September 3rd, 2010
THE SCHMOOZE:
- HELPING US STAND UP FOR WHAT WE BELIEVE … I am sure you find that many issues make their way into the public sphere that fire you up or concern you. (Immigration Law, the ‘Personhood’ Initiative on the upcoming November ballot … just to name a few!) I know that some of you are wonderful at getting involved in ways in which you are learning about these issues and doing things to support the ones that are important to you. This Advocacy is an important element of a healthy society. It seems that a thoughtful, progressive community like ours would be an appropriate place to cultivate Advocacy within our society. In this spirit, I am looking for a few people to begin creating such an initiative within our community. Would you be interested in helping the Micah community develop its own strategy and mechanism for Advocacy – not yet determining what issues, but beginning with developing an approach to Advocacy that would best serve the Micah community. Please let me know if you would like to help.
- HIGH HOLYDAY HIGHLIGHTS (click here for complete information):
- o Selichot - Sunday, September 5th @ 7:30pm … in a more intimate setting, join us for some some dialogue on some of the important themes of the High Holydays followed by a contemplative, creative service with Hal Aqua.
- o RH Open House & Tashlich – Thursday, September 9th from 3:30pm – 5:30pm … Renee, Addison, Dakota and I invite you to join us at our home in Stapleton for a sweet nosh and a chance to wish you Shana Tova, before we walk to Westerly Creek and cast away our sins (in the form of Cheerios) into the water for the geese and fish to carry away.
- o Shabbat Shuvah Hike – Saturday, September 11 @ 10:00am at Bluff Lake Nature Center … something new this year, a contemplative Shabbat hike/service on the grounds of the Bluff Lake Nature Center.
- o Closing Moments – Saturday, September 18th @ 5:30pm … during the closing service of Neilah on Yom Kippur Afternoon, I invite individuals and families to take a private moment in front of the Ark as this holiest of days wraps up … there are few moments (the end of Yom Kippur) and places (before the Ark) in synagogue life that are as brimming with the Sacred.
- SHABBAT SHALOM and SHANA TOVA U’MTUKAH …. a good and sweet New Year to all of you!
THE NEWS:
- REGISTER FOR RELIGIOUS SCHOOL NOW … 1st day (for STUDENTS AND PARENTS) is September 12th!!
- KABBALAT SHABBAT with HAL AQUA on Friday, September 3rd at 6:00pm at Temple Micah.
- SELICHOT services … at 7:30 on Sunday, September 5th … join us for a thoughtful discussion and contemplative service as we set the proper tone for the season of reflection that begins the following week.
- ROSH HASHANAH 5771
- o EREV ROSH HASHANA SERVICES on Wednesday, September 8th at 7:30pm
- o ROSH HASHANA FAMILY SERVICES on Thursday, September 9th @ 9:00am.
- o ROSH HASHANA MORNING SERVICES on Thursday, September 9th @ 10:30am.
- o NEW YEAR’S OPEN HOUSE at the home of Rabbi Adam, Renee, Addison and Dakota Morris on Thursday, September 9th from 3:30pm – 5:00pm … followed by TASHLICH at Westerly Creek.
- SHABBAT SHUVAH HIKE on Saturday, September 11th at Bluff Lake Nature Center @ 10:00am.
- Opening Day of RELIGIOUS SCHOOL on Sunday, September 12th at 9:00am. Parents are expected to attend Opening Day with their children.
AND SOME TORAH, TOO:
Rosh Hashanah 5771
Perspectives on Teshuvah
By Yehudah Mirsky
In the thick of the month of Ellul, nearing Rosh Hashanah, penitence is or should be in the air. Also recently marked was the 75th yahrzeit of the great mystic, jurist, and theologian Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935). As it turns out, Kook’s teachings on the meaning of repentance are among his most striking, stamped with his distinctive mix of piety and audacity. In his eyes, teshuvah, generally translated as “repentance” but literally and more powerfully “return,” signifies not only a deepened and renewed commitment to religion and commandments but, paradoxically, nothing less than a new birth of freedom.
