Committee Minutes, 11-10

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1 Committee Minutes, Adult Education Nicci Gafinowitz 20 OCTOBER, 2010; PRESENT: Jama Purser, Bina Raskin, Melissa Segal, Elizabeth Gervaisgruen, Diane Wright, Sunny Marlow, Nicci Gafinowitz 1. Blessing 2. Approve the minutes for August, Approved Jama, Bina 3. Fall Adult Ed brochure Report and comments. Updated brochure shall include spring events when they are determined plus several copies of bigger print for those who need bigger print: MS & NG will work on the brochure. Add Leining group activity (JP) 4. Social Justice in Contemporary Jewish Thought and Practice series Report and comments 5. NCMA afternoon outing Report and comments. Need to assemble photos from Henry Fuchs, Susan Silbovitz and write report for Kehillah newsletter (NG) 6. Large print, more condensed brochure? See above. 7. Brainstorm program ideas for Mar - May 2011 Green Lifestyle discussion panel with pre-written questions Tony Kushner, Memorial Hall Apr 10, 7pm. Community carpool. Ask Joe Gindi for more details (Also Angels in America Jan 29(?)). Sunny Marlow will collect more information Forthcoming movies: Ajami is cancelled for Dec 11, moved to Jan 8th Replace with Bee Season. We could screen Divan (90min) in April Other possible movie titles: Liberty Heights, Enemies, Crossing Delancey, Hester Street, The Producers, Uncle Moses, Gentleman s Agreement, Pass the Gravy, Jazz Singer (1927 version) GLBT. Idea proposed to create new havurah, like Book Club or 20 s30 s groups. Many relevant books in CHK library. Potentially worthwhile in new member recruitment; JP to Exec for ok to form group. MS to send press release promoting Aimee & Jaguar as a GLBT kick-off event after ok from Exec. Down Home exhibit at NC History Museum, Raleigh, followed by tea at the home of Warren and Susan Silbovitz. Sunday 12/12, 2:30 p.m. Carpool from the Kehillah at 1:30 p.m. Docent confirmed. No meeting in Oct. No meeting. No meeting. Cemetery Jonathan Kotch Communications Josh Ravitch Finance Craig Poms Membership Jama Purser Monday October 18, Attendees: Mark Blaustein, Warren Silbovitz, Binah Raskin, Howard Glicksman, Jama Purser, Elizabeth Gervais-Gruen, Susan Silbovitz 1. Blessing

2 2. Minutes from October 4 were approved 3. Committee members were reminded to send completed exit interviews to Warren for compilation. There were only a few new prospective members, who were assigned by . Members were encouraged to review online spreadsheets for assignments. There was a brief discussion of new members since late September, who may not be as connected to the regular Shabbat crowd and may need additional in-reach for welcoming. Jama will draft an of welcome from the committee and additional efforts will be made to evaluate and assure Kehillah connections and hosting for these families. (Note: many of these new families received welcoming via new member bag delivery during the week of Oct.25-29) 4. OPERATIONALIZING MEMBERSHIP OUTREACH AND INREACH ACTION PLAN The group continues to operationalize a coordinated Action Plan for Membership in-reach and outreach. We started by brainstorming activities for face-to-face welcoming and recruitment of non-members in the following categories: a) service attendees, b) those interested in and/or attending the preschool, c) non-members considering joining b/c of interest in religious school, d) telephone or contacts. Action plan will be revised accordingly and revision presented at the next meeting for ongoing work on the plan. Jama will contact Dina and Megan to gain their assistance in the development of plans for preschool and religious school membership activities and will cc Melissa on that correspondence in case she has input as well. It is expected also that the preschool and religious school committees will be quite helpful to the work of the membership committee. 5. Kehillah Fact sheet for membership marketing (f/up info from Melissa) There was no time to discuss this item No meeting. Nominations Meryl Kanfer Personnel Cheryl Tarash Personnel committee - Oct.31, 2010 Cheryl chair; Secretary Diane; Member Jennifer; Randy's role oversight Reviewed committee's charge Discussed the committee's Role in meeting with staff members Committee will provide staff guidance when requested with personnel related issues/concerns Plan and coordinate a Meet and greet event for board and staff to take place between Pesach & Shavuot Plan to update our learning and familiarity with job descriptions, personnel policies, board manual, sop's, org. chart Committee plans to meet with all staff to get acquainted and to share our perspective of our role and hear any concerns Plan to meet w/kehillah president Warren: to discuss plans for executive committee needs clarify roles with data from roles committee of executive director, Preschool Justine Wayne 11/11/10. In attendance: Megan Hans, Melissa Segal, Rachel Baer, Rachel Fingerhut, Jill Simon, Kavitha Surendran, Jennifer Weinberg-Wolf Agenda item Action

