flyer is on our website (tassisterhood.org - click Programs/Monthly Programs/Paid-up Luncheon.)
In honor of Sukkot, we present "Rules of the Sukkah, Dr. Seuss style, by Rabbi Arthur E Gould."  We're only comfortable reproducing the beginning (due to copyright restrictions) which is:
You can build it very small (1)
You can build it very tall (2)
You can build it very large (3)
You can build it on a barge
You can build it on a ship (4)
Or on a roof but please don’t slip (5)
You can build it in an alley (6)
You shouldn’t build it in a valley (7)
You can build it on a wagon (8)
You can build it on a dragon (9)
​Go to http://www.sukkahworld.com/pages/index.php?title=rules/ to see this the entire poem (with lovely graphics and footnotes!)        

We already sent over $500 in gift cards to Texas, but if you want to contribute, you still can; we are also still collecting for hurricane victims.  If you want to bring gift cards (Target, Walmart, Home Depot and/or Kroger/Ralphs) to Thursday's meeting, Mel Birken will take care of sending them to a Temple that can use them or distribute them to families in need.  Or drop them off at the Temple in a sealed envelope marked "Sisterhood - for Hurricane victims"
If you prefer to donate $$$$ directly, here are some options:
=> To donate to the Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands) go to this website:http://synagogue.vi/donate/hurricane-irma-relief-effort/
=> To give to Shaare Zedek / JCC of Puerto Rico got to: http://www.jccpr.org/
Also, physical donations can be brought to a local Puerto Rican restaurant, Mofongos, which is at 5757 Lankershim. Right now, they are asking for cleaning and baby items( diapers, wipes, clothing, and kids clothes , socks and underwear.)  Later they will take adult clothing.  Also bottled water and non perishable food.
Speaking of food, here is a quick overview of the Jewish calendar:
   Rosh Hashanah -- Feast
   Yom Kippur -- Fast
   Sukkot -- Feast
   Hoshanah Rabbah -- More feasting
   Simchat Torah -- Keep feasting
   Month of Heshvan-No feasts or fasts for a whole month. Get a grip on yourself.
   Hanukkah -- Eat potato pancakes
   Tenth of Tevet -- Do not eat potato pancakes
   Tu B'Shevat -- Feast
   Fast of Esther -- Fast
   Purim -- Eat pastry
   Passover -- Do not eat pastry
   Shavuot -- Dairy feast (cheesecake, blintzes etc.)
   Seventeenth of Tammuz-Fast (definitely no cheesecake or blintzes)
   Nine days of Av -- Don't eat meat.
   Might be OK to eat cheescake or blintzes.
   Tish B'Av -- Very strict fast (don't even think about cheesecake or blintzes)
   Month of Elul -- End of cycle.
   Enroll in Center for Eating Disorders before High Holidays arrive again.