Kook’s ideas on the subject are chiefly laid out in the volume Orot Hateshuvah (“The Lights of Return”), first published in 1925. Like nearly all his works, this is less a systematic treatise than a collection of reflections, aphorisms, and poetic and mystical flights culled from his spiritual diaries. Again, like all his works, it is deep, transporting—and problematic.
This, in sum, is Kook’s vision: all of existence, individual and collective, high and low, is rooted in God and will return to Him. God is the source of the élan vital coursing through the universe, a force expressing itself in all aspects of human creativity and freedom, even those that at first blush seem to run counter to conventional religion. To engage in teshuvah is, so to speak, to catch the wave.
While touching on powerful currents of modern sensibility, Kook’s thought is rooted above all in Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. Central to that tradition is the doctrine of the Sefirot, the nodal points of divine energy that, taken together, constitute the deep structure from which all known worlds have emanated and to which they and we will return. Crucial to this process of cosmic unfolding is the sefirah known as Binah (“Insight”), also designated “the maternal sefirah”: the metaphysical womb out of which emerge the cosmos and all its souls. It, too, is designated “teshuvah.”
Repentance, in other words, is return to the very womb of creation—a “place without boundaries” in the words of the author of the 13th-century kabbalistic treatise Shaarei Orah. Its connection with freedom was spelled out in the 16th century by Judah Loewe, the Maharal of Prague, who wrote that ”when people undertake teshuvah and return to their beginnings, the world too returns to its beginning, to restore and repair every ruined thing in the world.”
Writing in the early 20th century, Kook was striving to make sense of a deep paradox: on the one hand, the collapse of much of traditional society in secularism and revolution; on the other hand, the stirrings of Jewish national, cultural, and perhaps spiritual renewal in the land of Israel, itself the work of secular Jews and rebels against rabbinic authority. He was also drawn to the modern beliefs in progress and in the power and primacy of self-expression. In the kabbalistic understanding of teshuvah, he found a way of weaving these themes into the fabric of tradition:
Teshuvah derives from the aspiration of all existence to be more refined, stronger, and better than it is. Hidden in this desire is a life force that would overcome the limited dimension of being and its weaknesses. And the particular teshuvah of an individual, and all the more so of the community, draws its strength from this fount of life, which continually exercises its strength in never-ending action.
But if existence, with all its promise and imperfections, originates in God and is driven to return to Him, what then is sin? To Kook, it is that which obstructs the divine light, “the illumination of the higher Wisdom whose revelatory path proceeds through the simple harmony of a soul given to understanding the wholeness of all being and its heavenly source.” Release from sin thus requires not only a practical commitment to Torah and commandments but also a relaxation of the sorrows, and the guilt, that create blockages in the soul. As he writes in an amazing passage: “One who grieves constantly for his sins and the sins of the world must constantly forgive and absolve himself and the whole world [emphasis added], and in so doing will draw forgiveness and a light of lovingkindness onto all being and bring joy to God and to His creatures.”
This passage resonates with Kook’s dissent from the religious view that identifies repentance with submission and the breaking of one’s own will. Yes, the will must be disciplined in action—Kook was no less a jurist than a mystic—but “the will deriving from the power of teshuvah . . . is not the superficial will, which grasps only the weak and external sides of life, but rather the will that is the innermost nucleus of the foundation of life, the very selfhood of the soul.”
What he is describing, Kook recognizes, is an ideal, not the reality: “There is still no true freedom in the world, which is not yet liberated from its slavish fetters.” Still, he insists, “there are levels, levels,” and these are realizable in “the extent to which each personality can grasp, through good inclinations, acts, and longings, its choice and its heavenly freedom.” And there is something that can lead the way—namely, the “national renaissance” of the Jewish people. This powerful phenomenon is, for Kook, “the foundation of the great edifice of teshuvah, the higher teshuvah of Israel and of the entire world that will follow in its train.”
An extraordinary conception indeed. As for its problems, one may usefully invoke Isaiah Berlin’s classic essay distinguishing two senses of freedom: negative freedom, freedom from the restraints of government and social coercion, and positive freedom, the freedom to be one’s own best imagined self. The former is the humbler ideal, the latter the more thrilling—but also, when too tightly identified with the collective, or too loosely connected with ethics, a source of great human suffering.