3 Kehillah Community Seder Online volunteer calendar/training to use the calendar Fundraisers update KJP Calendar Open House Field trip policy Melissa Segal asked committee members for feedback about a community seder. Consensus was that preschool families were unlikely to attend given children s attention span. Discussion about the reception of and use of the new volunteer calendar. The decision was made to continue the calendar despite the initial response to it, as people now seem to be using it more frequently. Justine has offered to train people on use of the calendar, if necessary, and has provided a brief set written of instructions. Megan shared that the yard sale made a total of $1800 to be split with the Religious School, and that the Scholastic Book Fair had over $700 in sales, which allows for over $400 in literacy material purchases for KJP. Discussion about the KJP calendar, specifically the number of days that KJP is closed. The decision was made to maintain the current method of calendar planning. Discussion about holding an Open House in January for parents of prospective students. Megan will plan the Open House with the assistance of Rachel Fingerhut. Discussion about revisiting the field trip policy, which currently does not allow for field trips under any circumstances. Megan will reword the policy to allow for field trips in the Pre-K class only under limited conditions. Religious School Tamar Birckhead Thursday, October 21, 2010, 7 pm Present: Josh Alexander, Tamar Birckhead, Sara Ephross, Samantha Meltzer-Brody, Dina Schiff, Beri Schwitzer, Cara Siegel, Charlotte Sussman Not present: Catherine Belitsky, Miriam Ornstein, Josh Ravitch (VP Education) Introductions were offered to the newest committee member (Beri Schwitzer) Minutes from the September meeting were reviewed and approved. Dina provided an update on the Religious School: o Enrollment is good. We recently lost one new family who wanted to join the RS but not the Kehillah. There were a number of philosophical differences that they had w/the RS, so it was not a surprise that they decided to go elsewhere. We may be adding two new families one from Beth El and one from Judea Reform. It was suggested that we pair each new RS family w/a committee member who can make contact and monitor their experience during the first semester. Dina will follow up on this via . o Staffing has been resolved. There were two positions that were open and both have been filled (5 th and 7 th grades). The new teachers are doing well. It was suggested that next year Dina identifies substitute teachers for the first month of school, as it is inevitable that there will be staffing issues at the beginning of the year. Dina will arrange this w/confirmed parent volunteers.

