Presidents Report for November 18, 2020 Membership Meeting
By Renee Ferrera
This has been a year fraught with challenges due to Covid. Nonetheless, since our last membership meeting, we have made several strides. Ron Sidis and I have served as Co-Presidents through most of this time.
We hired Eve Levy to be our program manager. Prior to Covid, she developed and provided several programs, including a very successful traveling exhibit at the Oregon Jewish Museum of articles from the Rhodes Jewish Museum. Its curator, Aaron Hasson, also talked at the exhibit. It was an evening full of Sephardic memorabilia and food. We also had a huge Chanukah party open to the entire Jewish community with magical entertainment and games. We had several Challah bakes, Sephardic cooking classes, a hamantaschen bake, and several other programs. This was in addition to her wonderful Parasha Pearls talks that she gave once a month on Shabbat to a group of women during Shabbat services.
We were able to do most of our Sephardic Film Festival, now at our Hillsdale site. It also was very successful, with great films and wonderful speakers after each film, plus great snacks.
We have hired Tia Weniger to be our Communications and Program Administrator. Tia has updated our website, assisted Eve with administrative support for programs, modernized our online presence, and provides all of our communication needs.
Recognizing that our occupancy at Hillsdale provided security concerns, we applied to the Federal Department of Homeland Security (administered by the State of Oregon) for a security grant to upgrade security at our Hillsdale site. Ron Sidis and Jess Matza have worked diligently on this for us. As a result, we secured a $100,000 grant, that is being used to install top of the line security cameras with 24-hour monitoring, security entry system, new doors, treatment on windows to block views from outside, security guards for all major services. This grant requires regular reports to the Federal Government as well as reimbursement requests to the State of Oregon and technology work on the systems. We have hired Melissa Bloom to manage this for us. Her salary is being paid from the grant money we received. Ron and Jess, with assistance from Melissa, continue to work with vendors to implement the grant. We have applied for a second grant and expect to hear whether or not we were successful soon.
When Covid hit us, we had to stop all of our in-person group activities. Rabbi Levy and Eve developed several programs to help us keep in touch and to feed our need for spiritual guidance. They did a weekly zoom Wednesday evening Fireside Chat with the two of them providing spiritual direction. They developed Friday evening zoom Kabbalat Shabbat services just prior to Shabbat starting, where Rabbi Levy gave us a stirring sermon each week as well as led services, and Rabbi and Eve developed a Sunday evening game night to help keep our community connected during our isolation. Additionally, Eve arranged for numerous online and zoom programs for our community on a variety of topics.
The High Holydays provided us with real challenges this year. We surveyed our community to determine if we had enough interest in renting a large tent to be installed in our parking lot to allow for outdoor services. We found too many people were still concerned enough about Covid exposure that they would not attend. So we brought our services indoors to our sanctuary, measured off six feet of distance for chairs, required RSVP’s to attend, had assigned seats and books, purchases a Shabbat thermometer and took everyone’s temperature before they entered, and required masks. We had a small group who attended. Unfortunately, one day before Rosh Hashana we learned that Rabbi Levy’s son was exposed to Covid by his teacher. Through an abundance of caution, we asked that none of the Levy family attend. We were extremely fortunate to have Erez Meir step forward and agree to lead our Rosh Hashana services at the last minute. He did a wonderful job.
Fundraising has been very problematic this year. We had a large fundraising dinner, with entertainment and an auction, planned for May which had to be cancelled. Our regular Shabbat pledges shrunk considerably, and one of our biggest fundraising activities, our High Holydays mitzvot’s auction and plea did not happen. And none of our online programming has provided us income. Consequently, our synagogue finances have taken a big hit as none of our regular expenses have diminished.
As we will be losing our ability to use our Barbur facility for large scale meals and other activities needing a social hall, we are moving forward with renovations to the Hillsdale property to provide for a commercial meat kitchen, a dairy kitchen and a social hall. Most of the costs of developing the meat kitchen will be paid by Tri-met as relocation costs of the Barbur kitchen to Hillsdale. The diary kitchen will be our existing small kitchen at Hillsdale with only minor modifications.
For those of you who are interested in Sephardic traditions, we have an upcoming program for Chanukah which I hope you all will tune in to. The Sephardic Hazzan from one of the Seattle Sephardic synagogues, who also sings (and has recorded) Ladino love songs, will be performing for us through zoom on Wednesday, December 16. He will not only sing for us, but he will also give us some history on our Sephardic heritage. To register, please email your RSVP to info@ahavathachim.com.
It has been a pleasure to serve as your President, sharing this duty with Ron Sidis. I look forward to our new President leading us for the next two years and promise to work together to provide for a smooth transition.
Renee Ferrera
Co-President
Congregation Ahavath Achim
By Renee Ferrera
This has been a year fraught with challenges due to Covid. Nonetheless, since our last membership meeting, we have made several strides. Ron Sidis and I have served as Co-Presidents through most of this time.
