Lacking fins or tail,
the gefilte fish swims with
great difficulty.
(Jewish haiku - anonymous)
March 06, 2005 - 25 Adar 5765
Volume II, Issue 6
This month's Friday night services will include unforgettable melodies (because you never forgot them). Following services, sit back and enjoy "Esther, or the Power of Catering," an original play featuring the unbelievable: a quintessentially Jewish story inspired and embellished with Gilbert and Sullivan tunes.
Which Mikado song was actually written for Esther? What about Vashti? Imagine Mordecai singing out "For I am a Jewish Man," and expect Haman to roast Havurat Olam members by describing his potential victims in "I've got a Little List."
We will meet at the Central United Methodist Church in Concord. Parking is right next to the church, but please walk around behind the church and go down the steps to the Coltrane Fellowship Hall.
Please arrive by 6:50 p.m. Services begin at 7:00 p.m. and last about one hour. Non-members will be asked to contribute to our rental costs with a $10 per adult donation.
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Event: |
Friday Night Service and Oneg |  |
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Date: |
March 18, 2005 | |
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Time: |
7:00 p.m. (arrive by 6:50) | |
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Location: |
Central United Methodist Church Coltrane Fellowship Hall 30 Union St. N, Concord NC 28025 > RSVP < |
Remember last year? Eve and her snake appeared at our First Annual Purim Party, as did Moses and Aaron, some very lovely Queen Esthers, a very young King David and, as we recall, an eight-foot Golden Calf (who looked a lot like a Jersey cow).
Please show up in fancy dress for the annual Havurat Olam reading of the Esther Story. We’ll stomp the name of Haman from our souls (and soles), lend a dramatic flavor to an already dramatic story, and generally enjoy each other’s company.
Costume awards will be given by popular acclamation. Please bring a casserole/covered dish, salad, or some such edibles for dinner. If you know what you plan to bring for dinner, please include that information in your RSVP.
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Event: |
Purim Party |  |
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Date: |
March 26, 2005 | |
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Time: |
7:00 p.m. | |
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Location: |
Masonic Temple 51 Brumley Ave. NE, Concord NC 28025-3405 |
Havurat Olam's Board of Directors are working hard and following up leads on rentable space of our own for services, social events, and our Sunday School, which we hope to open next fall.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Sheila Pour of Congregation Or Atid in Richmond, VA and Ruth Chodrow of Temple House of Israel in Staunton, VA. Both women have generously donated a goodly number of children's books to our Sunday School Library. Thanks to you both!
We are considering offering one or two summer camps for our children this summer. Younger kids (aged four through six) would take a week of morning camp to learn songs and traditions from each major Jewish holiday, create their own Judaica, and even find out how to become the Aleph Bet. Our older students, aged seven through ten, would explore Genesis stories in song and texts, taking their week to create an original play of their own for (of course) a public performance at week’s end. Please let us know if you think your children would be interested. Give us some positive response, and we will schedule camps during the first three weeks in July.
Please check our calendar and take a look at our interfaith programs on religious violence scheduled with McGill Baptist Church of Concord. Rabbi Andrew Ettin, Reverend Thomas Quisenberry, and Dr. Barbara Thiede will be panelists at those programs, scheduled for April 3 and April 17 at McGill Baptist Church in Concord. More details will be forthcoming in our next Shmoozeletter.
Rabbi Andrew Ettin will also help us close out Passover on May 1 with a special afternoon program. Come and learn some ways to grapple with words that have made you uncomfortable. Then join us for a potluck dinner and havdala.
Neil Yerman, master scribe and featured speaker on 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 to at least 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. We’d also like to take the opportunity to thank Rabbi Andrew Ettin, Ruth and Arthur Kingberg, Sandy Feibelman-Coppola, Raymond Keasler, and the Thiede family for their donations.
Please send any donations to our business address, at:
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Havurat Olam 570 Wilhelm Place, NE Concord, NC 28025-2530 |
Membership information and form.
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Pesach Approaches. We would like to make sure that everybody has a seder to go to. We will be in touch asking for hosts for members and friends. |