Folies Esthere in Pics

Drag Queen Esther in her famous hot pink dress.

Chef Andrew from CuisinEtc was busy manning the falafel station. Mmmm.

Drag Queen Vashti loves her some hamantashens.

Mordy, played by 16-year old member Juliette Crellin, hangs with her (er, his) Jews.

The megillah kept us all in suspense.

The real stars of the evening, our fabulous CuisinEtc Chefs Andrew Alexander-Crossan and Lisa Teiger

Kabbalat Shabbat and Club Shabbat on March 5

Join us for a Kabbalat Shabbat service with Rabbi Dan and Ellen in the VCS cafeteria on Friday, March 5 at 6:30 PM.

Calling all little ones! It's time to get your Shabbat on! At Club Shabbat (6:30-7:15 PM), we'll get into the Shabbat groove with the help of Raz and Susie (plus her guitar!) Pizza, challah and grape juice will be served. Parents are invited to join in the fun or to check out our main Service in the cafeteria.

When Club Shabbat and the main service conclude our fabulous teacher, Raz Mossafi, will be leading Israeli dance after the service. Bring dancing shoes!

Spread the word - all are invited!

College Care Packages

We sent out Purim Packages to our New Shul college students both near and far! Thanks to the help of our wonderful bakers, we know our young members will have a Chag Sameach and a taste of home. Check out their delicious hamentashen and the fun goodies they sent off.







A big thank you to our great bakers:

Beth Weiner
Chuck Finkle
Anita, Phil, Megan, Ian Sher
Susan Berger
Liz Newman
Rachel Brau
Samantha and Lokae Harmon
Shonna Valeska
Eva Philips
Janice and Michele Moses
Wendy Kantor
Kathi Jacob
Amy Eichenwald Golding

Saturday Morning Tisch

Join us on Saturday, March 13 for some Torah and Talmud study with Rabbi Dan. Together we'll gather around tables and texts and grapple with the ins and outs of our faith in the traditional "pilpul" style (in-depth textual analysis). Come prepared to analyze, debate, and pick apart our sources and our beliefs.

Coffee will be served. Free and open to the public.

Time: 10:30am-noon
Location: VCS (272 West 10th St)

Tequila Minsky, friend of The New Shul, In Haiti

New Shul friend Tequila Minsky was visiting Haiti when the earthquake struck. Read the article in The Villager to learn about her experience here.

A Fresh Take on Race and Cultural Identity

A Fresh Take on Race and Cultural Identity

Sunday, February 21 at 2:30 P.M.

Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place

Join provocative author Adam Mansbach (Angry Black White Boy, The End of the Jews) and cultural critic Joan Morgan for a discussion of race, cultural identity, and hip-hop in the Jewish and Black communities at this special closing program for the last day of the groundbreaking exhibition Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow: Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges.


"I think now is a great time to discuss how the public conversation on race and art is changing hands, changing tenors, and changing direction as hip-hop generation artists and public intellectuals take center stage. That's how Joan and I both see ourselves, as folks whose political and aesthetic senses were largely forged in the fire of hip-hop at a certain time, a certain place. And the generational difference between how we might talk about these issues, versus how our parents might, is pretty significant." -- Adam Mansbach

$5 - Includes free same-day admission to the exhibition Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow (www.mjhnyc.org/college)

For tickets, call 646.437.4202 or click here.

Hamantashen Recipe

We're having a hamantashen bake-off this Sunday at two members' homes starting at 1pm. Over a dozen member chefs will be making Purim College Care Packages for over 13 students.

We will be using member Beth Weiner's favorite recipe from: "The Jewish American Kitchen" by Raymond Sokolov.

Cookie Dough

2 cups unbleached flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup sugar

8 TBSP (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 TBSP grated lemon peel

· Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large bowl.

· Work in the butter using a pastry blender or two forks, one held in each hand.

· Add the eggs, mixing in with the pastry blender.

· Add the lemon peel.

· Form the dough into a ball and wrap in wax paper

· Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (overnight is even better)

Assembly

1 recipe dough

1 recipe filling

1 egg, beaten with 1 TBSP water

Need lots of wax paper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

· Divide dough into portions you can easily roll out.

· On a floured board, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/8 to 1/4 inch

· (It rolls out best if placed between 2 sheets of waxed paper, or just heavily flour the board and rolling pin.

