Category Archives: News of our Congregants

MAX’S BAR MITZVAH IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!

Can you believe it has been over 2 years since Sarah’s bat mitzvah? Max’s bar mitzvah is just around the corner – December 28th, 2013. You should have received your invitation in the mail by now. If not, please call or e-mail Wendy (wendy@weissman.com or 727-4098). We will need to know what events you are coming to so that we can give counts to the caterers.

As his community service project, Max will be collecting canned food and making baskets out of them to use as table decorations at the luncheon for his bar mitzvah. After the lunch, the baskets will be donated to the East Middle School food pantry.

We are asking, if you are able and willing, to donate food and/or baskets, bows, ribbon and wrapping. We also will need help assembling the baskets. Assembly will be at the Washington School at 4 PM on Monday, December 23rd. Please call or e-mail Wendy (wendy@weissman.com or 727-4098) to donate items or to help. We will be serving pizza during the assembly of the baskets so please let me know if you are coming so that we have enough food.

We look forward to seeing you all at the bar mitzvah!

In the meantime, Happy Hanukkah!

Wendy

SAD NEWS

Marvin Langsam, brother of Helen Cherry, died three days after his 72nd birthday near the end of October, 2013, in San Francisco. In a recent e-mail to me, Helen said, “Several members of Aitz Chaim knew my brother. He was a kind soul who never said a bad word about anyone. I miss him very much.” She suggested that donations be made to Aitz Chaim in his memory.

FEATURED IN YNET NEWS IN ISRAEL

EDITOR’S NOTE: Cpt. Rabbi Sarah Schecter is featured in Ynet News in Israel. Of course she has strong Great Falls roots. Submitted by Jerry Weissman.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4388525,00.html

MAZAL TOV!

Mazal Tov to Jessica Dawn nice, daughter of David and Julie Nice, who graduated from cMR High School on Saturday evening, June 1, 2013. We all wish you well as you begin your new post high school life.

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED – JUNE 18, 7:00 P.M.

Friends of Natalie Guerin (formerly Fisher) are cordially invited
to a get-together at the home of Don and Helen Cherry
Driftwood Condos
349 Fox Drive, #13,
Tuesday evening, June 18, at 7:00 P.M.
No RSVP needed.
Please bring tales — short or tall — about what you’ve been doing since you saw her last.
Natalie will also be at the Hadassah gathering in Bigfork June 21-23. Looking forward to seeing you at one or both upcoming events.

CONGRATULATIONS, DON AND HELEN CHERRY

Mazal Tov! Don and Helen’s son, Doug, who got married this past February, is being promoted to Colonel in the Army. This promotion makes him his father’s superior officer …

GREAT FALLS NATIVE RECALLS AFTERMATH OF BOSTON BOMBING

The view from Sara Graybill's dorm room at 9:30 a.m. on the Emerson College campus in downtown Boston. Courtesy photo

Emerson College Freshman Sara Graybill lives just three blocks away from the site of the Boston Marathon bombings. She gave this interview to Great Falls KRTV last week and was the subject of this article in the Great Falls Tribune.

CAPTAIN (RABBI) SARAH SCHECTER – FIRST FEMALE AIR FORCE RABBI

CONTRIBUTED BY JERRY WEISSMAN

Captain (Rabbi) Sarah Schecter has a strong Great Falls, Montana, connection.  Her Mother Naomi Fineman (SARNA), was born, raised and married to Rabbi Phil Schecter, in Great Falls.  Sarah has conducted services for Aitz Chaim, when her Grandmother, Sylvia Fineman (my aunt) was alive here.  Sarah Is featured in today’s THE JEWISH FORWARD, today and they took the story from Haaretz in Israel.   I have shown recent stories about her (5) in Military.com

Chaplain Serves as First Female Air Force Rabbi | Military. …

 a Jew and as a future rabbi, to stand  military, less than 40 Jewish chaplain
rabbis are spread thin across the services, keeping Schechter and her 
www.military.com/…/26/chaplain-serves-as-first-female-air-force-rabbi.html?comp=7000023435700&rank=8 – 16k – 2013-03-30

