by Annette Olson
Dear members and friends of Eitz Or,
This is my last article as Tsofah (President) of Congregation Eitz Or. My term ends at our Annual Business Meeting on Sunday, 3 February 2008. I will continue, however, to serve on the newly established Coordinating Council for another year, helping to see Eitz Or through our transition to a new, team-based system of community organization (more about this later).
The past two years have been a time of great change for our community. We have been challenged to look at our stumbling blocks and to learn what is truly important to us. We are learning to celebrate what we do well, to let go of things that we don't, and to revision ourselves as a truly community-led community.
And we did not face this challenge alone. Many good, capable teachers brought us many gifts in the past two years. Rabbi Daniel Siegel and Rabbi Hannah Tiferet-Siegel helped us begin to heal our community. Reb Cynthia Gayle showed us how to ground our Visioning in ruach (spirit). Rabbi Shefa Gold challenged us to take responsibility for our spiritual practice and to look for strength within our community. Dear Reb Arik Labowitz made a large place in his life to lead our services and teach us about our heritage. And many other mentors from within our community gently guided and supported the Shomerim (board) in our leadership. I am so grateful for the love of the Holy One manifest in these good people.
And we have begun to acknowledge our strengths and put them to good work. I appreciate that ours is a community where people come to meetings and speak up to challenge, to question, to suggest. And whether stepping forward to lead, showing up to help, or simply joining in prayer and song, each of us makes our community what it is today.
Now we stand together at another turning: We are letting go of our old "top-down" model of organization. We enter the coming year Under New Management! Committees, teams, working groups, whatever we decide to call them, will share the work and responsibility that too often has fallen to a few leaders. We will all become leaders.
To make room for this change, those of us who have led must step back a bit, so the end of my term as Tsofah is timely for the evolution of Eitz Or. Other members of the Shomerim will step down, but continue to serve Eitz Or in various ways. Joe Puchot and I will form the core of our new Coordinating Council. And, as we go to press, initial meetings of new working groups for Shabbat, High Holy Days, Jewish Learning, Tikkun Olam, and G'milut Hasidim are being scheduled! We expect to hear from those groups at the Annual Business Meeting in February.
As my role in Eitz Or changes, the Shekhinah is teaching me to find a deeper healing in my personal life. I want and need the personal space to better give and receive love in my family, to do some important work in the world, and to find my way back to science and the sea.
Yesterday I attended my first Soul Stirrings discussion. I was present, not as Tsofah or any kind of leader, but as simply another soul, stirring. It was lovely.
B'Shalom
Ruth Annette
your people shall be my people
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Eitz
Or: Working together as a community
by
Annette Olson, Tsofah
Members of Eitz Or have begun to
explore a new vision of how we work together as a community, a
model of organization that better suits our intimate, spiritual
community. At the Vision Meeting on November 11th, 27
members talked about how we could change from a "top-down"
to a "bottom-up"
approach for organizing Eitz Or's services,
classes and other events. In the bottom -up model, members working
together in small groups make decisions, hold responsibility, and
produce the programs of our community.
After a brief review of the budget by Joe
Puchot, several members spoke of their visions for different aspects
of Eitz Or. Terry Walsh spoke of her ideas for Family and Children's
programs; Ellen Jablow shared her commitment to weekly Shabbat
observance within our community; and Barak Gale spoke of new
directions for Eitz Or in healing the world (Tikkun Olam).
To
help us visualize our new structure we did two community exercises.
In the first exercise, each member voted for the
programs they want to see Eitz Or maintain, by placing colored dots
on posters for each of six program areas (below). (Members who did
not attend the meeting had the opportunity to respond in a
questionnaire format.) It was great to see the colors add up as
members showed what they valued in Eitz Or!
In the second
community exercise, members put their names on a chart of
committees or working groups (below) that
would be needed to produce the programs we had voted on in the first
exercise. For each of these areas, one person came forward to host
an initial meeting for each program area.
|
Program Area |
Description |
Host |
|
Coordinating Council |
budget, personnel, liaison with working groups, etc. |
Annette Olson |
|
Shabbat |
professionally led services, lay-led services, Come Home to Shabbat, havdalah |
Gail Gensler |
|
High Holy Days |
an all-community meeting to re-envision HHD will be held in late winter |
Miriam Forman |
|
Tikkun Olam |
ongoing commitments, or one-time events, for healing the world |
Joe King |
|
Jewish Learning |
adult, teen, b'nei mitzvah, children/family programs |
Terry Walsh |
|
G'milut Hasidim |
call list for helping members in need |
Miriam Forman |
Adult Learning: Pablo Stanfield, adulted@eitzor.org
Mishkan: Claire Lumina, mishkan@eitzor.org
G'milut Hasidim: Elizabeth Rothman,
gimiluthasidim@eitzor.org
Alei
Eitz Or Newsletter
We publish this newsletter
quarterly and welcome community contributions. Please contact the
editor: Zann Jacobrown, info@eitzor.org,
206.467.2617
Alei
Eitz Or Contributors
Kate and Mark Ukelson,
Miram Driss, Elizabeth Rothman,
Miriam Forman, Annette Olson and Joe Puchot
Winter
AEO Deadline: February 1, 2007
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Eitz
Or Membership & Community Donations Form
__Renewing
member __New member __Please send me more information about
becoming a member.
CONTACT INFORMATION (Your
private information will never be shared or sold.)
Name
_______________________________________
Email
________________________________________
Spouse/Partner
_________________________________
Email
________________________________________
Address
______________________________________
City/State/Zip
__________________________________
Home Phone
___________________________________
Work Phone(s)
_________________________________
Child's Name/Birthday
___________________________
Child's Name/Birthday
___________________________
ANNUAL
MEMBERSHIP DUES PLEDGE FOR NEW OR RENEWING MEMBERS
Your
pledge helps meet the operating expenses of Eitz Or.
Annual
household income Suggested membership pledge/dues
Less than
$40,000 0.5- 1% $200- $400
$40,000 -$80,000 1.5% $600-$1200
$80,000 -$120,000 2.0% $1600-$2400
More than
$120,000 2.5% $3000+
|
Annual Dues |
=_____ |
|
Annual Dues Payment schedule: |
__ Quarterly ___ Annually |
|
Enclosed Dues |
=_____ |
|
ALEPH Dues |
= $36 |
|
|
|
COMMUNITY
DONATION
Vision Fund
______
Tikkun Olam Fund ______
General Fund ______
In
Memory/ Honor of _________________________
Send card
to_________________________________
Payment
Options
Please
send this form along with your check, payable to Congregation Eitz
Or, with
this form to Congregation Eitz Or, PO Box 15480,
Seattle, WA 98115
If you prefer, we can charge your VISA or
Mastercard.
Account # _______________
Exp.Date________
For
quarterly dues, I authorize charges on 9/30/07, 12/25/07, 3/30/08,
6/30/08
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