MINUTES FOR COMMUNITY DECISION MEETING JUNE 24, 2008: (Rev 7/1/08)
Present: Alice, Carol, Ed, Emily, Lea, Max
Regrets: Alex, Ethel, Raja, Robin, Shana
Participating by Speakerphone: Vicky
TREASURY REPORT: Since the last CDM $125.96 in expenses for newsletter,
childcare and bank charges; $0.00 in income; balance $787.72. Already
budgeted irregular expenses will be paid in this cycle: $36.00 to NHC
$57.00 for domain names.
SCHEDULING: Saturday Morning Service dates approved. Contact Ed to
volunteer to host.
10/18 (Sukkot)
11/15 (Emily volunteers to host)
12/20 (Paul & Miryam volunteers to host)
1/17 (MLK wkend-we decided that we should not move the svc date)
CDM: Tues, December 9th (Ethel volunteers to host)
Chanukah Shabbat Evening: would be Fri. eve 12/26 (Ed will followup
with Madeline and Lincoln)
Pool Party: Robin offered to look into hosting a pool party at her
complex in Walnut Creek. Lea will check with her and see if Robin will
organize this, and let the group know.
BREAK-FAST: YIZKOR/NEILAH SERVICE FOLLOWING YOM KIPPUR: Thurs evening,
October 9^th ; Ed will look into hosting at least a break-fast. Ed will
keep in touch with Shana about whether she is available to lead a
Yizkor/Neilah Svc. Ed now has the blue folder with the Yizkor/Neila
copies.
LENDING TORAH: If we are doing Neila, we'd like to use the Sefer Torah
during Neila. Otherwise, we agreed to lend the Sefer Torah to Claire
for use at the Family Kol Nidre at Netivot. Ed will be in touch with
Claire regarding availability.
WEBSITE RELATED ISSUES: The group approves Carol, Raja and Max
collaborating to post up liturgy text and sound files on the web. We
will start with the liturgy that has been produced through the Nishmat
liturgy project, as a means to share our work with other groups and to
provide an easy learning resource for our own members. Max will this
week experiment to see if he can make a .pdf file directly from the
type of file our pages are in; if not we will scan them.
Removing last names from CDM minutes- Lea will identify these to Max
for removal.
Max would like to make some technical changes in the working of the
website before posting text of the Nishmat Shalom brochure.
Lea took beautiful photos of our Tu Bishvat seder on January 21. Max
will look into posting a couple on our site. Max will also get in touch
with Alex about Torah-Bee pictures from last year, and Raja will send
Max a few as well.
SOFERET: We still do not have a letter of kashrut for the repairs of
the Torah scroll done last spring by soferet Avielah Barclay. Carol has
provided a draft letter as suggested by Raja, who is researching how to
reach Avielah. Vicky read us (via speakerphone) a draft of a letter to
the soferet, which we approved with minor adjustments and provided our
signatures. Vicky will work with Raja to get it sent.
APPRECIATION: We appreciate everyone who has been doing so much to keep
Nishmat flowing and thriving!
STARTING TIME OF SHABBAT MORNING SERVICES: Beginning last January, we
started to begin our Shabbat services at 10:30 am, rather than at 10:00
am as had been the custom previously. We had decided that this was a
temporary change and we need to decide what time to begin Shabbat
services in the future. We agree that we will extend the trial period
through the next CDM in September. We will take the following steps to
assure that services actually begin at 10:30: making sure the host
knows who is leading Psukei, encouraging Psukei daveners to begin
promptly at 10:30, and having copies of the outline in the box so that,
in the event the Psukei leader is late, the group can begin without him
or her.
OTHER SERVICE ISSUES: Max would like to chant the Haftarah at the
August Svc. We decided to shorten the August service by having a Heicha
Kedusha Amidah for Shacharit and to begin the Torah service at 11:35
rather than 11:45.
SERVICE OUTLINES: Copies of the service outlines, in page protectors,
inside an orange file folder, are now in the box next to the Torah
Blessings for use at services.
APPEAL LETTER TO GO OUT IN SEPTEMBER: Alice undertakes to either write
the letter or delegate it. Lea will put together list of activities,
achievements, etc can we note for this year, and had some concerns
about wording. Vicky is available to work on the newsletter during the
second half of August and all of September.
We will mail it with the September newsletter and Lea and Alice will
also post it to our email list.
CAMPING SHABBATON SEPTEMBER 12 - 14: Members of Nishmat have reserved
five campsites so far! Watch the email list for more info!
INREACH AND OUTREACH: There is has not been more follow-up on
contacting folks on Nishmat Shalom's mailing list who have not been
active. Ed will follow up on a few names.
BROCHURES FOR JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL: At the CDM 250 of these were
folded. Lea and Ed will distribute some.
PUBLICITY ON BAYJEWS.ORG : Lea is no longer posting info about our Shabbat gatherings on bayjews.org .
We do not want to forward the full announcement to a public list
because of the amount of personal information it contains. Max will put
up the services on Craigslist. Does anyone volunteer to post it on
BayJews or elsewhere? /No volunteers as of 7/1/08. /
DISCUSSIONS FOLLOWING LUNCH AT SATURDAY SHABBAT GATHERING: We
have Josh G. scheduled for September, and encourage people who
want
to lead a discussion to contact Lea.
CHILDCARE AT SERVICES: Ed is working on getting earlier notice of
cancellation so he will be able to contact experienced childcare
providers as substitutes. Make sure Ed hears of comments/concerns.
Please send Ed recommendations of qualified substitute childcare
providers if you know of any!
DECISIONS THAT NEED TO BE MADE BETWEEN MEETINGS: Carol will solicit
volunteer within a week or we will not be able to make any decisions
until the next CDM. /Followup: Raja has volunteered to do this, but
will not be available from 8/13 through 8/24, so we will not have
coverage during that time.
ROLE OF COMPILING AGENDA ITEMS: Is anyone available to take this role
on? Carol will solicit the list for someone to take on this role. /Followup: Alex volunteers to do this./
TISHA B'AV: If Aquarian Minyan or Chochmat Ha-Lev asks Nishmat to
co-sponsor, we agree to do that.
FOR SEPTEMBER CDM:
Start time of service
Discuss and calendar Tu B'Shvat Seder
Followup on status of website
Followup on letter of kashrut for Sefer Torah
Followup on inreach/outreach
Calendaring: Discuss when to calendar Feb-May or June