4 o o Preparation for Sunday s Yard Sale (a big RS fundraising event) has gone well. Yet, we are still encouraging folks to bring more stuff, volunteer to help, bring baked goods, etc. We discussed coverage of Dina s duties on Sunday, November 14 th, as she will be attending the JRF conference on that date. We divided her typical Sunday tasks among the present RS committee members. The RS Mission Statement: o o We reserved the remainder of the meeting to redraft the mission statement for the RS. Consistent w/other mission statements, our goal was to make it significantly shorter than the paragraph-long version that currently appears on the website. The mission statement will continue to be supplemented by a detailed listing of the tenets and educational approach of the RS on the website. After much discussion (and plenty of good-natured laughs), we settled on the following: Chapel Hill Kehillah RS Mission: To provide an education that fosters a strong and positive Jewish identity, while assisting students and their families in living a joyful and meaningful Jewish life. o The draft will be presented to the Board et al. for review. Next meetings: Sunday, October 31 11:30 a.m.; Thursday, November 18, 2010, at 7 p.m. Meeting adjourned: 8:30 p.m. Minutes taken by Tamar Birckhead Ritual Diane Wright & Henry Fuchs 11/3/2010. Present: Rabbi Jen, Howard Glicksman, Warren Silbovitz, Joel Schwitzer, Diane Wright, Sarah Mendlovitz, Al Mendlovitz, Henry Fuchs I Access to the Sukkah by congregants when school events are going on in the Sukkah A. The Optional Wednesday Religious School event on Sept 22 which involved the decorating of the Sukkah by the children coincided with the beginning of Sukkot. There was concern that the Sukkah and the decorating of it should have been open to the larger community as there may be some that would just enjoy being there watching the children decorate. It was felt that the advertising of the event in the future could spell out a difference between the children decorating and the cost associated with that and those who might just like to come and watch and/or help out. Subsequent to the RC meeting it was learned that the RS class event next year will also coincide with the beginning of Sukkot. Warren agreed to communicate the RC committee s thoughts to Melissa II Go over list of High Holy Day suggestions provided so as to improve services next year A. Warren provided a list of suggestions provided by those on the High Holy Day committee. Various suggestions were made and Warren agreed to work with the HHD committee to make improvements for next year. III Discuss the volunteer aspect on Friday nights (included on the Shabbat Set-up) A. Warren expressed concern regarding the reduced number of Captains available to provide set up on Friday night for services on Saturday morning. After some discussion Warren agreed to speak to Melissa about other options such as trying to hire someone to do it.

5 B. Warren also pointed out that he would be unable to help set the Torah for a while and that Rabbi Jen and Diane were the only people left at this time to do it and they agreed to make sure that the Torahs were set. Subsequent to the RC meeting Warren spoke to Melissa and it was agreed that the set up for Friday night services, currently being done by the janitorial personnel, be arranged similar to the format on Saturday morning. And that the reading table be left in front of the ark ready for Saturday morning. We will monitor this to see how it works. IV.Discuss what to do for 5th year anniversary of the Chapel resulting from the Weldon A. Discussion involved determining the exact date for the Shabbat involved, providing an aliyah for Harry & Sarah Kittner, Harry bringing his compilation of the history of the Weldon community, Harry possibly doing a d var. Howard agreed to follow up with Harry and Sarah V A way to have all four Torahs in the Chapel ark A. The Committee viewed the ark to determine what possibilities might exist to having all four Torahs in the ark. It was agreed that we should ask the original builder of the ark what possibilities might be available to accommodating a fourth Torah. Henry agreed to follow up on this. VI Getting a sofer A. Rabbi Jen asked that a Reconstructionist Rabbi/Sofer that she knew to be qualified be contacted to check the Torahs and fix the separation of the parchment on one of the Torahs. Howard agreed to make the contact VII Captains for Adult B'nei Mitzvah A. Rabbi Jen raised the issue of how we provide for the logistics for an adult B nei mitzvah. Discussion involved the use of a Shabbat Captain or the possibility of Dina possibly doing it. It was felt that because an adult B nei mitzvah happened so rarely, that would make it difficult for a Captain to be mindful of what to do. Warren said that he would talk to Melissa about the possibility of Dina doing it. B. Subsequent to the RC meeting Warren spoke to Melissa and it was agreed that an adult b nei mitzvah should be covered by staff and that she would find a way to cover it. VIII Triennial cycle and Torah portions Yitro and B'shalach A. Rabbi Jen provided various options for reading Torah portion Yitro which includes the Ten Commandments. Discussion included how we have been doing it in the past, how we wanted to do it in the future and how it would effect a b nei mitzvah. Values considered were the length of the reading, hearing the ten commandments and hearing the whole Torah portion over three years. Options were to read it all, year one read first part without the ten commandment, year two and three read the second and third sections combined with the ten commandments. One suggestion made was to read the first part in English on a non b nei mitzvah Shabbat. No conclusion was reached IX Passover Seder Update A. Warren related that an ad hoc committee has been meeting and recently met with a caterer and that at this point the committee feels that the Seder is financially and logistically doable. B. Discussion ensued about the nature of the seder, would it be for adults or family oriented. It was felt that the seder should be family oriented but be conducted in a way that would provide for adults as well as the children in the best way possible and that there should be an early starting time, perhaps at 5:30 pm. Warren will communicate the RC committee s thoughts to the ad hoc committee and also talk to