Air Force Jobs | Military.com

 more. Chaplain Serves as First Female Air Force Rabbi Sarah Schechter, the
Jewish chaplain of the 11th Wing at Joint Base Andre… more. 
www.military.com/topics/air-force-jobs/page/17 – 12k – 2013-03-28

Sarah Smiley | Military.com

 more. Chaplain Serves as First Female Air Force Rabbi Sarah Schechter, the
Jewish chaplain of the 11th Wing at Joint Base Andre… more. 
www.military.com/topics/sarah-smiley/page/5 – 12k – 2013-03-30

POW-MIA | Military.com

 more. Chaplain Serves as First Female Air Force Rabbi Sarah Schechter, the
Jewish chaplain of the 11th Wing at Joint Base Andre… more. 
www.military.com/topics/pow-mia/page/29 – 12k – 2013-03-27

Vietnam War | Military.com

 more. Chaplain Serves as First Female Air Force Rabbi Sarah Schechter, the
Jewish chaplain of the 11th Wing at Joint Base Andre… more. 
www.military.com/topics/vietnam-war/page/150 – 12k – 2013-03-27

BREAKING NEWS IN NEW YORK!

Submitted by Stephen Boyd

Following his recent ban on soda containers over 16 ounces, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that he now intends to place similar limits on wine and matzo consumption at Passover seders.
Everyone knows that Jews struggle with obesity, the mayor declared at a news conference yesterday at Gracie Mansion, so why aggravate the problem by drinking four whole cups of wine and eating three large sheets of matzo at a single meal? Noting that the Passover foods are a Jewish tradition dating back thousands of years, the mayor said, That may be so, but look at the health problems they create. You eat all that unleavened bread, and your system is bound to get backed up. It s no wonder Moses was pleading, Let my people go. Bloomberg added, No one needs that much wine at a meal, either. And, shamefully, the biggest offender is a Jewish icon the prophet Elijah. On seder night, he goes from house to house drinking. Who does he think he is, some frat boy? In a surprising display of erudition in Jewish law, the mayor said he was familiar with, and opposed to, the adherence to the strictest requirements encouraged by some Torah sages. If you intend to adhere to the shiurim of the Chazzon Ish, or even Rabbi Moses Feinstein, take your Seder out of the City, said a defiant Bloomberg.
He outlined his restrictions as follows:
For the drinking of the four cups 3.3. oz. will be the maximum permitted under New York City law. You may think 5.3 ounces is a saintly amount to drink for each of your 4 cups, but it is overly burdensome on the NYPD when they have to haul your machmir tuchus off to detox.
For the Eating of Matzoh No more than the size of 1/3 of an egg, measured by weight and not volume. You will be subject to citation or arrest if you feel the need to stuff half of a Talmudic egg in your mouth and choking on your high halachic standards. The Mayor then left the press conference angrily, turning only to add, Next year in Jerusalem. IF you can fit on the plane!”

ONE OF OUR OWN … WINNING INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING COMPETITIONS AT AGE NINETY!

Maurine Kornfeld swims at the 2011 Mesa Spring Nationals in Mesa, Ariz. Kornfeld, 90, won five gold medals at the 14th FINA World Masters Championship in Riccione, Italy, in June.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article from the Missoulian was brought to my attention by Jerry Weissman. It is about Maureen Kornfeld, one of our former congregants who, at age ninety, is still winning swimming competitions.

According to Jerry Weissman, a neighbor of the Kornfelds at the time, “Maureen was an early congregant of the Great Falls Jewish community in the 1930’s and has not forgotten her Great Falls roots. Actually, there were three children to the Kornfelds. Herb was a noted artist who left Great Falls to go to work for Walt Disney. Their brother Ray was an accountant in L.A. and led a quieter life.

“At the same time there were other ‘young’ Jewish people who were contemporaries of the Kornfelds, the Gomavitz family, for instance. Their son Lew (Lewis) left Great Falls to work for Billiy Wilder and learned the Movie Trade. He went to Chicago to be the Director of the hugely popular (1947-1951) KUKLA FRAN AND OLLIE show. He was the (volunteer) director of the first of many Democratic Party Conventions. He passed away in Los Angeles. His bother Alex lived in Tacoma, Washington.”

Here is the Missoulian’s story, with some fascinating history. Mazal Tov to Maureen Kornfeld.