B’nai Amoona : “Interfaith Families and the Jewish Future” was the topic at the recent meeting of the Grandparents Group for those who have children who are intermarried. The special discussion and dessert featured guest speaker Edmund Case, president and publisher of InterfaithFamily.com. The mission of the non-profit organization is to empower interfaith families to make Jewish choices and to encourage the Jewish community to be welcoming of interfaith families.

Bais Abraham Congregation

Rabbi Hyim Shafner’s topic was “Bottoms Up: Alcohol and the Jewish Tradition” at the recent Torah on Tap held in the St. Louis Room of Blueberry Hill.

Intercongregational Softball League

UH Ball-a-Bustas beat Bais Abraham in the first round of the playoffs 20-0 behind excellent defense and stellar pitching by Scott Lieberman. Randy Stern and Jim Broddon hit towering home runs over the fence. Jeff Shifrin had an inside-the-park home run as well as three other hits. Adam Herman had a big triple to the fence. Wendy Gellman and Golda Cohen had a few great hits to help the team. Bryan Rader had three timely hits. In the Quarter-Finals, UH Ball-a-Bustas beat Shaare Zedek 19-11. It was a close game early until UH scored seven in the bottom of the first and then pushed across runs in the fourth and fifth with the help of home runs by Randy Stern and Ron Gibbs. Andy Spielberg, Mike Alter and Jim Broddon connected on some great hits in both games. Mic Spielberg added some solid defense as Michael Poscover pitched out of a few jams to get the victory. In the first round of the playoffs CRC City Slickers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, behind four consecutive doubles by Tony Lang, David Levy, Ben White and Larry White. The Killer Bees scored once in the second and added five more in the fourth to take a 6-4 lead. The City Slickers answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, one run in the fifth and three in the sixth. The Killer Bees kept it close by scoring one run in the sixth and one in the seventh but fell just short. The final score was 10-8 in favor of CRC. In the second-round game CRC City Slickers took on Traditional Family Values. Again CRC jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning with seven consecutive hits and one walk from the first eight batters. Traditional fought right back scoring six runs in the bottom of the second to take a 6-5 lead. CRC added two runs on the four to go up 7-6. The rain came in the top of the fifth and there was a 45-minute rain delay. When play resumed Traditional scored in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at seven all. CRC scored one run in the sixth and two runs in the seventh lead by Tony Lang’s triple to right center. In the bottom of the seventh Traditional got their first two men on base and Morty Rinder smacked a shot over the left fielder for a game-tying three-run homer. There were still no outs in the seventh, but CRC was able to get out of the inning getting three consecutive outs. In the first extra inning Larry White hit a double to center and David Krojanker drove him home with a triple to right center. David was thrown out at the plate trying to stretch it to a home run. Traditional Family Values had one last chance to tie or take home the victory but CRC’s defense held strong to preserve the victory 11-10. With little production from the offense, the Tribe defense stepped up and shut down the Tikkunim. Outfielders Jeremy Shook and Marc Braun took away extra-base hits from Traditional hitters. After a shaky start, pitcher Bryan Fadem turned in his strongest performance of the season. Temple Israel advanced to the semifinals for the first time in team history.

Nusach Hari

B’nai Zion

There was a great turnout for the event honoring the founder of modern Kabbalah, Rabbi Isaac Luria (the “ARI”), and the inauguration of the Pizza Caf é, The Lion’s Den. More than 60 men, women and children attended Friday night services under the stars at the field that is the site of the synagogue’s new location. The upbeat, uplifting, services were led by recording artist Scott Friedman. On Shabbat morning following services, attendees were treated to a Kiddush lunch and very special guest speaker, Rabbi Levi Landa of Chabad St. Louis who held a very insightful and touching talk on “The Spirituality of the Ari.” On Shabbat afternoon Rabbi Ze’ev Smason discussed “The Ari’s Ideas in the Modern World.” The ARI Weekend concluded on Sunday night with the grand opening dinner of the synagogue’s new Pizza Caf é, “The Lion’s Den” (named after The ARI, of course). More than 200 people turned out for a freshly made kosher pizza, pasta and salad buffet.

Shaare Emeth

This summer the synagogue was filled with the sounds of campers from the preschoolers at Camp Micah to the K-8th graders at Camp Emeth. Under the direction of Kathy Zigler at Camp Micah and Jodi Miller at Camp Emeth, everyone — kids, counselors and staff — had a blast. Highlights of the summer included Rick Recht with Sheldon Low, the Tzofim Israeli Caravan and camp overnights.

Shaare Zedek

The congregation won two silver awards and two honorable mention awards from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The silver awards recognized their efforts to be inclusive of people with special needs by providing appropriate assistive devices and for their monthly bulletin. The honorable mentions were given for their entertaining Purim spiel and their annual program guide.

Sparks Matchmaking Service

Paula Sparks announced the organization hosted an impromptu gathering recently at the Whitaker Jazz Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. An enjoyable time was had by all who participated.

The Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry

Ellen Sabien says please do not forget the agency is very busy over the summer months. They could really use personal care items such as: shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, deodorant and soap — just to mention a few. As for food, they are really running low on peanut butter, canned peas and healthy snacks. With schools starting as early as next week please keep in mind those items kids love finding in their lunchboxes.

Young Israel of St. Louis

Renowned contemporary artist, Tobi Kahn, was the scholar-in-residence for a Shabbaton in memory of Ruth Fredman. Kahn spoke after davening on Shabbat morning and at a Melave Malka on Motzei Shabbat. The evening program featured a wine and cheese reception where Kahn spoke about “Art as Transformation: Thinking Visually”.