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Home > Membership > The Voice - July 2025 - Tammuz/Av 5785

The Voice - July 2025 - 5785

Services this Month

Shabbat Services
Friday | July 11 | 7:00 pm
 

Join us for joyful Shabbat services led by Rabbi Rebecca Reice.
Save the Date! August Shabbat Services
Friday, August 1  |  Services 7:00pm
 

Join us for joyful Shabbat services led by Rabbi Reice.

Upcoming Events

Rabbi Reice's Office Hours
 
Office Hours
2 July 2025 (6 Tamuz) 11:30am - 5:30pm
9 July 2025 (13 Tamuz) 11am - 5pm
14 July 2025 (18 Tamuz) 10am - 4pm
22 July 2025 (26 Tamuz) 10am - 4pm
28 July 2025 (3 Av) 11:30am - 5:30pm
 
Upcoming Days Off
3 July 2025 (7 Tamuz) - comp for 6/25
7 July 2025 (11 Tamuz) - comp for 7/1
10 July 2025 (14 Tamuz) - comp for 7/2
17 July 2025 (21 Tamuz) - comp for 7/9
18 July 2025 (22 Tamuz) - comp for 7/11
23 July 2025 (27 Tamuz) - comp for 7/14
25 July 2025 (29 Tamuz) - comp for 7/15
30 July 2025 (5 Av) - comp for 7/21
31 July 2025 (6 Av) - comp for 7/22
 
Office Closed
4 July 2025 (8 Tamuz) - Office Closed for National Holiday
 
During Office hours, Rabbi Reice will be answering the phone, answering emails, and meeting with those folks who have scheduled an appointment (in person, over the phone or a video call). Please feel free to call or email Rabbi Reice during these times. (Of course, contact her, or our President, Cindy Tarsi, immediately for more urgent matters.)
 
Please email our administrator, Rachel McEwen (administrator@shir-ami.com), to schedule an appointment in advance.
Celebrating Birthdays and Anniversaries in July
 

Happy Anniversary:
7/3        Amy & Paul Clift
7/7        Kimberly & Mark Stefanowicz
7/13        Gale & Chris McMahon
7/25        Rabbi Rebecca Reice & Asher Lazarus
 
Happy Birthday:
7/10        Elizabeth Coleman
7/11        Wes Eichenwald
7/17        Heather Levinsky
Board of Trustees

Sunday | July 28 | 7:00 pm

 

All members are invited to attend the Board of Trustees meetings.  If you would like to attend this meeting, or wish to speak at the meeting, please contact our President, Cindy Tarsi, president@shir-ami.com.
Women's Mah Jongg
If you are interested in learning or playing, contact Maxine or Leslie
 
 
The women in our group meet once or twice a month to play Mah Jongg, kibbitz, nosh and enjoy a relaxing afternoon. Our members volunteer to host these afternoon games at their homes. Members who would like to make a donation at the end of each game may do so. At the end of the year the group makes a donation to Shir Ami and chooses another worthy Jewish charity.
Happy Bookers
Date: Saturday, July 19
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Book: City Boy: The Adventures of Herbie Bookbinder by Herman Wouk
 
 
 
About the Book
An "enormously entertaining" portrait of "a Bronx Tom Sawyer," City Boy is a sharp and moving novel of boyhood from Pulitzer Prize winner Herman Wouk. (San Francisco Chronicle) City Boy spins a hilarious and often touching tale of an urban kid's adventures and misadventures on the street, in school, in the countryside, always in pursuit of Lucille, a heartless redhead personifying all the girls who torment and fascinate pubescent lads of eleven.
 
About the Author
Herman Wouk was a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning Jewish American author whose novels include The Caine Mutiny, Marjorie Morningstar, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance. Born in New York City to a Russian Jewish immigrant family, he spent his childhood and adolescence in the Bronx, and received a bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1934. He then became a radio dramatist, working in David Freedman's "Joke Factory" and later with Fred Allen for five years and then, in 1941, for the United States government, writing radio spots to sell war bonds. Herman Wouk joined the U.S. Navy during WW II and served in the Pacific Theater, an experience he later characterized as educational; "I learned about machinery, I learned how men behaved under pressure, and I learned about Americans." He began writing his first novel, Aurora Dawn during off hours aboard ship, receiving a publisher’s contract when his ship was off the coast of Okinawa. His second novel, City Boy, was published in 1948 and was initially a commercial disappointment. Herman Wouk’s career as a novelist spanned nearly six decades and brought him resounding international acclaim. He died in his sleep in his home in Palm Springs, California, on May 17, 2019, at the age of 103, ten days before his 104th birthday.
About Happy Bookers
The Happy Bookers book club is open to Shir Ami members. Interested prospective members should contact the Shir Ami Membership Committee.
 
2025 SCHEDULE
7/19: City Boy by Herman Wouk
8/23: West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge
9/20: Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth by Noa Tishby
10/25: The Liar by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
11/22: The Morning After the Revolution by Nellie Bowles
12/20: When Angels Left the Old Country by Sasha Lamb
1/2026: Here All Along by Sarah Hurwitz
 

Shir Ami News

Mi Shebeirach

Our Prayers for the Physical, Spiritual and Emotional Healing for those named and any others in need.
 
Please email Rabbi Reice at rreice@shir-ami.com to enter a name on the list or remove a name from the list.
 
