How can I - or my children - travel to Israel?

Any 18 - 26 year-old who has not already gone on a peer trip - that is, one with a group of other travelers in their age group - must look at http://www.birthrightisrael.com/.

This fabulous opportunity offers a 10 day all expenses paid trip. These trips are either in the summer or during winter break. Many of our own CJCN young people have taken advantage of this fantastic offer. Look at the website and encourage your young person to travel to Israel.

For the rest of us, there is always calling up the travel agent. However, the Houston Jewish Federation offers a wonderfully affordable trip usually offered in February. Just ask Shelly Zacharias who went on the latest trip and was even featured in the Jewish Herald Voice as they reported on the trip.

Look into these trips. I hope to travel to Israel some day, too!

Of course, they will stay enrolled in religious school and complete their religious education through Confirmation in their 10th Grade year! Most of our students do! But, we have other programs to keep our young people involved.

Our young people are very involved in youth groups. Under the direction of our Education Director, Jodi Buck, both of our youth group adult leaders have provided fantastic programs.

Amy Fintel is heading the senior youth group, or SPRIFTY. These letters stand for Spring Federation of Temple Youth. Our group is also a member of NFTY, National Federation of Temple Youth, a part of our Union of Reform Judaism. Our group is very active attending kallah's at Greene Family Camp and at other temples in our Texas/Oklahoma region. What a fantastic way for our students to meet other Jewish young people. The kallahs keep our students interested with intellectual programming and lots of fun. SPRIFTY provided two booths for the Purim Carnival, and they presented a moving Shabbat morning service in March. The students also prepared a meal for the residents of NAM's Interfaith Hospitality Network. We have a marvelous bunch of youth group members led by President Natalie Blackmur.

Our junior high students participate in Junior Youth Group. Jodi also supervises this group. This year's leader has been Harris Pikus, who has organized fantastic programming including a hike in the woods, midnight bowling and a sleepover in the temple, and fun with Jewish trivia. The students recently returned from a Junior Youth Group weekend at Greene Family Camp. They will end their year with a "Mitzvah" day and a Saturday night party. This year there were no dues for Junior Youth Group as all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders were automatically members by being in religious school.

Our 8th and 9th grade students also participate in GESHER, a program promoted by Houston's Jewish Federation. Our students meet 4 times a year with the students of 6 other local suburban synagogues.

And, when they have graduated after their 10th grade year, they are welcomed to still be a part of religious school by being teaching assistants.

We offer wonderful programs for our students where they can deepen their Jewish knowledge and connections. Please support them.

These questions come from wonderful member, Linda Davis, one of our founding members, retired kindergarten teacher (what patience!), wife of Michael, mom of Darren and Lisa who is now Lisa Pfeffer, who is married to David. David gave the charming and inspiring “history” of his Jewish life during Yom Kippur afternoon. He is the perfect son-in-law! But, back to Linda - she is a grandmother, too! Linda’s questions included:

Where do we get the challahs for temple? Here’s what I know about challah in Northwest Houston. We usually buy them from the Fiesta at 249 and FM1960. This Fiesta has a full service bakery and they know what we are talking about when we say “Challah” and they usually have one or two on hand at all times. They know how to make the big impressive 5 pounder! And, it’s relatively cheap - around $16.00 for the 5 pound and around $1.70 for the regular one pound. I can’t say they are as delicious as the challahs from Three Brothers Bakery in Houston but they look just as good! The real treat is if you are fortunate to be at Shabbat services when Rosanne Friedman has made her special, tasty, beautiful challah. It’s more like dessert - truly a delight of Shabbat!

Linda also asks, “How do we use the library?” The library is open when the office is open - which means the library door is not locked. You can go in and browse and check out books at any of these times: Tuesday through Friday from 9:00am until 2:00pm. Always call the temple to be sure someone is there. Lots of events happen that make the folks in the office leave: trip to the bank, Office Depot, etc. Of course, there is always Sunday mornings during religious school. Sue Sobin is our librarian and, when you visit, you will see how nicely she has everything organized. When you check out a book, just sign the card with your name and phone number and leave the card on the side cabinet. There are lots of delightful books needing to be read - including lots of books to read to children and grandchildren! Our library is named after Shirley Meltzer, the mother of Clyde Meltzer, who generously donated funds for our library and is again donating funds for us to renovate our Social Hall. The Meltzer family no longer lives here but their generosity is worthy of a big “thank you” from Texas to New Jersey! I’m ready for another question!