Coming Up

Wednesday, January 15 – 6:30 PM – Board Meeting.

Thursday, January 16 – Noon – 1 PM – Torah Thursday. Join us on Thursdays at noon as we look at the growth of Jacob’s family with the help of Rashi, Sforno and Steinsaltz.  Feel free to bring your lunch!

Thursday, January 16 – Noon to 2 PM – Library Open. Other times by request. Call Tim Solon, 632-4105.

Friday, January 17 – 7 PM – Shabbat services led by Rabbi Moldo followed by special Oneg in honor of Bea Montross.  Join us and share your memories of Bea with her family after services.

Sunday, January 19 – 10 AM to Noon – Religious School canceled this week. 

Sunday, January 19 – Noon to 2 PM – Library Open. Other times by request. Call Tim Solon, 632-4105. 

Sunday, January 19 – 1:30 to 3 PM – the Bea Montross Israeli Folk Dancers – For more information contact Mary Weinstein.

Thursday, January 23 – Noon – 1 PM – Torah Thursday. Join us on Thursdays at noon as we look at the growth of Jacob’s family with the help of Rashi, Sforno and Steinsaltz.  Feel free to bring your lunch!

Thursday, January 23 – Noon to 2 PM – Library Open. Other times by request. Call Tim Solon, 632-410

Friday, January 24 – 7 PM – Shabbat services followed by Oneg sponsored by the Sisterhood.  

Sunday, January 26 – 10 AM to Noon – Religious School. 

Sunday, January 26 – Noon to 2 PM – Library Open. Other times by request. Call Tim Solon, 632-4105. 

Sunday, January 26 – 1:30 to 3 PM –  the Bea Montross Israeli Folk Dancers – For more information contact Mary Weinstein.

SAVE THE DATE:

Hadassah Book Group –  The first book group read of the year will be A Daughter of Many Mothers, the autobiography of Rena Quint and co-authored by Barbara Sofer.  We will endeavor to have a Skype conversation with Barbara Sofer during February, the date of which has not been set as yet.  Sofer lives in Jerusalem and is the Israel director of public relations for Hadassah.  We will have to accommodate the time difference to do this. Click here to read more about the book. More details will follow.

Weekly Message from our Board President

As you may have heard, Bea Montross passed away last week.  Her family held a private funeral.  We will be remembering her Friday night, January 17 after services, so if you would like to come and honor or share your memories of this wonderful lady, please join us.  Her sparkling sense of humor and her eagerness to help in the Synagogue will be missed.

Carol Fischer, the President of Sisterhood, said “We’ll have a nice Kiddish. She was a great and knowledgeable teacher and danced all over the world.”  The Synagogue has named our dance group after Bea, who taught dancing here for many years.

Mazel Tov to Gayle Wagner and her family. Gayle’s newest granddaughter, Huntleigh, was born on December 30^th.  Gayle says Huntleigh and her now family of five is doing great.   We’re kvelling along with Gayle.

We have a quick scheduling note.  Tikvah (Therese) McKinnon will be leading services on Friday, January 24^th.  She plans to include some Debbie Friedman music in the service, so if you enjoy her songs, make a point of attending.

Thank You, Patrick Vann!  Patrick made a donation to help us pay for our security guard, and plans to continue supporting our security and safety efforts throughout the year.  He sent a brief note with his donation: “We will stand together through these tough times. Sincerely Patrick Vann.” 

The Synagogue beefed up its security last year after a series of anti-Semitic attacks around the world.  We have a private security guard who patrols the Synagogue during services and special events.  Maryann Palmer has stopped potential car thefts or vandalism outside the Synagogue and is at our front door when people arrive and leave the building.  Any donation to help pay for her services is very much appreciated.

Last week, we mentioned that Agnes Weinstein had left money to the Mt. Sinai Endowment Fund in her will, and decided to donate that money now.  One of the ways we would like to thank her and honor her is by having the congregation and friends donate money to sponsor a seat in the large Sanctuary.  A plaque will be placed on the seat with her name on it.  The total cost is $500, although an anonymous donor has offered to cover half the cost if we use the donor’s preferred wording on the seat.  Donations are starting to come in, but we haven’t reached our goal yet.  The money Agnes donated, and the money for the plaque will not be touched… only the interest will be used to cover costs at the Synagogue.  Can you help us say thank you to Agnes for her wonderful donation and her dedication to  Mt. Sinai?

Our Hamentaschen bakers are hard at work, cooking up dozens of the tasty treats… lots of dozens.  Here’s a note from Andrea Moldo about it:

Thank you to all those who have already purchased their hamantaschen dozens. As a reminder, for the rest of you, pre-orders will still be taken for the rest of the month. Please contact Andrea (the Rebbetzin) at 209-613-1884 to arrange for her to receive payment of either cash or check made out to Mt. Sinai Congregation.

$12 per assorted dozen; gluten free assorted dozens are also available in limited quantities. Pick up date is March 1st unless you and Andrea come to an agreement on different timing. The Megillah reading is on March 9th at 6pm which is another day you could pick up the dozens.

Let’s go out to dinner!  We’ll try a new place for our next Shalom dinner.  Let’s meet at The Office, which is on Pershing Blvd near the Capitol Movie Theater.  We’ll have dinner at 6:30 on Thursday, January 23^rd.  We’ve already made the reservations.

The Mt. Sinai Library is getting a fascinating book as a donation this week.  It’s called “Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West” by Harriet and Fred Rochlin.  The book mentions Cheyenne in several pages.  It includes a brief biography of Elsie Myers, who helped found Temple Emanuel in 1888, and later became Sisterhood President at Mt. Sinai in the 1920’s. It also describes Henry Altman, who led the effort to create Cheyenne’s first city park in the 1880s.

Here’s our Yiddish Phrase of the Week:

Dos voremel nart op un nisht der fisher oder di vendkeh.
It’s the bait that lures, not the fisherman or the tackle.

Shalom!

Dave Lerner
President
Mt. Sinai Board of Directors

Rabbi’s Column

This week we begin the second book of the Torah. We learn about the Exodus story long before Passover, so by the time we get to Passover, it is a review of what has already been covered.

This portion covers a number of years, and then the next portions slow things down for a bit. We become slaves, Pharaoh kills off as many male children as possible, Moses is born, grows up, leaves home and then eventually comes back, where things do not turn out as well as he might have hoped for, so God has to remind him how the process will work. (It’s much like cleaning something. First you have to disarrange everything in the process of rearranging it better.)

Moses does not want the job of freeing the slaves. He argues with God quite a bit about it. God counters all the arguments, and Moses is stuck with freeing the Israelites. Even with his anger management issues, he is the best person for that task at that time. Thankfully, perfection is not required to be a leader.

Nature these past couple of weeks sounds like The Merry Minuet – there’s fires in Australia and flooding in Israel, and earthquakes in a few other spots around the globe. Praying for the victims and their families.

Reminder that at the end of the month Tikvah will be leading services using musical recordings.

If you would like to lead services, please let Jeff Weinstein or myself know and we will add you to the schedule.

May our lives be filled with deeds of lovingkindness.

Community Partner with Family Promise of Cheyenne

January Birthdays

1              Agnes Weinstein

12           Laurie Lerner

15           Steve Lerner

25           Donna Pepper

26           Jacob Means

26           David Young

27           Erin Brown

29           Howard Rodack               

Mt. Sinai Movie Nights

All movies are shown at Mt. Sinai on the “big screen” and with surround sound. Refreshments and drinks provided. Come join us for any or all of our upcoming movies.