BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Nester Center

Members Present:

     President Seth Axelrod, Jack Adler, Paula Goldstein, Rob Goldstein, Naomi Kamins,

     Richard Kamins, Diana Lane , Howard May, Eliot Meadow, James Poliner, Myron

     Poliner, Ron Rubel, Mike Sigal, Holly Simon, Jeremiah Weinstock, Irwin Zagoren,

     Rabbi Seth Haaz, ex officio

Members Absent:       

     Stewart Danziger, Lee Osborne, Hyime Paley, Steven Small,

Representatives to the Board:

     Bruce Taillon

Guests:

     Shirley Morrison, President of CT Valley Region of USCJ

President Seth Axelrod called the meeting to order at 7:20 PM.

D'VAR TORAH

     Diana Lane spoke about B'reishit, the first parshah of the Torah. Her theme

     was "beginnings." Interestingly, the first letter of the Torah text starts not

     with the first letter of the alphabet, but the second, and the chant starts

     with the middle trope rather than at the traditional first trope. She pointed

     out that every beginning comes from something else, that it has a history,

     and that there is always something new to be found at beginnings.

CONGREGANT COMMENTS

     None

WORDS FROM OUR GUEST

     Shirley Morrison invited us to attend the leadership series meeting in Cheshire 

     on October 22^nd. The evening will be devoted to building endowments, building 

     bequests, and success. She strongly recommended that we have at least one

     person attend from the Board.

     She spoke about the reorganization of USCJ and how current configuration 

     of regions is being reduced from 15 regions to 6. This is being done to provide

     a higher level of service to synagogues and make better use of resources

     throughout the country.

     Finally, she encouraged us to attend the USCJ biennial convention, this year

     to be held in Cherry Hill, NJ. We can have up to 4 delegates who can vote.

     Seth awards members delegate status, so speak with him if you are interested

     in attending.

MINUTES FROM PRIOR MEETING

     Approval of the minutes from the Board Meeting on September 9, 2009 was

     deferred until the November meeting.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

     This has been a very busy month; a lot has happened. We noticed better

     attendance at High Holiday services. We had lots of Sukkot activities

     including the Wesleyan Sukkah dedication.

     The Personnel Committee chair is developing instrumentation for annual

     evaluations of the professional staff; Sandra Beckman is spearheading the

     effort.

     Work on a Communications Committee is in progress-Terri Klein is the

     editor and a writer, beginning with the pulpit announcements. Right now,

     we need content writers for the dissemination to be effective.

     Welcome to our first representative to the board, Bruce Taillon, who

     represents the non-Jewish spouses of members.

     Steven Small has resigned from the Board. This means that there is no

     functioning fundraising chair or coordinator of advertising in our

     publications.

     Stephen Shapiro wants to offer the Board a tour of the CAI Museum.

     We shall meet early for the next board meeting on November 11^th

     at 5:30 for supper together, followed by a tour with Stephen, after

     which we will convene the meeting. Discussion of the Museum ensued,

     including ideas such as making the collection available to scholars,

     perhaps using the collection for fundraising. Ron reported that

     photographs of approximately half of the museum are posted on

     our Internet Site. We are already loaning items to local organizations.

     To date, Stephen is the only docent.

     Please pay attention to the monthly reminder from Eileen regarding

     submission of reports for the board packet and for all other sources of

     communication. Reports should be submitted ahead of the Executive

     Committee Meeting to facilitate creation of the agenda for the following

     week. If your report is not submitted by then, you may submit

     a print version at the board meeting and an electronic copy to Eileen.

RABBI'S REPORT

     Rabbi Haaz recounted a few triumphs over the past month:

     We have some new members, and they are active. The beginning

     of a good trend.

     We attended two programs at Wesleyan.

     Some WES students and their rabbi celebrated Simchat Torah

     with us. This was an important celebration for us in that we learned

     that we can sing and dance together as a community.

     Our Museum is really very special, in fact it is amazing! 

     We should continue our work on housing it properly and making

     good use of it. It is a source of real pride for our Congregation.

     We should count our morning minyan as a triumph. It is a

     distinguishing feature of CAI.

     Colleen Poliner has volunteered to chair the Bikkur Cholim Committee,

     which benefits not only the members of the Congregation, but the

     rabbi as well.

     Tashlich was a high point of the holiday season for him.

     Approximately 40 people attended - it was very family-oriented.

     His classes will start soon; he will offer Hebrew reading and Torah

     reading. The courses start at an introductory level and will build

     over time to develop literacy. He met with Heather Fiedler

     who is teaching the course on Kabbalat Shabbat on six Sunday

     mornings. Each class is a stand-alone session that does not

     require attendance at any prior class meeting. He is working

     with her to incorporate the learning into the Friday evening

     service. Other classes may be a one-time class on pre-holiday

     preparation and another called a weekly learner's minyan.

     Rabbi Haaz reported that he is pulling together findings from

     the survey regarding our mission statement. A specific list

     will be forthcoming.

     Rabbi is looking for partners to review the Friday evening

     and Saturday morning Shabbat services.

     He reported that he is working with Ron on a review of other

     congregations' Internet Sites, with an eye toward improving

     ours. And finally, that the Rabbi's Discretionary Fund is very, very

     low and needs contributions.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

     Membership.

     Holly offered kudos to Rabbi Haaz for cementing the deal with

     several potential members with whom she had been communicating.

     She intends to push the theme of welcoming. Among the ideas

     she has is enlisting Richard Kamins to host a pre-Passover wine

     tasting / fundraiser.

     Financial.

     Treasurer's Report:

     Mike reported that at this point we are doing well. Our bills are paid and

     we are current with all accounts. We have money in the bank.

     Endowment Report:

     Myron reported the values of the Main Account and the Chevra Kadisha

     accounts. Both accounts are down from the previous month; money was

     withdrawn from the Chevra Kadisha account for operations. He reported

     that the market is going up; therefore we aren't selling.

BOARD NOTIFICATION/ACTION

     Irwin told us that work on the garage at the Nester Center, based on

     Lee Osborne's drawings and specifications, will go out to bid soon.

OLD BUSINESS

     None.

NEW BUSINESS

     In response to a question about a telephone in the Nester Center, it was

     explained that there is a phone line into the building, but there is

     no phone set in place.

     Rabbi's Discretionary Fund is critically low. It is funded by individuals

     who make contributions, e.g., as thanks to Rabbi Haaz, for

     kindnesses provided to family members, in someone's honor or

     memory, etc. The rabbi uses this fund to help people financially,

     and to make contributions to local organizations and charities as

     well. Eliot pledged that he will make a $50 contribution for every

     donation into the fund made by a Board Member.

     A member of the Congregation asked that the Board consider the

     manner in which we "shower" b'nai mitzvah and others celebrating

     a simcha. The member felt that there ought to be a healthier way

     to celebrate other than throwing candy that is gathered up by

     children. The matter was discussed and it was noted that this

     happens infrequently, that it is a matter or parents to control their

     own children and, according to one parent whose children are 

     frequently in attendance at such occasions, the kids don't

     necessarily get to eat all the candy they gather up.

     Ron mentioned that we have survey software. Committees that

     want to hear from congregants should contact him to create a survey

     to collect data.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:13 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Naomi R. Kamins

Secretary