Beth Ami
Colorado Congregation for Humanistic Judaism
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Colorado Congregation for Humanistic Judaism
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February 2008 Newsletter To provide information to the Denver/Boulder area Secular Humanistic Judaism community.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – Jon Budoff Please take the time to respond to the survey at the end of this newsletter. We'd like to get a better idea of what our members and potential members are looking for, and what of the things we are currently doing works for you and what doesn't. Over time, we've introduced more variety in the types, locations, and schedule of events, in the hopes that this would give members and potential members more opportunities to attend Beth Ami events of interest to them. We'd like to get some feedback to know whether we're heading in the right direction. Thanks!
BETH AMI JEWISH CULTURAL SCHOOL – Lenore Kingston We are now meeting in a new location, Countryside Recreation Center, 10470 Oak Drive in Westminster. We will have a lot of storage, full kitchen facilities, and privacy. We look forward to creating an inviting, comfortable Jewish learning environment in our new location. Our Purim Carnival is scheduled for March 9th at 11:30am until 1:30pm. All proceeds will be donated to UNICEF. We encourage all congregation members to extend a warm invitation to friends and family. We will celebrate Purim with a short service, lunch, and carnival games and prizes.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR Check updates at www.bethami.com. For Jewish events in Boulder, link to www.boulderjcc.org. For Jewish events in Denver, link to www.jccdenver.org.
February 3 (Sun) Executive Committee Meeting 10-12 at Elaine Bloch’s home 8 (Fri) Shabbat Service at National Jewish with Rabbi Brian Field* at 7 pm 9 (Sat) Denver Regional Tap Project Training Day** 9:30-2 at St. Mary’s Academy, 4545 S. University Blvd., Englewood. 10 (Sun) Jewish Cultural School 10-12 at new location - Countryside Recreation Center at 10470 Oak Street in Westminster 19 (Tu) Early Zionist Thought & Politics at DU, first of 4 sessions, 7-9 pm 303-871-2291 24 (Sun) Jewish Cultural School 10-12 Adult Ed 10:30-12, both at new location - Countryside Rec Center at 10470 Oak Street in Westminster 27 (Wed) Echoes and Reflections Training with DU Holocaust Awareness Training Institute, 4-7:30 pm, $15 www.du.edu/cjs
March 2 (Sun) Executive Committee Meeting – location TBD 7 (Fri) Shabbat Dinner Club – location TBD 9 (Sun) Jewish Cultural School 10-11:30 at Countryside Rec Center followed by all-congregation Purim Carnival until 1:30 15 (Sat) Havdalah and Movie Night at DU Hillel, 5 pm dinner, 5:30 film “The Frisco Kid” 21 (Fri) Shabbat at DU Hillel 7 pm 30 (Sun) Jewish Cultural School 10-12, Adult Ed 10:30-12 30 (Sun) 4p, Fred Marcus Memorial Lecture
April 5 (Sat) Early Havdalah and Movie Night at DU Hillel - “Uprising” at 5:00 due to length 6 (Sun) Executive Committee Meeting – location TBD 13 (Sun) Jewish Cultural School 10-12 at Countryside Rec Center 16 (Wed) The Ethics of Memory: Portraying the Holocaust at DU, first of 5 sessions, 7-9 pm 303-871-2291 20 (Sun) Passover Seder (2nd night) 27 (Sun) Jewish Cultural School 10-12 at Countryside Rec Center
MOVIE NIGHTS – Michelle Davis Join us for an evening of Havdalah followed by pizza and a movie. All films will be shown at the DU Hillel Center, located at 2390 S. Race Street, Denver, CO, 80210. The suggested donation of $10 per person is a steal for dinner and a movie! Please join us for these great films! “The Frisco Kid” stars Gene Wilder as a naïve 19th century rabbi sent from Poland to the fledgling Jewish community in San Francisco in this warm-hearted, comic adventure. Harrison Ford is the roguish outlaw who adopts the traveler as the two become unlikely friends. “Uprising”, originally broadcast in 2001, was the first American film to dramatize the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943, when an underground collective of Polish Jews defied the Nazis. Hank Azaria leads an all-star cast as resistance leader Mordecai Anielewicz.
