My First Shabbat
09/16/2019 05:06:57 PM
The following piece originally appeared in Mauivision magazine. Shared here with permission from the author.
We're Challenged!
08/26/2019 06:56:06 PM
We have been given an incredibly exciting opportunity! An anonymous donor has generously offered to donate $30,000 to JCM if we raise $60,000 by December 15.
If we raise $60,000 by December 15, we get an additional $30,000. If we raise $59,999 by December 15 that would be wonderful, but we don't get the anonymous donor's $30,000.
We have great momentum building in our community. Our future is so bright and full of possibilities! It's up to each of us to secure the future of JCM. Every dollar counts. How much can we count on from you?
All We Need Is Love
07/29/2019 10:38:12 PM
I invite you to come help us create the future of the Jewish Congregation of Maui.
On August 15-18 we are hosting a visiting Rabbi for a series of events centered around Tu B’Av: the Jewish holiday of Love. Rabbi Shalom Bochner will be visiting us from Congregation Beit Shalom of Modesto, CA. Read more about Rabbi Shalom here.
This is the first of a series of visiting Rabbi events organized by the Rabbi Search Committee. Visiting Rabbi events are an opportunity to experience different leadership styles in our “home”, to see what inspires us and engages us in different ways. The goal is to create a discussion about who will ultimately be a good fit to lead our diverse community into the future.
Join us for one or all of these Tu B’Av Shabbaton events:
Thursday August 15: An informal vegetarian potluck at the home of Janine Holstein. Meet Rabbi Shalom, sing soulful songs together, learn about Tu B’Av - the Jewish Holiday of Love.
Friday August 16: An Evening of Nourishment for the Body and Soul . Musical Kabbalat Shabbat followed by Shabbat Dinner and Tisch. (“tisch” is a traditional Hasidic festive Friday evening gathering to share song, words of wisdom, stories, and food)
Saturday August 17: 9:30 Shabbat Morning services. Come experience a Shabbat morning service that will touch your soul. Followed by Kiddush light lunch and Torah study that will engage your mind and your heart.
6:00 Family-friendly Shabbat Third Meal and Havdalah. Stories and songs, food and fun for all ages.
If you want a voice in the future of JCM, please plan on joining us for at least one of these events. If you want to experience what the future of JCM could look like, plan on joining us for all of them!
State of the Shul Address
06/28/2019 04:05:41 PM
In hindsight, we should have recorded this address live. But we didn't, so this is an after-the-fact recording... Thank you for watching, thank youfor caring, thank you for taking action.
Congratulations to our 2019-2020 Board of Directors
06/23/2019 03:08:25 PM
After a lovely and spiritual prayer and blessing by Sam Shnider and Alulani Hill and a State of the Shul address, our new board was announced...
Please join me in congratulating and thanking this next Board:
President: Sheri Levin McNerthney
Vice- President: Boris Gladshtein
Treasurer: Simon Vojdani
Secretary: Sarah Shaines
Directors:
Eve Bermna, DO
Janine Holstein
Happy Lefton
Marc Levine
Jessica Pearl Kwon
Mahalo for your service JCM... and many thanks to everyone who ran for office. Your dedication to our congreagation is truly inspirational!
A Bright Future For JCM
06/21/2019 08:58:54 AM
The Rabbi search team has finalized the job description for our next leader...
Click here for the job description and feel free to share it far and wide
This job description will be posted globally this morning, and we already have been receiving interest and resumes from candidates who have heard about job opening through the grapevine. We have been listening and reading what our community and congregation is looking for, and it has been incorporated into this job posting.
We plan to hire a full time rabbi who is looking forward to leading and bringing together our pluralistic and egalitarian shul. If we have the funds, this will happen right away, if we don't have the funds, it will need to be a staggered process until we have enough to fund a robust salary package. If you want a full time Rabbi on Maui, it's time to give. Today. We can have a bright future...it's up to us!
