In Judaism, love of God is never a mere feeling; it belongs to the sphere of ethical action

(Leo Baeck)

The Havurat Olam Shmoozeletter

October 7, 2004 - 22 Tishrei 5765

Volume II, Issue 1

Our New Year's First Friday Night Service with Our First Reading from our Sefer Torah

Have you ever seen the extraordinary calligraphy of a Torah scroll? You have the opportunity, now. Havurat Olam has recently been privileged to receive, on permanent loan from the Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina, the Temple Emanu-El Torah Scroll from Weldon, North Carolina, with two mantels, silver finials, yad, and breastplate. We are now ready to present the Torah to our community. Please join us for a historic Friday night Services on October 22, when we will hear, for the first time, Torah chanted at a Friday night service. Services are followed by an Oneg Shabbat. Please bring a little something to nosh and the time it takes to shmooze a little. 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 left. We will meet in the small assembly room on the left.

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

And Speaking of Membership...

We are very happy to announce that ten families have now joined our little community as full members of Havurat Olam. We have really neat plans for celebrating more Jewish life in this county in our second year. You can expect beautiful and accessible religious services, festival celebrations, movie and musical gatherings, and, of course, plenty of food!

For those who are interested in our membership option, please contact Membership Coordinator Danielle Levin at dplevin2003@hotmail.com for more information. All members who join before the Festival of Lights begins (yup, that means Chanukah!) will be regarded as Havurat Olam founding members

Tikkun Olam

Havurat Olam has embarked on its first social action program, to support The Community Free Clinic of Cabarrus County. The Community Free Clinic was established in 1994 by retired physicians Dr. David Lockhart and Dr. George Liles to provide medical and pharmacy services to the uninsured and underinsured in Cabarrus County. The Clinic is a 501(c)3 organization and is a United Way agency. The Clinic does not charge any fees for its services.

Havurat Olam is currently gathering contributions to pay for a DVD Portable Player which will be used to help provide training for diabetic patients who must use an Accu-Check Active glucometer to monitor their blood sugar levels. This is crucial: Some of the patients are on insulin and may need to adjust their insulin intake daily based on their blood sugar. Those who are not on insulin also need to monitor their blood sugar so that they can report when their medication is no longer effective.

Havurat Olam aims to raise $300 to purchase a portable DVD player. Please consider a life-giving contribution of $18 for this purpose. Make checks out to The Community Free Clinic and please send them to Havurat Olam, attn.: Barbara Thiede, 570 Wilhelm Place NE, Concord NC 28025-2530.

We are also hoping to gather volunteers to work at The Community Free Clinic. We would like to provide the clinic with one volunteer from Havurat Olam each month. Each volunteer would need to be able to commit two to four hours of volunteer time during one month of the year. Surely, we can all manage that much!

So please let us know if you are interested.