We hired Eve Levy to be our program manager. Prior to Covid, she developed and provided several programs, including a very successful traveling exhibit at the Oregon Jewish Museum of articles from the Rhodes Jewish Museum. Its curator, Aaron Hasson, also talked at the exhibit. It was an evening full of Sephardic memorabilia and food. We also had a huge Chanukah party open to the entire Jewish community with magical entertainment and games. We had several Challah bakes, Sephardic cooking classes, a hamantaschen bake, and several other programs. This was in addition to her wonderful Parasha Pearls talks that she gave once a month on Shabbat to a group of women during Shabbat services.
We were able to do most of our Sephardic Film Festival, now at our Hillsdale site. It also was very successful, with great films and wonderful speakers after each film, plus great snacks.
We have hired Tia Weniger to be our Communications and Program Administrator. Tia has updated our website, assisted Eve with administrative support for programs, modernized our online presence, and provides all of our communication needs.
Recognizing that our occupancy at Hillsdale provided security concerns, we applied to the Federal Department of Homeland Security (administered by the State of Oregon) for a security grant to upgrade security at our Hillsdale site. Ron Sidis and Jess Matza have worked diligently on this for us. As a result, we secured a $100,000 grant, that is being used to install top of the line security cameras with 24-hour monitoring, security entry system, new doors, treatment on windows to block views from outside, security guards for all major services. This grant requires regular reports to the Federal Government as well as reimbursement requests to the State of Oregon and technology work on the systems. We have hired Melissa Bloom to manage this for us. Her salary is being paid from the grant money we received. Ron and Jess, with assistance from Melissa, continue to work with vendors to implement the grant. We have applied for a second grant and expect to hear whether or not we were successful soon.
When Covid hit us, we had to stop all of our in-person group activities. Rabbi Levy and Eve developed several programs to help us keep in touch and to feed our need for spiritual guidance. They did a weekly zoom Wednesday evening Fireside Chat with the two of them providing spiritual direction. They developed Friday evening zoom Kabbalat Shabbat services just prior to Shabbat starting, where Rabbi Levy gave us a stirring sermon each week as well as led services, and Rabbi and Eve developed a Sunday evening game night to help keep our community connected during our isolation. Additionally, Eve arranged for numerous online and zoom programs for our community on a variety of topics.
The High Holydays provided us with real challenges this year. We surveyed our community to determine if we had enough interest in renting a large tent to be installed in our parking lot to allow for outdoor services. We found too many people were still concerned enough about Covid exposure that they would not attend. So we brought our services indoors to our sanctuary, measured off six feet of distance for chairs, required RSVP’s to attend, had assigned seats and books, purchases a Shabbat thermometer and took everyone’s temperature before they entered, and required masks. We had a small group who attended. Unfortunately, one day before Rosh Hashana we learned that Rabbi Levy’s son was exposed to Covid by his teacher. Through an abundance of caution, we asked that none of the Levy family attend. We were extremely fortunate to have Erez Meir step forward and agree to lead our Rosh Hashana services at the last minute. He did a wonderful job.
Fundraising has been very problematic this year. We had a large fundraising dinner, with entertainment and an auction, planned for May which had to be cancelled. Our regular Shabbat pledges shrunk considerably, and one of our biggest fundraising activities, our High Holydays mitzvot’s auction and plea did not happen. And none of our online programming has provided us income. Consequently, our synagogue finances have taken a big hit as none of our regular expenses have diminished.
As we will be losing our ability to use our Barbur facility for large scale meals and other activities needing a social hall, we are moving forward with renovations to the Hillsdale property to provide for a commercial meat kitchen, a dairy kitchen and a social hall. Most of the costs of developing the meat kitchen will be paid by Tri-met as relocation costs of the Barbur kitchen to Hillsdale. The diary kitchen will be our existing small kitchen at Hillsdale with only minor modifications.
For those of you who are interested in Sephardic traditions, we have an upcoming program for Chanukah which I hope you all will tune in to. The Sephardic Hazzan from one of the Seattle Sephardic synagogues, who also sings (and has recorded) Ladino love songs, will be performing for us through zoom on Wednesday, December 16. He will not only sing for us, but he will also give us some history on our Sephardic heritage. To register, please email your RSVP to info@ahavathachim.com.
It has been a pleasure to serve as your President, sharing this duty with Ron Sidis. I look forward to our new President leading us for the next two years and promise to work together to provide for a smooth transition.
Renee Ferrera
Co-President
Congregation Ahavath Achim
Congregation Ahavath Achim is a welcoming synagogue with programs and events for members of all ages. We offer weekly classes, cultural and educational programs, as well as prayer services every Shabbat and Holiday.
“Congregation Ahavath Achim is exactly what my family and I were looking for and needed. The atmosphere made us right away feel as if we were part of the family”.