In other Rabbinical News, we are confirming a Rabbi here to work with Sam for the High Holidays. There are plans for classes, discussions, celebrations, talk-story, and other gatherings during ten days of awe. We will release a schedule as soon as we have it set, and if you'd like to be part of the planning, please let us know...we welcome you!
Mahalo to Rabbi David Glickman
05/01/2019 12:24:17 PM
Mahalo Rabbi, for all of your gifts of dedication, time, scholarship, leadership, dedication, fundraising, sacrifice, friendship, community, dedication, and too many other nouns ...did I mention dedication? Rabbi, look what you created, and nurtured, and grew! Mahalo..
Today is our first day without a Rabbi at Beit Shalom. It takes me back to when I first moved here, and we had lay-leaders conduct our holiest services, our lifecycle events, and everything in between. Is this an ideal situation for us? No, and yet, this is where we are- for now.
We are so fortunate to have Sam Shnider agree to be our Spiritual Director while we conduct a search for our next Rabbi. He has been working with Rabbi Glickman to make this transition as smooth as possible for the congregation and the greater Jewish community. We will continue to have services and celebrate holidays and have classes and anything else our community and congregation wants.
Rabbi Glickman started this amazing synagogue (with lots of help) and he has tirelessly fought for its survival. Making sure that we never charged for services, anyone who wants to be a member should be a member, no matter your level of Judaism- you will be accepted... all these gifts will be maintained. We will take his legacy and nurture it and grow it... and he's not going away- he has a lifetime membership!
The current board will continue to fight for the survival of Beit Shalom, and we invite you all to join us in a way that is meaningful to you. We wish Rabbi Glickman good health as he recovers on Maui, some time to enjoy all the wonders of Maui that he gave up when he became our leader, and great success in whatever he chooses to do next.
Elections...who are you nominating?
04/23/2019 09:59:51 PM
It feels like we just had elections... oh wait, we did! And this board has been happy to serve. We need to get back to a regular election cycle that coincides with our fiscal calendar... July - June.
I think most of us will agree that we want a vibrant, strong, and healthy Synagogue on Maui. There has been so much change in the past 6 months or so, and I know that it has not been easy on many of us for different reasons. It is now time for all of us to come together and remember that we need our synagogue for prayer, for holidays, for our youth, and for our community. We may not agree on everything, and that is ok. What is important is that we have a synagogue to serve our community; Your synagogue. And we need all of us to make it a success. Be part of the election process to make sure we have a synagogue of which we are all proud to belong. It's up to us.
Nominations are now open! Send in your nominations here. You must be a member and signed into your account to make a nomination.
The new board will be announced at the Annual Member Meeting on June 23
JCM is Kosher for Passover
04/12/2019 01:02:31 PM
As of Tuesday, April 9, 2019, the JCM kitchen has gone through a strict koshering process and has been converted for cooking meat in the kitchen for Passover. The kitchen doors will be locked, and there is no access. We have a few things upcoming prior to Passover, and our kosher kitchen will be strictly enforced.
We have a variety of attendees in our shul over these next few weeks, and we are committed to our Kosher for Passover kitchen at this time.
Thank you for your cooperation in this matter, and we will report back when it has been turned back into a Dairy Kosher kitchen.
Words of Wisdom for March 30, 2019
03/28/2019 05:38:42 PM
Friday, March 22...Reform-Style Service
03/21/2019 08:03:53 PM
Mahalo to Cynthia Lebowitz for leading a reform-style service on Friday night this week. Services will begin at 6pm, and we look forward to a different service this week. Cynthia has been co-leading services recently, and we are grateful she will be able to lead this week. It has been fun to have some variety in our services these past months, and we are sorry for the short notice...if you have been waiting for a more reform service, don't miss this week.
Family Friday Shabbat
03/13/2019 09:54:16 AM
Family Friday Shabbat is now the third Friday of every month. And this week - March 15 - is Family Friday Shabbat for March!
Everyone is welcome for an evening of community and fun. Come with kids or if you love the energy of a kids service. All are welcome. It is our goal to have a service everyone can attend, eat dairy-Vegan potluck with the community, and go home for a normal bedtime.
