A joyous community of Jewish women engaged in prayer, study and spiritual growth
December 2014
Lt Lev Eisha Light Up Your Life
This is the season of light. Where do you find the light in your life? Join us on Saturday, December 6 and share the light with your Lev Eisha community. We will begin at 8:15 with a light breakfast and teaching by Rabbi August on mystical insights into the Hanukkah lights. Join the conversation and meet your friends at breakfast at Lev Eisha.
The breakfast teaching is immediately followed by Shabbat services let by Rabbi August and Cantorial Soloist Cindy Paley. Torah readings are from Vayishlach from the book of Genesis.
Our breakfast sponsor this month is Bobbie Peyser in honor of her husband, Art’s 90th birthday. Be sure to stay for a delicious kiddush luncheon, sponsored by Hilda Mills in honor of her 80th birthday, and in memory of her husband Sheldon Mills; by Janis Cohen in honor of the birthdays of her son Lawrence Pious (27) and her father Mel Cohen, (86); by Edith Ballonoff in honor of her daughter Lynn Beliak’s 66th birthday; by Sara Fields in honor of her 70th birthday; and by Judy Rosenzweig as her last Shabbat before moving to Italy.
Thank you to all the sponsors for this month’s Shabbat. If it weren’t for you, our congregation would not be able provide full kiddush lunches and breakfasts. The Lev Eisha community is a beautiful place to celebrate special events in our lives and those of our loved ones. Please be sure to send an email to Lynn Beliak, or call her at 310-286-2831, to let her know which month you would like to sponsor. There are 6 more months left – please get your request in early.
Anna Alexis, Barbara Axelband, Rhonda Kiff, Leonia Kallir Kurgan, Helayne Levy, Shana Maloy, Judy Sherman
Time to Renew Your Membership
If you haven’t renewed your membership, there is no better time than now! We will be distributing premium gifts at our December service, so please renew or join now. Premiums for those joining above the Miriam level include a Lev Eisha name tag and any of the following gifts;
A Guide for the Perplexed by Dara Horn, selected by Rabbi August
The Lev Eisha “anthology” music CD
A Cindy Paley CD
A Lev Eisha tote bag (if you pick this premium, you can take it on your vacation and send us a photo for the Newsletter! Read further to see where our Lev tote bag went last month.)
Please note: breakfast will be available at 8:15 am.
Rabbi’s teaching to start promptly at 8:30 am.
Dec. 6
Breakfast & Brucha, followed by Shabbat Services
Jan. 3 Shabbat Services
Feb. 7 Breakfast & Brucha, followed by Shabbat Services
March 7 Shabbat Services
March 8 (Sunday) Lev Eisha Fundraiser
April No service in April, as the first Shabbat of the month is the second Passover seder and the second Shabbat of the month is the last day of Passover and Yizkor
May 2 Breakfast & Brucha, followed by Shabbat Services
June 6 Shabbat Services
December Is the Month for Giving
Thank you to those who donated to Lev Eisha this month:
Toba August
Toni Glick, in memory of her husband, Mike Glick
Annette Levey dedicated 10 prayerbooks in memory of Sam & Ethel Levey
Helene Fischer dedicated 10 prayerbrooks in memory of Avraham Fischer
Lev Ladies Walk for Ovarian Cancer by Marla Osband
The Ladies of Lev did us proud again this year as they participated in the Cedars Sinai Ovarian Cancer “Run for Her” on November 9. Under the banner of Team Marla with Judy Fishman as captain, 31 of us ran or walked the 5K, along with 5500 other participants. Mighty Team Marla came in the top twenty fund raisers! My granddaughter did the run in under 26 minutes, while I walked with a time closer to an hour and a half, holding Beverly, Bonnie or my daughter’s hand the whole way.
Many wonderful Lev Eisha ladies participated, along with various and sundry other family and friends who are not affiliated with Lev Eisha. Team Marla, ably captained by Judy Fishman, included Sharon Asarch, Mara Beck, Barbara Brown, Janis Cohen, Diane Elias, Linda Emanuel, Verna Erez, Sara Fields, Barbara Fraser, Andrea Goldman, Beverly Goldman, Barbara Goldstone, Ruth Grossman, Shaun Jacobs, Lisa Jamner, Myrna Kayton, Lynn Osband, Marla Osband, Rachel Osband, Marian Price, Bonita Selk, Rose Ziff, and others, in addition to my husband Ron, who participated as a “sleepwalker.”
My heart is full of love and gratitude for the lovely Lev ladies who without a doubt have kept me physically and emotionally going this past year. I could not be more appreciative. The Team ended the morning saying a shechiyanu together, a touching and emotionally meaningful moment.