Kook was clearly thinking mainly of positive freedom, and his ideas are prey to its characteristic deformations: a romantic apotheosis of the self and of the individual or collective will in pursuit of its own untrammeled fulfillment. Kook’s belief in progress and the inevitable moral improvement of the world, a belief very much a product of his age, would also come in for severe pummeling in the ensuing decades.
Kook was a deeply dialectical thinker, and his ideas should be approached with care. But it does not require the erasure of his vision to appreciate how its cosmic exuberance should be balanced by a contrary motion rooted in structures able to counter, contain, and, ultimately, sustain it. After all, central to the kabbalah that was so central to him is the idea that, in order to shine into this finite world, the divine light must be contained in vessels. The ceaseless interplay between radiant energy and the structures that bear it is the very essence of the life of the spirit.
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September 3rd, 2010
WISHING YOU A FULFILLING YEAR!
- ROSH HASHANAH COUNTDOWN… In just a few days congregants and guests will greet one another in Temple Micah’s warm, customary communal embrace here at 2600 Leyden St. For starters, please share in a special Selichot prep at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 5. Continuing together, we’ll embark on the Jewish New Year, 5771, at services led by Rabbi Adam Morris with Uri Ayn Rovner debuting as High Holy Days soloist. Enjoy the Erev Rosh Hashanah Service and Board of Trustees reception on Wednesday evening, Sept. 8. Come back the next morning, Thursday, Sept. 9 for a service tailored to families with children, led by “Rabbi Mo” and musician David Ross — and another service designed for adults (onsite childcare can be arranged in advance). Later that day the Rabbi’s Open House and Tashlich, symbolic casting away of sins, take place at Stapleton. New for nature appreciators and all interested is the Micah community’s contemplative Shabbat Shuvah Holy Hike! Meet for this outing at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 11 at Bluff Lake Nature Center. Guests are welcome at all of our High Holy Days observances. Non-members are requested to make reservations and suggested donations. If you’re still wondering how to proceed, ask Elaine Lee, 303-388-4239.
- YOM KIPPUR AGENDA… Return to Temple Micah for a particularly poignant Kol Nidre Service at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17 and Yom Kippur services from morn till dusk Saturday, Sept. 18. You’ll find a full range of holiday experiences including Spiritual Direction with Laura Thor and A Yiddish Tale with Tamara Parker, plus the Alvin Goldberg Congregants’ Hour where Amy Anderson, Larry Feldman and Fred Kutner review their Jewish spiritual journeys. Yom Kippur afternoon brings Ancient Wisdom from Contemporary Prophets via songs with Hal Aqua, a Yizkor service overflowing with remembrance (submit names of departed loved ones by Sept. 9) and finally, during the Neilah Service, Closing Moments for individuals or families in front of the ark. To make your plans online, click here or contact Elaine.
- SEE YOU FOR RELIGIOUS SCHOOL OR ADULT HEBREW… Look forward to a new year of Jewish learning! Register now for Temple Micah’s new religious school program, serving children kindergarten-seventh grade. The classes take place on Sunday mornings at the Denver Jewish Day School, 2450 S. Wabash St. Contact Kelli Theis, 303-388-4239 x2 with questions. Adult Hebrew courses (shaping up in these levels: beginner, advanced beginner prayerbook, advanced beginner modern, trope) will be offered from 9:00-9:55 a.m. Sundays starting soon at the same site as religious school classes; sign up with Jacob Gore through the Temple Micah office,
- CONSIDER CANDIDATES AND ISSUES IN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY… The 2010 Candidates Forum is a free community-wide educational event, sponsored by Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado and National Council of Jewish Women with Temple Micah and other co-sponsors. Meet Colorado candidates personally and learn about state ballot initiatives at 6:15 p.m. Monday, Sept. 20 at Hebrew Educational Alliance, 3600 S. Ivanhoe St. The formal forum of candidates starts at 7:00 that evening. Be there to become a smarter voter! Contact Janet Sherman, 303-316-6490.
