Author Archives: Aaron Weissman
Mark your calendars for the Aitz Chaim Annual Meeting
The Aitz Chaim annual congregational meeting and board meeting will be at 1pm on Sunday Sept 25 at 1015 1st Ave N. Please let me know if you have any items you would like placed on the agenda.
Thanks!
-Laura
Proposed Congregation Budget for 5772
With the ending of the month of August, Congregation Aitz Chaim is now preparing for a new year. We will again be doing our best to bring yiddishkeit to Northcentral Montana, albeit in a more limited way than in previous years. Since demographic changes have caused our congregation to shrink, we can no longer offer monthly services 10 times per year.
As a result, I now propose to you the following budget for the coming year. This budget will be on the agenda for congregation approval at our upcoming Annual meeting, which will be held on Sunday, September 25 at 1:00 P.M. at 1015 1st Avenue North.
This budget proposes bringing in Hazzan Magalnick to lead High Holy Day services and flying in a Student Rabbi from HUC in Los Angeles to lead three additional services. We are currently considering scheduling these services for November, March (Purim) and May (Lag B’Omer). Our specific congregation calendar will also be proposed in the very near future.
In order to conduct even this limited schedule, our congregation will need to raise almost $10 thousand per year in dues and donations. The amount that we raise shrinks each year, and we have lost money from congregation operations for each of the past two years. Without payment of membership commitments from each and every one of our congregants, our ability to maintain an active congregational schedule will be critically impacted. Minimum membership commitments of $250 per individual and $500 per family are requested from all congregants, and additional donations above that amount would greatly enhance our efforts. Your membership commitment can be paid by check, cash or credit card. To pay by credit card, simply use the link to the right of this post.
What is Aitz Chaim’s Minhag?
Image via Wikipedia
As we prepare to enter the year 5772 and schedule our services for the year, I think it a good idea for our community to continue to discuss our rituals and traditions.
We have a ritual committee. Unfortunately, that committee has not had a meeting since 2005. In the coming weeks, I am going to put together a document outlining our minhag. In the meantime, please find after the “more” link copies of the minutes from our 2005 Ritual Committee meetings. Please read and give us your comments!
The Jewish Dog by Elliott Magalnick
Morty visits Dr. Saul, the veterinarian, and says, “My dog has a problem.”
Dr. Saul says, “So, tell me about the dog and the problem.”
“It’s a Jewish dog. His name is Seth and he can talk,” says Morty.
“He can talk?” the doubting doctor asks.
“Watch this!” Morty points to the dog and commands: ” Seth, Fetch!”
Seth the dog, begins to walk toward the door, then turns around and says, “So why are you talking to me like that? You always order me around like I’m nothing. And you only call me when you want something. And then you make me sleep on the floor, with my arthritis. You give me this fahkahkta food with all the salt and fat, and you tell me it’s a special diet. It tastes like dreck! YOU should eat it yourself! And do you ever take me for a decent walk? NO, it’s out of the house, a short pish, and right back home. Maybe if I could stretch out a little, the sciatica wouldn’t kill me so much! I should roll over and play dead for real for all you care!”
Dr. Saul is amazed, “This is remarkable! So, what’s the problem?”
Morty says, “He has a hearing problem! I said ‘Fetch,’ not ‘Kvetch.”
GREAT Video on Creating Welcoming Synagogue Websites
This is a GREAT video — how are we doing here? What could we do better? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Is There Life After Death? Follow up reading material from Elliott’s discussion topic.
Here is a link to the complete article that Elliott distributed tonight:
http://www.momentmag.com/moment/issues/2011/08/LifeDeath.html
One of the contributers is Dara Horn who wrote a book called The World to Come which I recommend highly:
http://www.darahorn.com/worldtocome.htm
It touches on some of the themes we talked about tonight and many others.
If you’ve read it (or after you read it now that I’ve recommended it)…BUT not before!…take a look at her comments about the “deliberately ambiguous” ending here:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=276468180611
-Laura
How To Get the July Issue
Our experiment here, moving our former magazine-style newsletter to these “pages” is becoming a success. How do we know this?
Since last week, when we began posting articles for the July “issue”, readership on these pages has spiked with over 150 page views in the past two weeks. Our experience over the last several months is that readership “spikes” after we post articles here. In weeks we do not post articles, readership goes down.
We have made another recent change. As you may have noticed, the “address” for these pages is now simply “aitzchaim.com”. We hope that you will find that this simplification will make it easier for you to find us online!
You may have also noticed the “category tags” that we apply to articles. These “tags” are a great way of narrowing down information. For instance, if you want to just read the articles that we consider to be part of the “July Issue,” just click on the “July, 2011” category tag and you will just get those articles. You can also get a customized listing of any other category.
We look forward to seeing you over the coming weekend. It looks like we will have some very interesting discussions!
G-d’s Air Traffic Controller by Hazzan Elliott Magalnick
I have decided to pick the topic of the/a Jewish view(s) of Life After Death. I have three sources, one is the current issue of MOMENT magazine, and the other two are books:Does The SOUL SURVIVE? by Rabbi Elie Spitz and the Death OF Death by Rabbi Neil Gillman. I am going to introduce several topics and viewpoints and some anecdotal data since we are unable to come up with personal interviews of the dearly departed. I put this title on this letter because I want to narrate a talk that Rabbi Spitz had with a woman who was on her deathbed and unable to let go. This woman’s name was Gertie. This following soliloquy is from Marielle Fuller and Rabbi Spitz:
“Know Gertie, that you need not fear death. You will leave your body gently, surrounded by GOD’S caring light. With your permission, let me lead you in a guided imagery that will ease your way. See yourself walking on a path. Alongside the path is a river with fresh flowing water that comes down from a tall waterfall. At a certain point some of the water of the stream gathers to form a pool. a kind of mikvah. Read the rest of this entry
Article on the Challenges of Rural Judaism featuring Butte’s B’nai Israel
The most recent edition of the Forward contains a fascinating article on the challenges faced by small, rural Jewish communities. The article features an interview with Janet Cornish of Butte, Montana.
As the article notes, smaller rural communities like Aitz Chaim and B’nai Israel are facing extreme demographic changes that are reducing our sizes. Keeping yiddishkeit alive in the face of these demographic pressures remains a challenge.
Aitz Chaim will be holding Jewish services this coming Friday evening, July 22, 7:30 p.m. at the Bethel, 1009 18th Ave SW. We will also be holding torah study at 10 a.m. and an adult discussion and milchig (dairy) potluck at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday morning, July 23.
Please join us as we attempt to fly in the face of these demographic pressures and continue to offer yiddishkeit to Northcentral Montana!
Amy-Jill Levine to Lecture in Helena, September 23-25
Professor Amy-Jill Levine of Vanderbilt Divinity College will again be lecturing in Helena!
Professor Levine, who last lectured on the Jewish roots of Christian traditions, will be lecturing on “Sex and the Bible: Thou Shalt Not, Thou Shall and Though Might Want To — What the Bible Says about Sexuality” as part of the annual St. Paul’s United Methodist Church lecture series, September 23-25, 2011.
Congregants can sign up for lectures at the series through this brochure. The lecture series is offered at $25/day or $50 for the entire series.
The Aitz Chaim Ram's Horn 