Mom, please! There is no need to put that dinner roll in your pocketbook.

(Jewish haiku, anonymous)

The Havurat Olam Shmoozeletter

January 14, 2005 - 04 Shevat 5765

Volume II, Issue 4

Shmoozeletter Anniversary!

As Groucho Marx said, “Anyone can get old.  All you have to do is live long enough!”  We’d like to wish the Shmoozeletter a happy first birthday.  She was born a year ago this very week, and has been responsible (we hope) for eliciting a smile or two, a little hope, and a bit of down home Yiddishkeit in Cabarrus County.  We hope to see her grow to a venerable old age.

Friday Night Services

Chants Encounters and Tu B'Shevat

January 21, 2005

Announcing another birthday – the birthday of trees.  After this month’s services, we’re going to celebrate Tu B’Shevat, the new year for trees with  (what else?) a seder.  Please bring nuts, dates, figs, and other tree-like produce for our oneg seder.  We’ll take almost anything edible.  Though despite Oral Robert’s instructive commercials, we do discourage pine cones.  It’s oneg seder, not oneg cedar!

Our Torah features a new, hand-made mantel, our prayers will include new and beautiful melodies, and we will take time at our oneg to do a little chants encounter.

We will meet at the centrally located and fully accessible St. James Lutheran Church in Concord, which is situated on the corner of Corban and Union.  Enter the parking lot from Corban, and come in through the back entrance.  Walk down the short hall and turn right into the fellowship hall.

Please arrive by 7:15 p.m.  Services begin at 7:30 p.m. and last about one hour.  Non-members will be asked to contribute to our rental costs with a $10 per adult donation.

Event:	Friday Night Service
Date:	January 21, 2005
Time:	7:30 p.m. (arrive by 7:15)
Location:	St. James Lutheran Church 104 Union St. S, Concord NC

Announcements and Inquiries

A Havurah Home of our Own and a Sunday School

Havurat Olam’s Board of Directors are now investigating the possibility of renting space we can call our own, and opening a Sunday School next September for pre-school age children and up.  We have already developed a successful b’nai mitzvah program and seen our first two bar mitzvahs in the last four months.  There’s a whole lot of learning going on!

We would like to hear your thoughts on our plans, even if you have not officially become a member.  And if you have any suggestions for space, please let us know.  We would need about 1,000 square feet and would prefer a handicapped-accessible facility.  Just reply to this email with any ideas, suggestions, or comments.

Membership Report

We have reached Chai!!  Eighteen families/couples/singles have joined Havurat Olam.  Please consider joining our great experiment: developing an open-minded and welcoming Jewish congregation – the very first in Cabarrus County.  You can help us reach our goals with your support – and they include regular services, marking all major holidays with parties and special events, continuing our Chicken Soup Committee, engaging in social action and community work, and introducing our children to the vibrant and wonderful culture we are heirs to.

Membership information and form.

For those of you who paid bi-yearly, the second half of our fiscal year has begun, so please send your second payment to: Havurat Olam, 570 Wilhelm Place NE, Concord NC 28025-2530.

Torah Fund

Neil Yerman, master scribe and featured speaker for National Public Radio (NPR), has recently done the great mitzvah of taking a look at our Torah, which we received on permanent loan from Temple Emanu-El.  Mr. Yerman has been able to identify at least five scribes at work, who seem to have come from Macedonia, Moravia, and Eastern Europe.  He believes sections of the Torah date back at least to the early twentieth century.

In general, the Torah is in very good shape, but Mr. Yerman has clearly identified sections that will need to be replaced or repaired.  We would like to invite all our supporters to consider making a donation toward that end.  So far, we have received a generous donation from Scott Verner, editor of The Charlotte Observer’s Cabarrus Neighbors.  Raymond Keasler and the Thiede family have also donated our new hand-crafted ark and Torah cover.

Please send any donations to our business address at 570 Wilhelm Place NE, Concord NC 28025-2530.

If you would like to hear the NPR interview with Neil Yerman, go to his website or click here (Real Player required).

Head for our website and you will (we promise) find some changes.  Founding Families are now listed on the membership page, the Havurat Olam Constitution has been posted for perusal, and an updated page to list donators to our Torah Fund will be added in upcoming weeks.