THOUGHTS FROM…
RABBI ADAM MORRIS:
MAKING A TIME AND PLACE FOR CLOSING MOMENTS
I am always looking for ways to improve or enhance the experience of people when they participate in a Micah ritual or program, especially at the High Holy Days. Last year as I was preparing for High Holy Days, I came across an e-mail I had saved. It described a ritual that a rabbi had done at another congregation. This ritual took place during the Neilah (Closing) Service of Yom Kippur and allowed for a few private moments before the open ark for each individual or family who desired it. It seemed like a nice idea, easy to implement and then without too much more touch to it, included it in our Yom Kippur ritual. I gave it a name – Closing Moments – and let people know that they would have this opportunity at Micah’s Neilah Service.
Keep reading… http:⁄⁄www.micahdenver.org⁄blog⁄?cat=3
JUDITH CASSEL-MAMET, PRESIDENT, BOARD OF TRUSTEES:
A QUICK RECAP OF MICAH HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE RECORD
My swamp cooler is still running! I thought we had passed through the hottest days of this summer in July, but now my kids are getting ready to return to school and the days are as hot as ever. Just when I think a cycle has concluded… here we go again.
Keep reading… http:⁄⁄www.micahdenver.org⁄blog⁄?cat=5
ELAINE LEE, MEMBERSHIP AND COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR:
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT – TURNING TOGETHER TOWARD THE FUTURE
As the new year is about to start, some of you still may be wondering: Where to begin? Let me help you answer that question…. Whether you’re already a Micah member or not quite yet, I invite and challenge you to strengthen your connection with this congregation in the coming year. My main priority in the newly created role as Membership and Communications Coordinator is simply to help you to accomplish this stronger connection in whatever manner that makes sense for you. I’m here to learn more about who you are and your priorities — and to give you my attention, thoughts and energy, so that with my little nudge you may find your best role(s) and rewarding relationships within the Micah community.
Keep reading… http:⁄⁄www.micahdenver.org⁄blog⁄?cat=4
SHERI LOCKHART, SOCIAL ACTION CHAIR, BOARD OF TRUSTEES: HOLIDAYS BRING NEW OPPORTUNITY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
Temple Micah urges all present for High Holy Days to take home an empty grocery bag on Rosh Hashanah and bring it back filled with non-perishable food on Yom Kippur. Your generous gifts to this fall’s High Holy Days Food Drive, coordinated by b’nai and anshei mitzvah classes of 5771, will go to Jewish Family Service to help alleviate hunger; JFS programs are as diverse as the people that this organization serves. Many thanks to food-givers, in advance!
Keep reading… http:⁄⁄www.micahdenver.org⁄blog⁄?cat=9
Do Justly. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly.
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September 1st, 2010
by Sheri Lockhart, Social Action Chair, Board of Trustees
Temple Micah urges all present for High Holy Days to take home an empty grocery bag on Rosh Hashanah and bring it back filled with non-perishable food on Yom Kippur. Your generous gifts to this fall’s High Holy Days Food Drive, coordinated by b’nai and anshei mitzvah classes of 5771, will go to Jewish Family Service to help alleviate hunger; JFS programs are as diverse as the people that this organization serves. Many thanks, in advance!
A recent letter from the Caring Association for Native Americans expressed deep gratitude to Temple Micah and its Social Action volunteers for a contribution of china that was no longer in use by the congregation.
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September 1st, 2010
by Elaine Lee, Membership and Communications Coordinator
As the new year is about to start, some of you still may be wondering: Where to begin? Let me help you answer that question…. Whether you’re already a Micah member or not quite yet, I invite and challenge you to strengthen your connection with this congregation in the coming year. My main priority in the newly created role as Membership and Communications Coordinator is simply to help you to accomplish this stronger connection in whatever manner that makes sense for you. I’m here to learn more about who you are and your priorities — and to give you my attention, thoughts and energy, so that with my little nudge you may find your best role(s) and rewarding relationships within the Micah community.
