Congregation Ner Shalom - Year in Review 2020-2021
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Congregation Ner Shalom
Year in Review
2020-2021
Table of Contents
Welcome to Ner Shalom . . . 3
From the President . . . 4
From Rabbi Irwin . . . 6
Pandemic Heroes . . . 8
In the Light of Peace . . . 12
Beit Midrash and Educator of the Year . . . 13
Nitzanim: Experiential Family Education . . . 16
Celebrations for Families with Special Needs . . . 20
Tzedek – Social Justice 21
Welcome New Members . . . 22
Fundraising Report . . . 23
Financial Report . . . 25
Building Report . . . 27
Technology Report . . . 28
Ner Shalom 2020-21 Scrapbook . . . 30
In Memoriam . . . 37
Get Involved . . . 38
Staff and Board . . . 39
Report Edited by Rabbi Irwin Keller
The Year in Review – 2
Welcome to Ner Shalom
It was a year! Despite the restrictions we all lived under, we,
as a community, continued to flourish. We found new ways to
do ritual. We gained new friends from around the country and
beyond. Our community grew, with new members and friends
joining us from around the country and beyond. We have
offered more programs and classes than ever before, and we
have supported each other through. So much to be proud of,
Ner Shalom.
So please read this report beginning to end. Know a little bit
more about Ner Shalom and the people who help make it
happen.
The Year in Review – 3
From the President
Amy Levinson Gray
Whew! What a year. Along with the rest of the world, we at Ner Shalom have done the
best we could within the constraints of the COVID pandemic.
And many blessings appeared!
Through Zoom, we gained the ability to touch people all over the country and the world
with our deeply felt and musical services and our extensive educational offerings. As a
result, we have new members and participants joining us from locations east, north, and
south of Cotati.
Another blessing: we met every Friday this year, which hasn’t happened in a very long
time (perhaps not ever). With this weekly service, we were able to be there for our
community in an ongoing and deeply engaging way, and our community grew in
closeness.
Because of the pandemic, Reb Irwin’s ordination was not an event centered in Boulder,
Colorado. Instead, we were able to witness the beautiful ceremony where our Rebbe
became a Rabbi.
Congregants stepped up in deeply personal and generous ways. Individuals stepped up
to lead and to support. Besides the folks profiled later in this Annual Report as “Pandemic
Heroes,” I’d like to mention Rita Rowan, who created the role of procuring readers and
participants in our Shabbat and holiday services, and our past president and tech guru
Suzanne Shanbaum, who spent countless hours figuring out how to make our music
sound good on a platform never intended for that purpose.
In all of this, we did not forget our historic building. We did long-needed repairs on the
exterior, repairing rot damage and finishing with a beautiful paint job.
Despite all these achievements, the year was also hard. It was hard not to see each other
in three dimensions and feel confined to tiny Zoom windows. It was sad to cancel our
concert series. Our congregational trip to Israel and Palestine had to be postponed. We
The Year in Review – 4
had to figure out new ways to raise money to keep the shul going. Our administration
and Board had to pivot and then re-pivot as each new challenge arose from the reality of
living with a deeply dysfunctional administration in Washington, DC. This was the year
of George Floyd and deaths of other Black Americans by police. This was the year of Q-
Anon, the January 6th assault on the Capitol, and the endless recounting of voters’
legitimate ballots. And most recently, we’ve been following the violence in Israel and
Gaza. A hard year, made even harder by the overlay of COVID and the anxious questions
it brought up – is it safe to go out? To gather with grandchildren and family? To take a
walk with a friend?
With the arrival of effective vaccines, we are now looking at restarting our lives, slowly
and carefully. And for this I am very grateful.
As we look ahead to the next fiscal year starting July 1, I am encouraged. If the lease
signing goes well (and it should), we will soon have a wonderful preschool renting space
in our building on weekdays, providing Ner Shalom with a steady stream of income and
the laughter of small children. Jill Rose has spearheaded a Women’s Picnic, which will
take place on July 10 – helping to create a loving, intimate and in-person space for the
women of Ner Shalom. Nitzanim, our experiential family learning program, will leave
the small screens behind and resume their adventures in the natural world. The Kinsey
Sicks will soon be touring and hope to offer a musical evening in December. And so much
more.
It is time to take a deep breath, look back at the year, and move forward with a new and
vigorous model of what Jewish community can be, both in person and virtually.
As Reb Charles Dickens once said, “It was the best of times; it was the worse of times.”
We made it through. We supported each other. We innovated, created, learned, and sang.
Together we went through a very challenging year, filled with unexpected losses and
gains. We’re on something that is beginning to feel like “the other side” and it’s looking
sunny from where I sit.
Thank you all -- our beloved Rabbi, the Board, the administration, and congregants both
near and far.
L’shalom,
Amy Gray
President
The Year in Review – 5
the Spirit Lives on at Ner Shalom
Reb Irwin Keller
“Come, come, whoever you are,” began the song by Shimshai, with words from Rumi,
with which our Good Shabbos Band and Ner Shalom Singers launched our first-ever
online High Holy Day experience.