6 Tamar Birckhead (Religious School Chair) about going to a Religious School Committee meeting to inform the committee of the seder and gauge the interest of the RS families. Meeting adjourned at 9:30 PM. Next meeting will be Dec 1, 2010 at 7:15 PM. Social Action Irene Zipper 11/6/10. Present: Kathy Kaufman, Henry Landsberger, Irma Stein, Susan Siegel, Irene Zipper Irene and Susan relayed information about their meeting with the Rabbi last week, who gave us information about potential SAC members. Communication and Outreach Discussed the relative value of the website Would be good to have new/upcoming events on the front page Susan will suggest that there be a box on the front page that will focus on social action Melissa has offered to meet with the Committee; Susan will schedule a meeting with her to discuss the need for better communication and how to achieve that. Irma recalled that there had been a survey of the congregation some time ago to address this and other issues. Susan will ask Melissa about this. Religious School: Irene will call Dina about Religious School representation and involvement in Social Action, and will ask the Schweitzers about being the Religious School Liaison to the SAC. It s better to recruit members/participants around an event than to generally join a committee, so will be looking at possibilities. Everyone is asked to send Susan dates of upcoming events for the website. Budget Discussion of a potential fundraiser for Social Action and/or a donation box at various Kehillah events. However, since the SAC has no real budget, this may not be feasible. Discussion of the value of tracking funds that are raised for social action initiatives. Susan will bring this up at the Communications Committee as well. It might also be helpful to learn how other congregations are dealing with this (see below). Other Business Henry raised the issue that our activities seem to be focused on Orange County while some congregants (including Henry) live in Chatham County. All agreed that Chatham County should not be excluded and will explore options for getting more involved in Chatham County initiatives. Committees: Susan will follow up with Warren about committees how congregants find out about them, how they can be more effective, etc. Social Action Summit: It might be helpful to have a gathering of social action committees from other congregations. Irene will contact the Federation to consider hosting a Social Action Summit. Upcoming events: Homeless Connect: Susan will check on the status of Homeless Connect for this year with IFC, where she is the Kehillah liaison. Community Dinner: Irma will check with Helen Nachman about the dates for the Community Dinner, past bakers, etc. so that we can prepare for this event. Justice United: The Fall Delegates Assembly will take place on December 9. This is an important event that requires lots of participation. Kathy will send information to the congregation.

7 The next meeting will take place on Sunday December 5, 9:30 a.m., in the Library Youth Group Simone Leiro & Laura Fradin Nov. E-Meeting 11/17/10 1. YG Chanukah party: maintain current date; include just Kehillah YG; discussion around food 2. Kehillah Chanukah Party: how to get more YG volunteers, discussion about YG raffle 3. YG Board: discussion on whether to e-meet or have in-person meetings; for now, maintain in-person meetings 4. B nei Mitzvah Shirt gifts: planned who is giving out t-shirts at each Bar/Bat Mitzvah

Committee Reports. Discussions ongoing with Rabbi Martin Green re broad variety of lecture topics.

Committee Reports. Discussions ongoing with Rabbi Martin Green re broad variety of lecture topics. Committee Reports Adult Education Nicci Gafinowitz Sandy Eisdorfer, Nicci Gafinowitz, Val Glaser, Meg Lewis, Renee Luberoff, Jama Purser, Warren Silbovitz, Diane Wright. Work is ongoing on preparing for