If you’re a member who could attend more, do more and/or donate more, be sure to let me know so that I may assist you. Temple Micah wants and needs your generous participation in whatever manifestations that you care to share.
If you’re not a member, I might try to persuade you to let yourself join or rejoin the Micah tribe. (No hype, bribes or pressure… just lots of real reasons to say “yes” and some friendly encouragement.) Who knows, it could turn out to be the best thing that happens to you this year!
As another of my responsibilities to you, I hope to effectively let you know of occasional activities and happenings beyond our congregation. Toward that purpose, I especially want to mention a new expense-paid trip to Israel, intended mainly for young Jewish adults, ages 22-26, who live in Colorado and have not been on a peer-group trip to Israel previously. Local promoters hope that this offer may serve as a catalyst for participants to continue a connection with one another afterward and to explore connections with Colorado’s broader Jewish community. Early registration for the trip starts on Monday, Sept. 13, and general registration opens on Tuesday, Sept. 14. If you or someone you know may be interested, don’t wait! Such offers tend to fill fast. So, go today to www.jewishcolorado.org/birthright.
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September 1st, 2010
by Judith Cassel-Mamet, President, Board of Trustees
My swamp cooler is still running! I thought we had passed through the hottest days of this summer in July, but now my kids are getting ready to return to school and the days are as hot as ever. Just when I think a cycle has concluded… here we go again.
In many ways this is my impression of the cycles of our Jewish and community calendars. Whether it is the annual celebrations or annual budget meetings, we do seem to weave the new challenges into the old ones. Great news to report on the budget front: We ended our fiscal year 2009-2010 in the black, and the Board of Trustees took a few minutes at our recent meeting to enjoy the deep breath of satisfaction. Please be assured that we sent thoughts of gratitude to everyone in the Micah community for their parts. Temple Micah received many donations last year, a few were lovely large ones and these put the congregation squarely in the black. While we still anticipate needing to draw on reserves for this year (as discussed at our annual meeting), we are looking forward to a strong year financially because we are also in a welcomed growth mode.
As for the High Holiday cycle, wasn’t it just a few months ago that I was wondering if holding the Torah for an hour during the Yom Kippur service was actually possible? In heels no less? This cycle seems to have flown by, and we have not even cooled off yet! As I prepare for the annual president’s speech, I need to acknowledge my thanks to everyone who made the last year so fulfilling for all the members of your Board of Trustees. We have seen record growth, record good humor and record re-alignment. We are all looking forward to this year ahead and always suggest that you, too, consider “taking a turn” with volunteer efforts. I am hopeful that everyone in our community will be celebrating the new year in peace and good health and that we will all enjoy a cool breeze as we sit in the sanctuary together in a few days.
L’Shana Tova.
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September 1st, 2010
by Rabbi Adam Morris
I am always looking for ways to improve or enhance the experience of people when they participate in a Micah ritual or program, especially at the High Holy Days. Last year as I was preparing for High Holy Days, I came across an e-mail I had saved. It described a ritual that a rabbi had done at another congregation. This ritual took place during the Neilah (Closing) Service of Yom Kippur and allowed for a few private moments before the open ark for each individual or family who desired it. It seemed like a nice idea, easy to implement and then without too much more touch to it, included it in our Yom Kippur ritual. I gave it a name – Closing Moments – and let people know that they would have this opportunity at Micah’s Neilah Service.
As you may know, I am before the ark – open and closed – all of the time. I am there during the service, of course, but also after as I clean up and close up that space. I am there before the service, as I prepare the space or remove the Torah scroll to prepare for my own reading. I am there during the week, as b’nai mitzvah students prepare to read from Torah and lead the service for their celebrations. I knew, intellectually, that people would want these Closing Moments before the ark, but emotionally and spiritually I was somewhat numbed to knowing in my heart how people would really want and show up for these moments.
I truly did not know what to expect on Yom Kippur afternoon at the Neilah service… and then the line began to form. First, a line of expectant people formed that began at the bimah and traveled the full length of the aisle and then some. Then I served witness as individuals and families made their way to and from the ark. Written in their eyes, on their faces and in their demeanor was reverence, awe, tranquility, gratitude. Whatever gift they may have received in those few moments, the gift they gave to me was a precious reminder of the potential sacredness of a space that I had forgotten. In witnessing each and every one of them experience those Closing Moments, I remembered the potential in that space and my privileged role in cultivating that potential.