Hanukkah Candles and our Restless Souls by Rabbi August
The world is in a restless and tense time as we approach the Hanukkah season. We have a sense of discomfort and yearn for resolution of conflict and the cycle of violence. We think the natural state of our beings should be balance and peace, yet truthfully, our natural states are restless and our very soul is often in a state of being pulled in many directions.
We are reading the narrative of Jacob, one of our patriarchs, and during the Hanukkah celebration, he is wrestling with an angel. Jacob is wrestling with his conscience and his soul. His name is then changed to “Israel” which in Hebrew means “one who wrestles and struggles”
with God to find the truth of his or her being. We are the children of Israel. We are “wrestlers” with our souls.
The Hanukkah lights themselves are restless sparks. Look at them. They do not stand still, but rather contain a dynamic friction. Watch the flame flicker as it rises and falls. A Hassidic rebbe teaches that this is like the soul reaching upward only to be drawn back below, like a vibrant dance which is called
Rotzo V’shuv…yearning and returning. A flame, like our soul, is never stagnant. It is always in restless tension, a holy dance.
The situation in the Middle East and the killings in Israel are horrific and create a sense of utter hopelessness and despair. I will not accept this state, and instead invite in goodness, kindness and joy, especially during this holiday season of light and giving.
What do the Hanukkah lights inspire us to do? Lighting and meditating on the lights remind us that we are here:
to fight for justice and for what is right, like the Maccabees;
to stand up and make a difference;
to see what needs to be fixed;
to hear the silent cries of those who need our help.
So, if you have been feeling restless, dissatisfied or unhappy, maybe you are right with your soul! Kindle your own flames – breathe dynamic restlessness and feel the yearning within you. When you generate your light, you will find the place where God needs you to be!
Happy Hanukkah and a joyful holiday season. May there be flickers of peace in our troubled world.
So It’s Your Birthday!
Come on, everyone has them – can’t avoid them – so why not celebrate? We’d like to acknowledge your birthday in the Newsletter. Click HERE to send us the MONTH OF YOUR BIRTH ONLY, and the entire Lev Eisha community will wish you a Happy Birthday!
Lev Eisha at the Kotel
Thank you to Rachelle Neshkes, who sent us this photo of herself (and her Lev bag) at the Kotel in Jerusalem.
Let’s Fill Up The Barrels for SOVA!
Don’t forget to bring your SOVA donations to the December 6 Lev Eisha service for our 6th annual SOVA drive.
Food can be kosher or non-kosher. Please check expiration dates, and be sure that no donation is packed in glass. Especially needed items: soup, peanut butter, boxes of pasta, canned fruits and vegetables, canned meat and tuna, whole grain cereals, and toiletry items such as bars of soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, and deodorant. We will assist you with getting your bags unloaded.
If you would prefer to make a donation, you can access SOVA online HERE. Follow the website to a donation page.
Dancing With My Soul – Not Too Late to Sign Up!
Formerly called “the Wagner Weekend,” Dancing With My Soul is a weekend retreat for women to explore their soul through Shabbat, mind and body connections, prayer, dance, song, discussions, nature and camaraderie.
When and where does this magical weekend happen?
January 23-25, 2015, on the beautiful campus of Brandeis-Bardin in Simi Valley.
Cost is $300/person double occupancy; $425/person single occupancy.
Invite your friends, sisters, mothers and daughters to share this uplifting experience. We must have a group of 60 to go forward.
Lynn Beliak, Lorraine Factor, Lawrence Feinberg, Sara Fields, Roberta Kresch, Hilda Mills, Shoshi Wilchfort, and everyone who has a December birthday.
If you have a milestone to share, please send it to Rose Ziff at editor@leveisha.org.
Birthdays, weddings, graduations, Bat or Bar Mitzvot, births, special awards/honors, and exotic vacations are some of the simchas that are fun to share with our community.
This is also the place to ask our community to join you in prayers of healing for those who are ill or in memory of those who have passed away. Our newsletter is usually published the Monday before each service.
ap & Directions
Lev Eisha Shabbat Services are held at Vista Del Mar
3200 Motor Ave., Los Angeles 90034
Click on the map for directions.
Welcome to Lev Eisha, a spiritual prayer service by and for women. B’ruchot Ha’baot – we invite you to join us with great blessing. We provide a joyous environment with opportunities for soulful prayer, energetic song and dance, deep Jewish study, and meditation. Each person, in their own way, finds what they need for their personal and spiritual growth at Lev Eisha.
What makes our community so unique? The answer is reflected in our name. “Lev” means heart, and “Eisha” means woman. When women come together with open hearts, we figuratively hold each others’ hearts in profound acceptance, understanding and love.
Join us and support Lev Eisha. By attending you are giving yourself the greatest gift; time for yourself, a “spiritual fix” to keep you balanced and centered for the month. Lev Eisha will transform your Jewish soul.
Lev Eisha | 10736 Jefferson Blvd. #706 | Culver City | CA | 90230
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annual SOVA drive. 