Josh Kalkstein and Cynthia Lebowitz are putting together an incredible service for our keiki and families with songs, prayers and fun learning!
Our service will start at 5pm, then candle lighting with our Dairy - Vegan Potluck. All Food will be kept outside. We would love your participation to make a dish. Keep Kosher guidelines, no shrimp, no pork, no meat.
Schedule · Friday, March 15, 2019
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Service - with singing great for all ages - especially kids!
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Candle Lighting then Outside Dairy-Vegan Potluck
7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
End of Meal Prayers
Shabbat Vayikra
03/13/2019 09:34:17 AM
This week we begin Vayikra, the third book of the Torah, the book of Leviticus. Vayikra begins with a call, as Rashi explains:
AND HE CALLED UNTO MOSES — This implies that the Voice went on and reached his (Moses’s) ears only but all the other Israelites did not hear it).
The call is the moment of beckoning. There is a need for explanation here, because we have completed one book, and begun another. There is a pause, of indeterminate time, between the end of the book of Shemot (Exodus), when the pillar of cloud descends upon the sanctuary, and the revelations of this book, Vayikra(Leviticus). Moses could not enter the sanctuary because of the cloud (Exodus 40:35), so a call must precede his entry.
But the call is also the expression of affection, the sweet intimate call of love. It is the call of the Angel to Abraham to prevent the sacrifice of his child, "Abraham, Abraham" (Genesis 22:11), or the call to the sleeping child Samuel in Shiloh, "Samuel, Samuel" - the whispering voice to this young boy who has not yet discovered he is a prophet (I Samuel 3:1-10). It is a voice that is only heard to its intended one.
The Voice, however, is also the powerful booming voice:
What does it mean by the Voice? It was the Voice that is so minutely described in Psalms, (29:4, 5) “The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars. But if this be so (that it was a very powerful voice), why does Scripture state, “[and the Lord spoke to him] from the appointed tent” (מאהל מועד and does not state באהל מועד)? Because it intends to tell us that the Voice broke off and that it was heard only in the tent).
Thus, the voice has a double nature: inside the tent, it is omnipotent, thunderous; outside of the tent, it is not heard to anyone. It drops off. It reaches only Moses alone, as a still silent whisper, to awaken him and call him inwards. Once he enters the tent, it is the Voice of majesty, the Voice of the all powerful one.
Is it only Moses who hears the Voice? The entire people look to Moses; but Moses's wish, his message, to Joshua his most prized student is "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all God's people were prophets, and that the God would place his spirit upon them!" (Numbers 11:29). Moses wishes for everyone to hear the Voice.
Because it is so. Some have a moment of experiencing the booming voice of the creator of the World, the Voice that breaketh cedars. But each one of us has a moment of the still small voice, the voice heard only from within, that utters our name to us, and calls to come forth, to act in the service of the most high. May we always be guided by that voice, and seek it out.
FOR SALE
03/08/2019 10:28:16 AM
Celebrate Purim with delicious hamentashen, baked by your Beit Shalom Sisterhood from pastry chef Elinor David's family recipe. Now available for purchase in boxed sets of six hamentashen in assorted flavors: poppy seed, fig, blueberry, strawberry, apricot, and nutella.
Order now here, or call Beit Shalom 873-5397. Pick up your order at Beit Shalom.
Thank you, Jenni
02/26/2019 06:28:22 AM
Please join us for a special Shabbat luncheon on March 16 to honor Jenni Ezekiel as an Eishet Chayil/ Woman of Valor, and to say goodbye to her. Jenni is moving to Oahu and this is our last Shabbat with her...for now.
This event is being sponsored by Gail Schell, but an RSVP would be appreciated so she knows how much food to prepare. Please RSVP here.
Be Happy, It's Adar
02/24/2019 05:43:04 PM
Can a team of Maui Jews bake a thousand hamentashen in three hours? That's the goal for the Hamentashen Baking Party on March 3: produce 1000(!) of these yummy traditional Purim filled cookies for our community Purim party. Can we do it? If YOU show up, we can! Click for more information
Leych B'shalom, Beresheet!