“Come, come, whoever you are,” they sang. And you did. I don’t know fully how to look
back at this year; it was so unusual in every possible respect. But I can see how we grew
new lines of connection. How the boundaries of our community opened up to people in
different parts of the country and the world. How despite the limitations imposed by the
pandemic, there has been something really beautiful about opening the laptop on Friday
night and having Shabbat – escorted by this holy community – breeze right into my own
home.
We have all learned so much this year. About ourselves, about the country we live in,
about the Earth we depend on. We are beginning to emerge from this state of
introspection and discovery; it is my hope that we will all bring the best of those learnings
with us into whatever is emerging.
At Ner Shalom we know that we will never again be an exclusively bricks-and-mortar
(well, wood and sheet rock) synagogue. We will provide ample opportunities for locals
to gather in physical space. But we will continue to tend to the rich web of connections
we’ve made online. Opening the doors to all of you who have come from beyond Sonoma
County. And to all of us in Sonoma County for whom online practice has made it possible
to integrate Jewish – practice and learning – into our lives in a surprising and
unprecedented way. This is something none of us wants to give up. Who would’ve
thought?
The personal highlight of my year was, as you
might expect, my ordination, or smichah, as a
rabbi in the Jewish Renewal lineage of Rabbi
Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. It was a long wait,
coming after 5 years of study, 12 years serving
Ner Shalom, and many decades of hope and
longing. I was grateful that so many of you were
able to be present for the ceremony. I was grateful
to be in our Ner Shalom sanctuary, surrounded
by my family, and wrapped in the tallit of my
childhood (and lifelong) rabbi, Mark S. Shapiro,
who had died just four months earlier.
I knew that entering the rabbinate was earth-
shaking for me. But I was initially unaware of how significant it was for many of you.
Now I see how it represents a milestone for all of us. And while I love the Chasidic-style
affectionate title Reb, I have not failed to notice how many of you insist on calling me
The Year in Review – 6
“Rabbi,” doing so with a tone of pride in your voice. I am grateful for your pride and
your trust and I will do my best to continue to earn it.
And then two weeks later, the over-the-top celebration of my smichah. I remain
completely overwhelmed thinking about it. And grateful to the many who attended, who
performed music or poetry, who recorded greetings, who donated funds to support the
rabbinical position in coming years. It was wild and hilarious and humbling. Thank you.
So yes, it has been a big year, as you will also see in the words and photos in this Annual
Report. So please read through!
I am (and I hope we all are) grateful for the hard work and flexibility of our Board of
Directors. The tireless work of our Administrator, Vicki Allen. The eagerness and skill of
all our spiritual leaders who have stepped to lead services when I’m away. The incredible
and detailed work of all the people named below as “Pandemic Heroes.”
It is a time full of change. I am sad that we have lost our dear Atzilah Solot to her
hometown of Tucson, and grateful that the new platform in which we make ritual
together allows her to remain present. I am sad to be losing the head of our Nitzanim
Experiential Family Learning Program, Janet Rae Jorgensen, and her family, to the state
of Maine. And the Goslow-Zwicker family to Salt Lake City. I hope they will all remain
close to us in ways only this century could provide. And to all the newcomers from all
over the place, come, come, whoever you are. You are so welcome here.
Bivrachah – with many blessings,
Rabbi (Reb) Irwin
PS. If you ever need some private rabbi time, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Email is
best: rebirwinkeller@gmail.com. I’m busy. But not too busy for you.
The Year in Review – 7
Since the beginning of the pandemic lockdown, the Ner Shalom community has pulled
together to become a thriving, supportive, primarily online congregation. A handful of
our members have committed an inordinate amount of their personal time to make it all
happen. We would like to honor these Ner Shalom Pandemic Heroes.
Barbara Lesch McCaffry
Barbara Lesch McCaffry has been here practically from the
beginning. She joined our congregation in 1985, just a few
years after its founding. Over the subsequent 36 years, she has
served many roles here, as leader, counselor, and friend. She
has taught, led ritual, offered poetry, and held the demanding
burdens of Board President and Membership Chair.
A couple years ago, at Reb Irwin’s request, Barbara agreed to
serve as Dean of our Beit Midrash Adult Lifelong Learning
program. As a retired Sonoma State University faculty
member, it seemed a natural fit. When she said yes, she had no
idea a pandemic was coming, and that people would be
turning to us in a new way – using the time of isolation as a chance to deepen in learning;
using the learning as a chance to build community across isolation.
Under Barbara’s leadership, Beit Midrash shifted class offerings to Zoom on the same day
as the county’s shelter-in-place order. Seeing the impact that gathering to learn was
having on our community; seeing how participants were coming from as far as Alaska
and Germany, Barbara encouraged us to dream big. As you see in the Beit Midrash report
on p. 13, she more than doubled our offerings. In the last year more than 75 class sessions
have happened, including short series, recurring classes, and single-event learning
events. Many people have attended one class; many people have attended nearly all of
them. Over this year, adult learning has become a deep and essential part of the character
of Ner Shalom. We have Pandemic Hero Barbara Lesch McCaffry to thank.