The time we Jews set aside for these upcoming Ten Days of Teshuvah, holds the possibility of reminding all of us about the spaces and places in our lives in which the Sacred dwells… and we have forgotten. These spaces and places take many forms: relationships, families and communities; vocations, pursuits and endeavors; decisions, choices and actions. May you come to – once again, or for the very first time – uncover the Sacred that resides in these essential spaces and places in your lives… and in doing so, begin a New Year that is filled with meaning, joy and peace.
Shana Tova u’Mtukah.
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August 4th, 2010
MICAH e-MAILBOX: August 2010
HIGH HOLY DAYS, HERE WE COME!
- MAKE YOUR HOLIDAY PLANS NOW… High Holy Days will be here almost before you can blink, so let Temple Micah give you a preview by joining us for a Selichot experience on Sunday evening, Sept. 5 right here at 2600 Leyden St., Denver. Then start the Jewish year with Rosh Hashanah Services on Wednesday-Thursday, Sept. 8-9, Kol Nidre on Friday, Sept. 17 and Yom Kippur on Saturday, Sept. 18. You’ll find a full spectrum of holiday services with Temple Micah — special opportunities for children and families, a new Shabbat Shuvah Hike at Bluff Lake Nature Center on Saturday morning, Sept. 11, a Yom Kippur afternoon service of Ancient Wisdom from Contemporary Prophets — and unique Closing Moments for individuals or families in front of the ark at that day’s end. To find out more and complete your plans, visit http:⁄⁄www.micahdenver.org or check with the temple office, 303-388-4239, elaine.lee@micahdenver.org.
- RSVP FOR MICAH BBQ (AND SO LONG TO OUTDOOR SERVICES)… All members, prospective members, newcomers and everyone contemplating religious school are invited to our fun culminating summer finale: “Meet Your Community at the Lawn BBQ” from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 29 at 2600 Leyden St. This event is free, and part of the food including barbequed tofu, sauce and rolls will be provided by the generosity of Louis Wolfe, owner of Wolfe’s BBQ, with beverage support by the board. In case of severe weather, the fun and food will just shift indoors. RSVP to Elaine Lee, 303-388-4239, elaine.lee@micahdenver.org, and be sure to state how many people will attend with you and whether you’ll bring a potluck entrée or a side dish, plus a dessert of any sort (and some spending dollars) for the Cakewalk! Temple Micah’s Shabbat-in-the-Park and other outdoor summer services conclude this month; remember to check the Micah calendar for dates and sites or ask Elaine.
- REV UP FOR RELIGIOUS SCHOOL SUNDAY, SEPT. 12… For 2010-2011 religious school information and registration, contact Kelli Theis, school@micahdenver.org, 303-388-4239 x2, or see the temple website. (Micah membership info is readily available on the website too or from Elaine at the temple office.)
- TEMPLE MICAH WANTS TO KNOW, “HOW ARE YOU?”… When times get challenging because of illness, injury, hospitalization or loss of a loved one — or because of happy developments such as a birth or an adoption, Chesed Committee would like to remind all Micah members to please notify Rabbi Adam Morris and Elaine Lee at 303-388-4239,rabbimo@micahdenver.org, elaine.lee@micahdenver.org. Also, if you or your Micah acquaintances would appreciate a mention on the misheberach list for healing prayers or maybe a meal delivery, be sure to let someone on staff know so that the Micah community can try to respond appropriately. The staff and Chesed team do their best to respect privacy while trying, on behalf of the congregation, to express concern and support. Meanwhile, please keep bringing items for others in need beyond the Micah community too. The temple’s Social Action Committee and beneficiaries will appreciate donations of non-perishable food, personal hygiene items and summer clothes and footwear through the end of August. Thanks for caring and contributing!
THOUGHTS FROM…
RABBI ADAM MORRIS:
WHOSE TENT IS IT ANYWAY?