UPCOMING LOCAL EVENTS * Rabbi Brian Field of Judaism Your Way (www.judaismyourway.org) will be our first guest presenter at a new venue, National Jewish Hospital, at a Shabbat Service on Friday, Feb. 8 at 7 pm. Rabbi Field will conduct the Shabbat and discuss “The Left Hand of God,” which is the title of a new book by Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of “Tikkun” magazine and co-founder of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. Directions and RSVP will be emailed shortly.
Storytelling fundraiser for The Student Interfaith Peace Project, “A Land Twice Promised” on February 10 at 4 PM. The Institute for the Study of Israel, University of Denver, hosts this event at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church, 1980 Dahlia St, Denver. Donations go to ongoing, cooperative, peacemaking efforts between Israelis and Palestinians. Admission: $25 per person, $10 student includes "Bravo Baklava" gathering afterwards. 303-355-1651
“From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America” at Denver Public Library, 14th & Bwy, through 2/15. Library of Congress Exhibit featuring reproductions of treasures of American Judaica. www.du.edu/cjs
RECENT EVENTS
**More about Tap… Clean and plentiful drinking water is a privilege millions of us take for granted. More than 1.5 million children die each year as a result of not having clean water or adequate sanitation. UNICEF has saved more young lives than any other humanitarian organization in the world and understands the critical role clean water plays in a child’s survival. As a way to raise awareness of this crucial issue, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF announces the national launch of the Tap Project, a campaign that celebrates clean and accessible drinking water in the U.S. while helping UNICEF provide safe water for children around the world. During the week of March 16, culminating on World Water Day, March 22, 2008, restaurants across the country will ask their customers to donate $1 for the tap water they usually enjoy for free. Your participation in recruiting restaurants, and encouraging everyone you know to visit them, will help educate others and work to improve water and sanitation conditions in over 90 countries. Visit www.tapproject.org to become familiar with the program and register as a volunteer. You will then be mailed a Tap Project Volunteer Activation Kit, which includes a handbook, backpack and other resources to establish your legitimacy as a Tap Volunteer. In addition, on Feb. 9, 2008, the Denver/Boulder Tap Project City Coordinators have scheduled a dynamic, volunteer training day from 10 am to 2 pm at St. Mary’s Academy, 4545 S. University Blvd. in Englewood. (Bus provided from Boulder.) Children are welcome with parents and lunch will be served. Sign up to attend the training by either logging back in to tapproject.org with your password and selecting the Denver training, or contacting Sheila at 303-499-5933 or sheilamalcolm@comcast.net.
FOR READERS Here are some interesting titles from a recent New York Times “Islam Issues” book update: Several authors have published books on radical Islam’s threat to the West since that shocking morning in September six years ago. With The Suicide of Reason, Lee Harris joins their ranks. But he distinguishes himself by going further than most of his counterparts: he considers the very worst possibility — the destruction of the West by radical Islam. American Crescent introduces non-Muslim American readers to the world of Iraqi Shiism into which Hassan Qazwini was born, and of the daily oppression Iraqis endured under Saddam Hussein. It is also an introduction to the world of Iranian religious students and clerics, in which Qazwini lived for many years, and to the world of Muslims in the United States, where he now lives. A beautiful and heartwarming book, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson tells the story of how a lost American mountain climber in the Himalayas of northern Pakistan becomes the director of an international institute dedicated to building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Greg recently presented to a sold-out Macky Auditorium at C.U. Lot’s of info about Muslim culture and society. Also, consider titles by these outstanding scholars and presenters at the recent SHJ Colloquium at Birmingham Temple: Fawaz Gerges, Derek Penslar and Amir Hussain.
