Nishmat Shalom Community Decision Meeting (CDM) Notes 24 April 2012
Present: Alice, Alex, Carol, Ed, Emily, Hanna, Lea
1) Childcare Usage Report: Jan, Feb, March,
April Shabbat services: children present all times. Ed subbed for
George one of these times, and since there were several children to
take care of, this CDM decided he should be paid. We
appreciate Ed’s detailed report of month to month usage.
2) Treasury Report: Starting balance: $1025.61;
Contribution received: $60.00. Expenses: in round
numbers, $160 for Childcare $42 for mailing, copying and bank
fees.. Current balance forward: 883.60.
3) New dates (in
addition to dates already on our calendar):
Shabbat mornings: June 30th- additional service, probably at
Max’s.
July 21, August 18, September 22 (Shabbat Shuvah), October 6th
(Sukkot)
CDM meetings: Tues 6/26/2012, Tues 9/4/2012- Emily volunteers to host
both.
Welcoming Nathan (our previous leyning coordinator, now on the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College faculty): We decided to add an
additional service to our calendar on June 30th to coincide with
Nathan’s visit to Berkeley. Max has volunteered to
host if needed, and Nathan will help with the service. We
would like to look for an interesting teaching on June 16th to
encourage people to attend on both dates. Ed will make calls.
4) Walk Against
Genocide: Lea and Hanna will be participating in the Walk Against
Genocide at Lake Merritt on Sunday, April 29th. Based on their
participation, Nishmat is considered a co-sponsor, along with a variety
of organizations including synagogues, churches and ethnic groups.
5) Upcoming Newsletter:
Hanna will be organizing the next newsletter to go out by
early June to cover all the dates listed above in item #3. Last
time: Lea bought stamps; Max printed labels; Alex picked up
labels and printed the newsletter, and brought it to Ethel to
mail. Carol checked for Judaic info and Lea
proofread. Hanna will work around Alex’s schedule if
needed.
6) Potential
Ark: We received information about a wooden ark available from
the Coastside Jewish Community and received photos in response to our
follow-up inquiry. The contact person did not have dimensions but
did tell us this ark will not fit in the back seat of a
standard car. Without dimensions (to determine how it will
fit our scroll), we can't decide if cutting the ark down is feasible,
and its current size makes it appear that it would not be more easily
portable than our current ark. Lea may receive dimensions
in May.
7) Camping
Shabbaton: Lea reported that there does not seem to be a large
enough group of people to plan a Camping Shabbaton for Fall, 2012, and
does not plan to organize a Camping Shabbaton this year. At
this time, no one stepped forward to plan a different type of
Shabbaton.
8) Email Service
Announcements: Debbie has volunteered to take over the task of sending
out email announcements for our Shabbat services a week to 10 days in
advance. She has requested assistance in sending out them
out for the first time, and Lea has volunteered to help her do
this. Thanks to Debbie, Lea and Paul (our previous e-announcement
sender). We discussed that links to a map increased the
number of email bounces and at this time we recommend just an email
with the address and directions as provided by the host.
9) Tikkun Leyl
Shavuot (Saturday night, 26 May 2012): At our January CDM we decided
that we would be a co-sponsor of the "All-Berkeley"
Tikkun Leyl Shavuot at the JCC if no funds were required and if we
could meet the Tikkun's volunteer requirement. Max will be
teaching on our behalf and will contact Lauren (Tikkun coordinator)
directly. Lea and Alice have volunteered to help with
logistics, and Ed has volunteered to help with childcare.
Lea has been serving as our liaison. Thank you all!
10) New reading in Torah
Service: We agreed to continue to consider “We Open
the Ark” (The reading prepared by Emily and now on blue
half-sheets in the back of our siddurim) to be adopted as part of our
service. Emily mentioned that she would like it to be decided on
as is, rather than go through a communal editing process. Carol
mentioned that if the piece is adopted, it will come into the service
on the same basis as the piece it has stood in lieu of, Bei Ana
Racheitz. That is, whoever volunteers to lead the Torah
Service for that month will have discretion over which of the two
pieces to use. We plan to discuss this in June with the piece in
front of us.
11) Discussions of Torah
Reading: Several people indicated they would be interested in
having a discussion of the parsha after lunch. Lea will ask
individuals to be prepared to initiate a discussion or do so
herself. During announcements, we will mention the discussion
starting at 2 pm.
12) Bonfires: We agreed
to once again co-sponsor Yeashore Community Bonfires (no cost, just
mutual advertising).
13) CDM List: The
between-meeting CDM decision list consists of those who have attended a
CDM within the past year. We agree that the updated CDM list will
be appended to the minutes, with dates of attendance. This will
improve access to the correct list of individuals because our minutes
are posted on the web. Raja had offered to create a Yahoo
group to handle inter-CDM decisions and discussions. However,
several individuals indicated they had had problems with Yahoo groups
and did not feel they wish to adopt this technology. The
decision to keep an updated CDM list at the end of the minutes
supersedes the proposal at the last CDM to post this list on the
web. We anticipate that the current decision will make the list
easier to maintain and access. Many thanks to Raja for his
support and suggestions.
<<Note: Raja has resigned from his position
of inter-CDM decisions coordinator.>>
14) Electronics at Nishmat
Shabbat Events: Several of us felt that phone calls, texting and
picture taking bring the stress of the week into the service
space. We agreed that a phone link to bring the service to
someone who is ill is fine, and also recognize that individuals may
need to be on call. If so, we ask that they keep the phone on
vibrate and take the call out of the service space. We would like
to add a line in the newsletter to make this practice
known. In the discussion, there was both input to be
specific about asking people not to use “cell phones,
cameras and similar electronics” and also input to use the word
“electronics,” with more people preferring the
latter. We raised the question of asking hosts to turn house
phones off during Nishmat Shabbat events, but have not made a decision
on this.
For Next CDM Agenda:
Treasury Report
Childcare Update
Planning for Fall fund-raising letter
Followup on Coastside ark availability
Would anyone be interested in organizing a non-camping Shabbaton?
Incorporating new reading “We Open the Ark” in our
Torah service
Should we ask hosts to turn off their telephones during services?
Upcoming dates already calendared plus new dates in order:
19 May 2012 (third Shabbat morning) – hosted by Paul, Miryam,
Yair and Beckett
26 May 2012 Tikkun Leyl Shavuot (Saturday night)-Berkeley JCC
16 June 2012 (third Shabbat morning) – hosted by Jake
Tues 6/26/2012 CDM at Emily’s
June 30th – Shabbat, additional service, probably at Max’s.
July 21, Shabbat morning service
August 18, Shabbat morning service
Tues 9/4/2012 CDM at Emily’s
September 22 (Shabbat Shuvah), morning service
October 6th (Shabbat Sukkot), morning service
Nishmat Inter-CDM Decision List w/last date of attendance, updated as
of today:
Alex 4/24/2012 (Leyning Coordinator)
Alice 4/24/2012 (Treasurer)
Carol 4/24/2012 (Davening Coordinator)
Ed 4/24/2012 (Childcare Coordinator)
Emily 4/24/2012
Hanna 4/24/2012 (Newsletter Coordinator)
Lea 4/24/2012 (Shalom Bayit Coordinator)
Max 1/10/2012 (Mailing list Coordinator, Website updates)
Vicky 11/15/2011
Claire 8/23/2011
Other ongoing coordinators, who may included for information:
Debbie (e-Announcements)
Ethel (Community contact)
Raja (Website updates)