In just a matter of days we will enter the month of Elul and our tradition will begin its annual nudging, pushing and shoving to get us to return to our most basic values and essential truths. It is a call made by our tradition to all Jews – the ones who eat pork and the ones who don’t, the ones who wear kippot and the ones who don’t, the ones who question Israel’s actions toward the Palestinian population and the ones who don’t, the ones who are married to fellow Jews and the ones who are not, the ones who believe in a God who had told and is telling them what to do and those who do not.
Keep reading… http:⁄⁄www.micahdenver.org⁄blog⁄?cat=3
JASON ALTSHULER, TREASURER, BOARD OF TRUSTEES:
WOW! THE BUDGET IS BALANCED: IT TAKES VILLAGE (OR CONGREGATION)
We closed out the 2009-2010 fiscal year books in July, and something happened that has not happened in about eight years: we closed the temple financials with positive earnings.
Keep reading… http:⁄⁄www.micahdenver.org⁄blog⁄?cat=5
ELAINE LEE, MEMBERSHIP AND COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR:
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT – HOLIDAY HELPERS, SIGN UP HERE!
HIGH HOLY DAYS are what people make of them. Any meaning imputed to these holiest of holidays by the temple is experienced and validated by its constituents. The more you make of the New Year, 5771, the more that it will make of you. So, here’s a cordial cue to jump in at this juncture and build your own character, along with Temple Micah’s congregational persona, starting today for the year ahead.
Keep reading… http:⁄⁄www.micahdenver.org⁄blog⁄?cat=4
Do Justly. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly.
Posted in Micah eMailbox | No Comments »
August 2nd, 2010
by Elaine Lee, Membership and Communications Coordinator
HIGH HOLY DAYS are what people make of them. Any meaning imputed to these holiest of holidays by the temple is experienced and validated by its constituents. The more you make of the New Year, 5771, the more that it will make of you. So, here’s a cordial cue to jump in at this juncture and build your own character, along with Temple Micah’s congregational persona, starting today for the year ahead. Each fall as the congregation hospitably welcomes a swarm of visitors, Temple Micah gets excited, goes all out to greet them like beloved cousins – and is stretched to the max in nearly every way. Generous donations are crucial to accommodate all who partake of this congenial embrace by the Micah community. Financial donations provide an essential form of support to help enable the temple’s logistical feats in rising to these sacred occasions. But money alone can’t make High Holy Days happen. Equally necessary are Micah’s exuberance and tangible deeds, sweat and volunteers that converge to prevent a malady known elsewhere as “the holidaze” — and here instead create High Holy Days.
Since the awesome days are just around the bend, much earlier than usual in September, Temple Micah needs firm commitments now for all of the upcoming tasks – most especially reliable, energetic, able-bodied volunteers for FOUR LIFT-AND-MOVE CREWS to rearrange the large sanctuary and lobby areas. If you have a fairly strong back, no bad knees, a cheery disposition and maybe even a muscle or two, please let me know right away which day(s) you can help or if you’d like to be the crew captain:
- Tuesday, Sept. 7 at 5:30 p.m. for setting everything up before High Holy Days.
- Directly after Rosh Hashanah Services, Thursday, Sept. 9 at about 1:00 p.m. to reconfigure furnishings and organize temple prayer books for temporary storage, to make the area usable for Park Hill Congregational Church’s Sunday “Coming Home” Service.
- Thursday, Sept. 16 at 5:30 p.m. to set everything in place again in readiness for Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur.
- And finally, immediately after Neilah (Closing) Service at Yom Kippur’s end on Saturday night, Sept. 18, before Temple Micah leaves, the building must be fully restored to its usual appearance in consideration of the church’s Sunday Service on the next morning!