· Cut the dough into 3- to 4- inch circles, using the top of a glass or a cookie cutter.

· Fill each circle with a heaping teaspoon of filling and pinch the dough around it into a triangular shape.

· Brush the dough with the egg wash and bake on a greased cookie sheet for 20 to 30 minutes (20 minutes in my oven)

· When the cookies are done, they will look done – appealingly brown.

Makes about 30 Hamantaschen

FILLINGS

Apricot Filling

1/2 lb dried apricots

1 1/2 cup water

3/4 cup sugar (less)

· In a small sauce pan, over medium-low heat, cook apricots in water until very soft.

· Mash or process in food processor.

· Add sugar to taste.

· Simmer over low heat until thick – about 10 minutes.

· Cool before using.

Apple Filling

1 cup (+) applesauce

(less than) 1/2 cup raisins (plumbed and drained)

1/2 cup walnuts (chopped and toasted)

1/8 tsp cinnamon

· Combine all ingredients.

· Blend well.

· Cover and refrigerate.

Chocolate Filling

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk, cream or coffee

1 cup toasted chopped walnuts

· Combine all ingredients.

· Blend thoroughly.

Caramel Pecan Filling

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

2 cups toasted chopped pecans

7 TBSP unsalted butter or margarine

1/2 cup warm milk

1/4 cup honey

TO TOAST NUTS

· Bake a single layer of nuts at 350 degrees

· Turn or shake frequently until evenly browned – 5 to 10 minutes

Notes from Chef Beth: The Chocolate Filling is the easiest -- and most tasty. The Apricot is more traditional, not too hard, just needs to be watched. While I love the Apple, it is the one most likely not to stay sealed. The Caramel Pecan is also really good. I often make half a batch of two fillings for each batch of dough.

We're Celebrating Purim all Weekend (Feb 27-28)

Join us Saturday, February 27th at 7pm for Folies Esthere - don't just here the megillah, be the megillah (in drag!). Come in costume.

New Shul Members: Free
Non-Members: $10

Where
272 West 10th Street (between Greenwich & Washington Streets)

Catering provided by the fabulous CuisinEtc - reason alone to come!

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Then, on Sunday, February 28th at 10am, continue the celebration at our Rebbe's Table at City Winery.

Treachery, Grrrl Power and Noisemakers

Rabbi Dan Ain will lead a provocative discussion of the tale of treachery, female power and noisemakers that marks Purim.

“Purim is the story of a woman who delivered the Jews from a treacherous palace plot to annihilate them,” said Rabbi Ain. “Over brunch we’ll discuss the story of the mysterious players in the court of an ancient Persian king and why we celebrate Purim by putting on plays, making noise and getting drunk.”

New Shul Members: $12
Non-Members: $15
(includes a seat at The Rebbe's Table, music cover charge, coffee/tea and juice; brunch is a la carte)

Where:
City Winery, 155 Varick Street in Manhattan. Subway: 1 Train to Houston Street or Canal Street; C / E Trains to Spring Street.

Passover Deliveries to Homebound Seniors

We are joining forces again this year with Project Ezra to help deliver Passover food boxes to the Jewish elderly on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The food boxes will contain all the ingredients the seniors will need for a kosher Passover. In addition to just dropping off the food, you have a chance to bring a smile to the door as you greet (and hug) this homebound population.

When: Sunday, March 21 beginning at 9:30 AM

Where: Project Ezra, 465 Grand Street

Volunteers should commit to come for one hour, either the 9:30 AM or 10:30 AM spots. Only volunteers with cars are needed, and it is easiest when there is at least two volunteers, a driver and one more. You will pick up the boxes of food at Project Ezra and then go deliver them to the seniors. If possible and appropriate, we encourage volunteers to visit with the senior as well.

Any questions or to sign-up, please call Dalia Abott at 212-982-4124. Thank you!

Another Member added to the Shabbat on Tap Dialogue

You, Too, Can Change the World

Insights and Tips for Action in a Jewish Context

Friday, February 19 at Honey (243 W 14th St) at 7pm

Free and open to all!

From Barack Obama's campaign to text donations for Haiti earthquake relief, people are tuning into ways to better society. Join experts Rachael Bregman, Amy Mereson and Rabbi Dan Ain for a discussion on how to heal, repair and transform the world.