Mona Bailey, Barbara Baum, Bill Bitner, Ralph Burdett, Pamela Caulder-Fine, Roy Coover, Glen Fine, Leora Forstein, Janet Friedman, Linda Friedman, Ingrid Gabriel, Lynn Gelber, Carol Goldmark, Juliet Clare Grabish, Jessica Heggen, Teme Levbarg, Rabbi Mark Levin, William Lenz, John Liberty, Eric Maginniss, Nikki Maza, Geri Meyers, Kay Moore, Dominae Petrosini, Tobey Ramirez, Emory Plum Schlanger, James Smallwood, Skylar Stefanowicz, Trystan Stefanowicz, Cindy Tarsi (Chasye Chana bat Laya Raizel v’Avraham Yitzchak HaLevi), Jim Tarsi, Esther Thomas, Laura Wildeman, Carole Wood, Dale Wood, Dominic Wood, Bonnie Zimmer
The Caring Circle - Care to Get Involved?
 
 

Lending a helping hand to members in times of stress is a vital part of any congregation. Kind and caring Shir Ami members volunteer in this group to help provide support to other Shir Ami congregants in times of life's challenges such as illness, death, divorce, and birth. Specific activities include helping to secure a minyan for a memorial or shiva service, sending notes to members on the loss of a loved one, arranging transportation for a member to attend services or other Shir Ami events, and providing meals, sending cards, visiting, or calling congregants during times of illness or post-hospitalization.
 
If you are experiencing any of these challenges and wish to be contacted by the Caring Circle, please contact Rabbi Reice. If you wish to be a more active Caring Circle volunteer, please contact Sara Goodman at CaringCircle@Shir-Ami.com. All are welcome!

Shir Ami and Drive a Senior Northwest – Partners in Supporting our Older Adults

Volunteer Drivers Needed
Please consider becoming a volunteer driver for the Drive a Senior Northwest program. By offering to drive someone just one or two short trips a month, you will be an unbelievable help to our many older adults still living at home in the northwest Austin/Cedar Park/Leander area. Driving an older adult is incredibly rewarding and very much appreciated. Please go online to driveaseniornorthwest.org to read about the program, then print a volunteer form, fill it out, and mail it in. Or ask Sara Goodman (sgoodman123@gmail.com) for more information about the program.
Services to Adults 60+
If you or a loved one is 60+ and needs help to stay in your/their home, Drive A Senior Northwest is here for you. Services include rides to doctor’s appointments, the grocery store, community activities, etc. as well as minor home repair, telephone reassurance, and a twice monthly senior day out. Contact Drive a Senior Northwest at driveaseniornorthwest.org or (512) 250-5021.

Community News

Austin Jewish Film Festival
Shalom Austin  |  July 6  |  7:30pm
 
 
When a DNA test completely upends a woman's life, she embarks on a hilarious journey with her eccentric mother to find out who she really is while preparing for her daughter's bat mitzvah. Click here for more information
Hadassah Happy Hour
July 10  |  5:30pm
 
 
Please join us for our monthly happy hour at a wine bar in the Northwest Hills. We'll get to know one another over drinks and grow sisterly bonds through our shared passions. Click here to register!
Questions? Contact Sarah Swernofsky at austin@hadassah.org
Palace Theater Art Show
May 8 - July 10
 
 
Shir Ami member Leora Forstein has two pieces of art on display at the Palace Theater in the Springer Lobby. Contact Leora for details about the art show. Tickets to the performance of Fiddler on the Roof can be found by clicking here.
Circle of Security
June 5 - July 24  |  9:00 am  |  Shalom Austin
 
 
An 8-week group-style course in attachment based parenting. Together with other parents and a child therapist, participants will learn to confidently navigate their child’s big feelings and difficult behaviors. Click here to register!
https://hebrewfreeloanofaustin.org/Interest Free Loans for Camp
 
We all know the importance that a Jewish Summer Camp experience can have on the formulation of a child’s Jewish identity. I wanted to share with you the news that Hebrew Free Loan of Austin is providing no interest loans of up to $2500 to families seeking assistance in sending children or grandchildren to Jewish Summer Camp.  In addition, HFLA is not requiring a guarantor for such loans.  Paid back over the course of the year, this can a be an easy way for families to essentially save for camp all year long.
Jewish Family Services Caregiver Support Groups
Family Caregiver Support Group: This is an ongoing group and meets the first and third Thursday of each month. It is a safe place for family members caring for adult loved ones to discuss the stresses, challenges, and rewards of caregiving. To register, click here

Volunteer for Shalom Austin JFS Food Pantry

The Client Choice Shalom Austin JFS Food Pantry is always looking to engage volunteers in food drives, packing food bags, and making deliveries. Anyone interested in getting involved in any capacity, can email Joan Eisenberg Maniere at joan.maniere@shalomaustin.org.
Also, if you know of any community members who are facing food insecurity, please have them contact Joan, and she can get them enrolled into the program.

Interest Free Loans

Hebrew Free Loan of Austin provides short-term financial support for members of the Austin Jewish community through interest-free loans that springboard you to your next step in life. Could you or someone you know use a hand-up with an interest free loan? Loans can be made available within a week or even same day in emergencies! Contact info@hfla.org or visit https://hebrewfreeloanofaustin.org.
Wed, July 9 2025 13 Tammuz 5785