NEWS FROM NATIONAL
SHJ CONFERENCE AND TEEN/YOUNG ADULT
CONCLAVE! “Connecting to
Judaism: I Did It My Way”
Madrikha Training Update – Michelle Davis Sheila and I have been having a great time at Madrikha training with the International Institute of Secular Humanistic Judaism. We are currently about halfway through and going strong! We have visited Humanistic Jewish communities in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit and Sarasota. Our most recent seminar in Sarasota was “Beyond Tradition: Roots of Secular Humanistic Judaism.” The weather was warm and comfortable and we were lucky enough to secure a home stay with a local couple who put us up in their guest house! We shared the space with BJ Saul, a fellow student in the Madrikh program, from Boca Raton, and president of Beth Adam. The weekend was structured as a series of public lectures, with an additional session for us students to work with Rabbi Adam Chalom, who taught the course. Not only did we learn about our philosophic roots, we met many friendly people within the community. Sarasota hosts a yearly seminar, so we hope to return next spring to reconnect. On the horizon, Michelle plans to attend the Toronto seminar and learn about "Rabbinic and Modern Midrash." In July, we will both travel to Michigan for a week-long "Jewish Education" seminar. Our classes are leaving us chock full of knowledge, as well as inspiring us with ideas of how to further develop and enhance our community here in Colorado.
As far as the nitty gritty details of
the cost of our education, we have worked to minimize the expense by finding
local home stays and utilizing our in-law families in Michigan for a car and
housing. While we are doing well with these methods, we could still use your
support. There are two ways in which you can help. You can donate directly to
the Marilyn Rothschild Fund in order to support our education and travels, or,
if you have unused airline miles, work with us to make use of them for our
flights to various cities! If you are interested in either approach, please
contact Michelle Davis or Sheila Malcolm to discuss the possibilities. With
appreciation! Mazel Tov! Stephen Greenspan, PhD, a former President of Beth Ami-Colorado Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, is the recipient of the Dybwad International Humanitarian Award, which is the highest honor bestowed by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. The award is in recognition of Steve's decades of research and advocacy on behalf of people with developmental disabilities. He can be contacted at stephen.greenspan@gmail.com.
This newsletter is published at least four times/year with the goal of communicating events and information to inform our members and those interested in celebrating “Jewish culture and identity consistent with a humanistic philosophy of life.” Kindly send submissions by email to sheilamalcolm@comcast.net.
BETH AMI SURVEY FOR ALL MEMBERS AND FRIENDS Purpose: To review the types of events that are of most interest to our members and potential members, and reasons for (not) attending our scheduled activities. One of the things we've worked hard to do this year is provide more variety in types of events, and more events each month to give everyone the opportunity attend. Goal: To get a better understanding of what our members and potential members are looking for.
Kindly copy and paste this survey into a new document and send to Beth Ami’s president, Jon Budoff, at jmb@colorado.edu. Or print out and mail to: Jon Budoff, 8383 Chase Dr., Arvada, CO 80003. Many thanks.
Beth Ami currently schedules: Our venues include: Celebrations of major Jewish holidays Congregant’s homes Friday night Shabbats Westminster Rec Ctr and a change to Countryside Rec Ctr Saturday night Havdalahs National Jewish, Denver Movie Nights with Havdalah Jefferson UCC, Golden Guest speakers and presentations Maida’s Clubhouse, Lakewood Jewish Cultural School for K-bar/bat mitzvah Hillel House at Denver University Adult Education Outdoor parks Monthly Executive Committee Planning Meetings
1. In 2007, I attended Beth Ami events approximately ____ times.
2. My favorite types of events were:
3. I prefer the following venues:
4. I’d like to see more of the following scheduled:
5. I’d like to see less emphasis on:
6. To be informed of upcoming events, I rely mostly on: ___ the website ___ the newsletter ___ email updates
7. We can improve communication by:
8. We can increase turnout by:
9. I did not attend events because:
10. For potential members on the mailing list, in addition to all the questions above - The following would make it easier for me to attend my first Beth Ami event:
Thanks for your response by Feb. 15, 2008.
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Last modified: 11/05/06 |