Weekly Message from the Board President

We have some great news about a member of the Mt. Sinai family.  You may remember Maryann Palmer, our security guard.  Maryann always cheerfully greeted us as we came to the Synagogue for services.  She would hold the door, and got to know many individual members of the congregation.  She patrolled outside and inside the building while we held services and other activities.  She would personally escort anyone who needed a little extra help getting to their cars.

Maryann suffered a serious health issue a few years ago, which resulted in her hands and feet being amputated.  It didn’t slow her down – she came to the Yiddish Food Festival a year or so ago and was warmly welcomed.

Denise Bendori has stayed in touch with Maryann and shared this photo.  Maryann now has prosthetics on her hands and feet and is even able to stand.  If you look closely, you’ll see a kitten on Maryann’s shoulder.  The cat is named Luna and is a rescue.  We are delighted to see Maryann doing so well.

It’s time to talk money.  Yes, we talk about it a lot.  But having enough money to keep the Synagogue going is a never ending challenge.  This week, the Mt. Sinai Board of Directors will review the proposed budget for 2026 and suggest changes.  You will see the final budget at the annual congregation meeting on Sunday, December 7.  Here’s what the Board will be considering at its regular meeting on Wednesday.

The total income for the Synagogue is estimated to be $158,000, but there’s an important caveat to that.  To reach that number, we are dipping into the Synagogue’s “life savings,” our Trust and Endowment funds.  Each fund will contribute $35,000, for a total of $70,000.  That’s much, much higher than it has been in recent years.  In the past, the Trust and Endowment each contributed $10,000, for a total of $20,000.  We’ve increased that to $70,000 for next year… that’s a jump of $50,000.

So what caused that?  You can blame some of that on inflation, but the biggest single factor is repairs and maintenance to the building.  We put off some needed maintenance for many years because it was expensive.  This year, we had to get the work done.  In 2025, we’re estimating our repair and maintenance costs to be almost $44,000, and we’re not done yet.

We have to get the drains in the basement repaired, and some of the brick work on the outside of the building (the fence along the back yard) needs to be fixed so it doesn’t collapse.  We’re looking at paying the insurance deductible for a new roof following the big hailstorm that hit us a couple of months ago.

The good news is that we have savings to cover these expenses.  Through the hard work and leadership of people like Steve Borin, Marv Wolf, and Morris Gardner, Mt. Sinai has saved and carefully invested money in the Endowment and Trust Funds.  But the bad news is that the more we take from our savings, the less they grow, if they grow at all.  Our hope is that these repairs will be short term expenses, and will not happen again for a long time.  So we’re dipping into savings for now, but hopefully this will last us.

We had a lot of fun in the Sukkah on Friday.  Jason Bloomberg took some photos of the festivities.

Mt. Sinai will not be holding Simchat Torah services this week.  However, our friends at Chabad of Laramie will be holding a service and they have invited our congregation to attend.  It will be at a private home in Laramie, so you’ll have to RSVP if you would like to go.  Send an email to [email protected] to get the details.

The hostages have been released and a cease fire is in effect!  That is great news.  It comes just as we were preparing to commemorate the two year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel. Our event will take place this Thursday, October 16, at 7 PM in the Synagogue.  We will be honoring and remembering those who lost their lives in the attack and in captivity, but we will also be celebrating the return of the hostages who survived.

Here’s our Yiddish Phrase of the Week:

Afn ganef brent dos hitl.
The hat on a thief burns.

 Shalom,

Dave Lerner
President
Mt. Sinai Board of Directors

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October Birthdays

2              Sue Carlass

6             Judith Clark

9              Miriam Evelyn Mollman

20           Dorothy Feldman

23           Ilaine Brown

24           Jaimee Sodosky

24           Rochel Mendelsohn

25          Stephanie Ehrlich

28           Jeff Weinstein

29           Elsie Reid

31           Namaste Reid