Temple Micah also needs a head usher and several voluntary cadres of men, women or teen USHERS to arrive 45 minutes early to facilitate seating before and during the first half-hour of services; ENGLISH READERS and dependable OTHERS FOR NON-SPEAKING PARTS on the bimah during services; and perhaps a few miscellaneous roles to be determined. Yet another way to help to hallow the holiday atmosphere is with fresh floral arrangements, beautiful reminders of the loveliness that can be found in life and nature. If you or your florist, or anyone you know would like the High Holy Days opportunity to ENHANCE TEMPLE MICAH WITH FLOWERS, perhaps in honor or memory of a loved one or a family milestone, please make those plans with me as soon as possible. CHILDCARE HELPERS are needed too, on mornings of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur at 10:00 a.m. (directly after Family Services), and will be coordinated by Stacey Bloomfield.
At the bottom of this blog post, please simply indicate your willingness to be a High Holy Days helper, your dates of availability and which type of tasks you’d prefer — or contact me at elaine.lee@micahdenver.org, 303-388-4239. (Be forewarned that in case you don’t volunteer, I may helpfully suggest a role for you!)
Another means of tribute in memory of loved ones is Temple Micah’s 2010/5771 Arden Pearl Roll of Remembrance. To arrange for your departed loved ones’ names to appear in this memorial listing for distribution at the Yizkor (Memorial) Service on Yom Kippur, Saturday, Sept. 18, please be sure to submit listing requests before Rosh Hashanah, Thursday, Sept. 9 or by then at the latest. A suggested Roll of Remembrance donation of $36 is respectfully requested to help defray production costs and in support of Temple Micah. Remembrance names may be submitted online at http://www.micahdenver.org or by contacting the temple office, 303-388-4239. Names aren’t carried over from the previous year for this remembrance unless specifically requested in a note or e-mail received at temple office by the Sept. 9 deadline.
Temple Micah’s long-held custom of involving congregants in the intense prep and bringing High Holy Days services to life is a yearly reminder that the synagogue is people-centered and humanly propelled at this time and in every season. Consider each opportunity for participation as a blessing albeit-in-disguise, a mandate of membership and a privilege of belonging. Those willing to participate in helping holidays and other events to unfold for the entire Micah community will know that their presences are essential and their efforts appreciated, that they aren’t merely spectators but are among the vital core of an extended cherished Micah family. Just a spurt of energy and a few hours of time can constructively impact fellow congregants, friends, newcomers and other visitors, but most of all the self.
Lest anyone be fooled, Temple Micah doesn’t claim to do it all for you, but encourages you to deepen your connection with the Micah community and Judaism, while discovering satisfaction through shared stints. So, please pursue fulfillment not only by attending services — but also by doing some service. Introspect to your soul’s content and take rituals to heart, but also lend your biceps to set up or put away furniture and prayer books. Be a seeker of holiness — and also an usher guiding guests to seats. Read quietly or silently amid surrounding voices — and aloud in the limelight if beckoned to the bimah. Accept this invitation to play a part willingly, even gladly, and let me know how you’d like to help. Use the blank comment box below this entry to state how you’ll help Temple Micah this year. Have a good one!
Meanwhile, don’t miss this unusual conservation show…
Posted in Elaine Lee | No Comments »
August 2nd, 2010
by Jason Altshuler, Treasurer, Board of Trustees
We closed out the 2009-2010 fiscal year books in July, and something happened that has not happened in about eight years: we closed the temple financials with positive earnings.
Maybe we (the congregation) took to heart the message at last year’s annual meeting: “If we all pitch in about $20 more…” Or maybe it was our President working with the Board of Trustees to ensure we were as frugal as possible. Maybe it was because the Dues Committee made those tough phone calls and successfully persuaded members to make good on promises to Temple Micah. Maybe it was the savings gained from the newsletter changing to an e-mail and blog version. Or perhaps it was that this year (even in a recession) general donations went up significantly.
Here’s what I think… it was the entire congregation doing every little part you possibly could, making tough choices, giving because you have something worth giving to. A great Rabbi, a great community, and a great sense of responsibility to ensure Temple Micah can give back what you have felt and hold dearly.
While it will take more years of the same commitment to move the synagogue toward a solid financial future, you proved we could do it. Congratulations to the entire congregation of Temple Micah.
Mazel Tov!
Posted in Temple Micah Board of Trustees | No Comments »
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