02/22/2019 02:47:15 PM
Israel's first lunar landing mission is on its way to the moon! The mission codename is "Beresheet", the first word of the Torah. This word is commonly translated into English as "In the Beginning" but kabbalistically has many deeper layers of meaning.
For more information on the mission, see Space Israel's website.
Leych b'shalom (go in peace), Beresheet!
Family Friday Shabbat
02/18/2019 05:28:33 PM
Come to our first Family Friday Service with Dairy-Vegan Potluck!
Everyone is welcome for an evening of community and fun. Come with kids or if you love the energy of a kids service. All are welcome. It is our goal to have a service everyone can attend, eat dairy-Vegan potluck with the community, and go home for a normal bedtime.
Sam Schnider and Cynthia Lebowitz are putting together an incredible service for our keiki and families with songs, prayers and fun learning!
Our service will start at 5pm, then candle lighting with our Dairy - Vegan Potluck. All Food will be kept outside. We would love your participation to make a dish. Keep Kosher guidelines, no shrimp, no pork, no meat. We will have a labeled Kosher section.
Please RSVP in the comments or to jessicapearl@mac.com and include the ages of the kids that will be coming.
We need to have an idea of what is needed in terms of challah, grape juice and candles so please, please RSVP!
Schedule · Friday, February 22, 2019
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Service - with singing great for all ages - especially kids!
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Candle Lighting then Outside Dairy-Vegan Potluck
7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
End of Meal Prayers
Greta Rosenberg Funeral
02/13/2019 05:28:51 PM
We are sad to announce the passing of
Greta Rosenberg
The community is invited to her funeral service
Sunday, February 17, 2019
1:00 PM Sharp
Valley Isle Memorial Park Cemetery in Haiku
The Jewish section is in the top left corner of the Cemetary
Maui Jews News
02/05/2019 11:19:56 AM
Welcome to the new JCM blog!
This will be a space for us to communicate what is happening in our shul and in our community. The new Board committees and I are working on updating our website- adding content, updating our calendar, and creating this blog among lots of other things.
To kick off this new section of our website, below is my letter from the newsletter from last week.
Our new Board of Directors is off to a busy start. We are setting up committees and having initial meetings to create some structure! Look for information soon on how you can sign up to be part of the exciting future at JCM.
I went just a few days ago to the Zionismus exhibit at the Nisei Veterans Memorial. It was such a moving exhibit, and Judith Elam did an incredible job, and it was wonderful to share our history with our Maui community. I met a non-Jewish family there with whom I had a great conversation , and I don't know why I was surprised that they attended the exhibit and had such interest, but I was surprised. It was a reminder to me that our community has so much to offer and share, not just among ourselves, but with all of Maui. Our celebrations and our sorrows, our history and our future... Our Jewish place on Maui matters. It matters not only for the Jewish people on Maui- it matters that we show our Maui community that we are vibrant, united, and we have much to offer.
Our congregation represents to everyone around us what it means to be Jewish. Let's show a spirit of inclusion, joy, commitment, family, peace, and all the wonderful attributes that we as Jews bring to Maui. Let's all come together to create the shul that will make us proud and will be an example for Jewish communities around the globe. With that, I wish you all a Shabbat Shalom.
Aloha, Ellyn Mortimer
Sat, September 21 2019
21 Elul 5779
Upcoming Events
Maui Jews News
Spiritual Director
Sam Shnider
Executive Director
Ellyn Mortimer
Board of Directors
President:
Sheri Levin McNerthney
Vice President:
Boris Gladshtein
Secretary:
Sarah Shaines
Treasurer:
Sion Vojdani
Directors:
Eve Berman, DO
Janine Holstein
Happy Lefton
Marc Levine
Jessica Pearl-Kwon
Mission
The mission of the Jewish Congregation of Maui is to support and inspire Jewish religious and culture practices for Maui residents and visitors, provide and encourage Jewish education and life cycle services, and engage the Jewish community with religious services, classes, and events.