About the Panelists who will be joining Rabbi Dan:

Rachael Bregman is a fifth-year rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College, where she has served as the student rabbi at the Hebrew Association for the Deaf, as the rabbinic intern at Brooklyn Heights Synagogue and Jewish Community Action in St. Paul, Minnesota. In March 2007, she was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy as a chaplain candidate. She is currently a chaplain intern at Mt. Sinai hospital in Manhattan. She has served as coordinator of Hebrew Union College's Soup Kitchen, a "Rabbis Without Borders" Fellow of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, and an alumna of American Jewish World Service's Rabbinical Students' Delegation to Muchucuxcah, Mexico in January 2009. Her rabbinical thesis analyzes the use of the Biblical verse, "Justice, justice, thou shalt pursue," throughout the Jewish literary tradition. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Boston College and an Ed.M. in Human Development from Harvard's Graduate School of Education.

Amy Mereson is the Director of Youth, Education and Arts Programs at University Settlement, a 124-year-old Lower East Side-based organization which launched the Settlement movement in the United States back in 1886. University Settlement provides comprehensive, holistic services to more than 20,000 New Yorkers of all ages each year. Amy oversees more than a dozen of the Settlement's programs, including after-school programs, day camps, community centers, literacy classes for immigrants, arts education and cultural programs. She is a founding member of The New Shul.

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UJA's Job Fair - Meet Employers and Discover Opportunities!

When:
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 1:30 – 4:30 pm

Where:
The JCC in Manhattan
334 Amsterdam Avenue at 76th Street

What:
• Meet professionals from a broad range of companies and staffing firms
• Speak with employers
• Speed networking event
• Meet our legal, financial, employment and counseling specialists

Contact:
Registration required. Call (646) 505 – 5708 or go to www.jccmanhattan.org
For more information, call (212) 399 – 2685 ext 206 or email connect-to-care@jbfcs.org
Visit them on-line at www.jcprograms.org/connect-to-care

Jeff Tohl Needs a Bone Marrow Transplant

In December of 2006 Jeff Tohl was diagnosed with a rare form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. As part of his treatment, Jeff requires a stem cell transplant and none of his family members are a match to donate. A patient is most likely going to match someone of a similar ethnic group and because the Jewish community is underrepresented on the registry, Jeff’s challenge is even greater. He is a husband, a father, a son, a brother and a friend to many. He needs your help. You could be the miracle and save a life ! Join the registry today. You can "meet" Jeff through youtube or, even better, join the match registry to see if you are a match and could do this wonderful mitzvah for someone who is truly in need. You may also call 800-MARROW-2 for more information.

Shabbat on Tap - Friday, February 19

You, Too, Can Change the World

November 19 Session to Offer Insights and Tips for Action in a Jewish Context

From Barack Obama’s campaign to text donations for Haiti earthquake relief, people are tuning into ways to better society. Join experts Rachael Bregman and Rabbi Dan Ain for a discussion on how to heal, repair and transform the world on Friday, February 19 at 7 pm at Honey, located at 243 West 14th Street in Manhattan.

“From the tragedy in Haiti to poverty in our city, many of us grapple with how to bring about changes in our world we hope to see,” said Rabbi Ain. “Together with Rachael Bregman we’ll combine insights from Jewish tradition and on-the-ground experience to explore how each of us can improve our world on both a large and small scale.”

The event, which is open to the public, is the next installment in Shabbat on Tap, a new Shabbat-in-a-Bar series for New Yorkers that tackles big questions in a comfortable setting.

Honey is located at 243 West 14th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues (subway: 1, 2, or 3 to 14th Street).

About Rachael Bregman:

Rachel is a fifth-year rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College, where she has served as the student rabbi at the Hebrew Association for the Deaf, as the rabbinic intern at Brooklyn Heights Synagogue and Jewish Community Action in St. Paul, Minnesota. In March 2007, she was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy as a chaplain candidate. She is currently a chaplain intern at Mt. Sinai hospital in Manhattan. She has served as coordinator of Hebrew Union College’s Soup Kitchen, a “Rabbis Without Borders” Fellow of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, and an alumna of American Jewish World Service’s Rabbinical Students’ Delegation to Muchucuxcah, Mexico in January 2009. Her rabbinical thesis analyzes the use of the Biblical verse, “Justice, justice, thou shalt pursue,” throughout the Jewish literary tradition. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Boston College and an Ed.M. in Human Development from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.