2610 Pioneer Avenue
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82001
(307) - 634 - 3052
[email protected]
Photos Courtesy of Louis Davidson, Synagogues360.org
Shabbat Services
Friday – 7:00 PM – Online through Zoom.
Shabbat Services are led by lay leaders.
Coming Up
Thursday, December 3 – Noon to 2 PM – Library Closed until further notice.
Friday, December 4 – 7 PM – Shabbat services via Zoom. We’ll open the meeting at 6:30 so people can chat. Services begin at 7:00. Zoom info: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83627327018. Meeting ID: 836 2732 7018. Here’s a link to the book we’ll be using: – https://www.ccarnet.org/publications/mishkan-tfilah-for-shabbat/
Sunday, December 6 – Noon to 2 PM – Library Closed until further notice.
Sunday, December 6 – 1:30 to 3 PM – The Bea Montross Israeli Folk Dancers – cancelled until further notice.
Monday, December 7 – 5:30 PM – Bibles and Beer via Zoom. Please email Rodger McDaniel at [email protected] so he can add you to the list of those sent the Zoom link each week.
Thursday, December 10 – Noon to 2 PM – Library Closed until further notice.
Friday, December 11 – 7:30 PM – No regular Shabbat service. Instead, we have been invited to participate in an Erev Hanukah Service by Rabbi Rona Matlow. Her service is called “Bring in Shabbat Hanukah with Queer Spirit and Song.” Please RSVP to https://forms.gle/mvexgsAbraGjchVV7 if you would like to attend.
Sunday, December 13 – Noon to 1 PM – Sisterhood Meeting via Zoom.
Sunday, December 13 – Noon to 2 PM – Library Closed until further notice.
Sunday, December 13 – 1:30 to 3 PM – The Bea Montross Israeli Folk Dancers – cancelled until further notice.
SAVE THE DATE!
Our next Hadassah Book Group meeting will be on February 7th at 4:00 p.m. via Zoom; link to be provided in the future.
We have picked Naomi Ragen’s Sotah as our next read and here is what Amazon has to say about the book:
“Beautiful, fragile Dina Reich, a young woman in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox haredi enclave, stands accused of the community’s most unforgivable sin: adultery. Raised with her sisters to be an obedient daughter and a dutiful wife, Dina secretly yearned for the knowledge, romance, and excitement that she knew her circumscribed life would never satisfy. When her first romance is tragically thwarted, she willingly enters into an arranged marriage with a loving but painfully quiet man. Dina’s deeply repressed passions become impossible to ignore, find a dangerous outlet in a sudden and intense obsession with a married man, with terrible consequences. Exiled to New York City, Dina meets Joan, a modern secular woman who challenges all she knows of the world and herself. Set against the exotic backdrop of Jerusalem’s glistening white stones and ancient rituals, Sotah is a contemporary story of the struggle to reconcile tradition with freedom, and faith with love.”
For those who are curious about the title, a sotah is a woman suspected of adultery. The biblical ritual of the ordeal of bitter water used to determine innocence or guilt is recorded in Numbers 5:11-31. You may read further here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordeal_of_the_bitter_water
Weekly Message from the Board President
It’s after Thanksgiving, but we’re busy giving thanks and receiving thanks. Let’s start on the giving thanks side.
The American Hebrew Academy of Greensboro, North Carolina had to close its doors, which is a shame. One of its graduates is Samuel Moldo, son of our late Rabbi Larry Moldo and his wife Andrea. The Academy is sending our Mt. Sinai Library five boxes of books and covering all of the costs, including shipping. Our thanks to the people at the Academy – Danny Nurafshan, Dassi Sklan, and Jonathan Kuznitz, and especially to Andrea Moldo, for arranging the donation. We can’t wait to see all of the books!
Last week, we mentioned that the Synagogue was going to donate our little-used van to Family Promise of Cheyenne, which helps homeless families. The van was picked up this morning by a representative of Family Promise, and a parent. Tikvah was at the Synagogue when they came by, and said the parent was thrilled. Apparently they have a large family and were going to use the van immediately.
You may remember Rabbi Rona Matlow from the Shiva services held for Rabbi Moldo. She has made a wonderful offer to us. Rabbi Rona is going to lead a Shabbat Erev Hanukkah service on Friday, December 11, and has invited our Congregation to take part. The service will be via Zoom.
Important note: The Rabbi’s service will start at 7:30 PM. We normally start our own service at 7, so this will be later than usual. Also, we won’t have the “chat” time before the service.
If you would like to attend Rabbi Rona’s Erev Hanukah Service on Friday, December 11 at 7:30 our time, please RSVP at https://forms.gle/mvexgsAbraGjchVV7. Rabbi Rona is planning a Hanukah sing-a-long after the service. We should mention that the Rabbi is advertising the service as “Bring in Shabbat Hanukah with Queer Spirit and Song.”
Mt. Sinai will hold its own Hanukah service the next day, on Saturday, December 12. It will be via Zoom starting at 7 PM for chat time, and then the service itself at 7:30. Here’s the Zoom info: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84689522711. The meeting ID is 846 8952 2711.
Our Synagogue Re-opening committee meets this Wednesday. A draft of the policies concerning reopening has been drawn up. The committee will be reviewing it and making changes. In light of the current spike in Covid cases in Laramie County and Wyoming, we don’t anticipate opening soon, but we want to be ready when health professionals indicate it will be safe to do so.
The Endowment Fund has raised enough money to sponsor a chair in Zoli Gancz’s name. That’s wonderful. His chair will be in the large sanctuary, near one for his sister, Helen Zigmond. For the month of December, we’ll be raising money to honor Tim Solon. Tim is a long time supporter of Mt. Sinai. He attends services regularly and has been volunteering in our library for years. Plus he has a wonderful sense of humor and is always welcome. Tim is the kind of guy who considers strangers to be friends he hasn’t met yet. We hope to raise $500 to sponsor a seat in Tim’s name, but an anonymous donor has offered to cover half the cost under certain conditions. Please contact the Synagogue office or use our website to make a donation in Tim’s name.
Here’s our Yiddish Phrase of the Week:
Besser tsen guter freind aider ain soineh.
Better to have ten good friends than one enemy.
Shalom,
Dave Lerner
President
Mt. Sinai Board of Directors
December Birthdays
9 Rabbi Harley Karz-Wagman
13 Harlan Ribnik
19 Andi Coelho
21 Steve Borin
23 Jacque Georgio
28 Heather McLoud
28 Joe Golden