The Year in Review – 8
Shari Brenner
Shari Brenner joined Ner Shalom in the mid-2000s,
and initially became involved, along with Reb Irwin,
as a parent in the school, then called Dor Hadash.
Over time Shari’s involvement deepened, joining the
Board of Directors and serving as its Chair.
During the pandemic, Shari found herself with some
time, so she offered Reb Irwin to take off his
shoulders some of the tasks that remained on them as
artifacts of earlier days. Shari began creating the
weekly eBlasts and being the webmaster of Ner
Shalom’s beautiful online presence at nershalom.org.
These tasks themselves took many hours each week.
But as she tried to gather all the congregation’s
offerings, announcements and needs for each week’s
eBlast, she realized that we were missing vital
infrastructure that enabled us to coordinate our
activities across programmatic threads. A longtime
manager and administrator in the County healthcare system, Shari simply rolled up her
sleeves and began serving as the point person for much of what happens backstage at
Ner Shalom. She created systems, worked closely with Barbara Lesch McCaffry to hold
the administrative burden of our increased educational offerings, and even learned to
jockey Zoom rooms and event recordings. The deepening of our email announcements
to include birthdays, yahrzeits and donations, come through Shari’s strong sense of what
a religious community needs and deserves. The fact that it is all happening is thanks to
Pandemic Hero Shari Brenner.
Rinat Abastado
Rinat Abastado joined Ner Shalom several
years ago. Her involvement began to
deepen just months before the pandemic,
when she began to offer Torah study
monthly before Friday night services.
When the shelter-in-place order hit, Rinat
offered Shabbat morning Torah study on
Zoom, just 3 days later. That Shabbat
morning Torah study has continued 3-4
Shabbat mornings every month. Every
week she prepares a selection of the weekly Torah portion, along with medieval
commentary and mysticism from around the Jewish world. Many participants have now
completed an entire cycle of Torah portions with her, and are a couple months into their
The Year in Review – 9
second time around. For participants, this has been a deeply meaningful engagement
with Torah – in many cases an engagement that folks had been denied or had denied
themselves. Participants have called Rinat’s Torah study “an expansive and sacred space
where we explore the words of Judaism, from the Hebrew text to the Sages, the
theological to mystical, and discover and rediscover that out words matter.”
In addition to offering the weekly Torah study, Rinat is working closely with Reb Irwin
to bring Mizrahi melodies and customs (including some from her own Yemenite lineage)
into the collective paintbox of Ner Shalom, so that more riches of the Jewish world can be
at this community’s fingertips.
We have learned Torah and been enriched, and for this we thank Pandemic Hero Rinat
Abastado.
Check-In Soup
It was clear that the isolation and anxiety of lockdown would create ongoing emotional
needs for our community. The day after the Shelter-in-Place Order, Ner Shalom launched
Check-In Soup – a daily Zoom gathering for anyone who wanted to drop in and
experience these unusual times with other sensitive souls. With rotating leadership,
Check-In Soup is characterized by its ritual frame (the hour is held as sacred space), its
attentive ears (generous listening is the rule), and its overflowing heart. For many, Check-
In Soup became a crucial lifeline during the worst of the pandemic.
Check-In Soup maintained a 5-day-a-week schedule for over a year, under the direction
and facilitation of these tremendous grassroots congregational leaders:
Joanne Witt
Cyndi Norwitz
Ari Hilton
Jill Rose
Ruach D’vorah Grenn
Check-In Soup continues twice a week – Tuesdays at 7pm and Fridays at 10am. It is not
too late to drop in. This is a holy and wholly helpful space, thanks to our Pandemic
Heroes: Joanne, Cyndi, Ari, Jill and Ruach D’vorah.
The Year in Review – 10Suzanne Shanbaum
Suzanne worked tirelessly over the
four years of her presidency to help
Ner Shalom achieve fiscal stability and
to create lasting systems to help us
oversee finances and other operations.
She was also instrumental in getting
our historic building in great shape,
through artful use of grants and
donations from outside organizations.
So dayenu, right?
Well, then came the pandemic and the movement of every single Ner Shalom service,
class, and event onto online platforms. Suzanne spent countless hours researching,
experimenting, and upgrading to uncover the best ways to create the audio and video
production quality Ner Shalomers have come to expect, including coaching individual
spiritual and musical leaders on better use of their own home equipment in order to
sound better on Zoom. (See Technology Report on p. 28.)
Without her efforts and knowledge base, so many of our online events would have been
disastrous at worst, lackluster at best. Thanks to her hard work, we have been able to stay
in touch and thrive during the pandemic, and enjoy her beautiful guitar playing as well.
For these reasons, Suzanne Shanbaum is a Ner Shalom Pandemic Hero.
Suzanne’s command station for High Holy Days and other complex Ner Shalom Zoom events.
The Year in Review – 11Mazal Tov to “In the Light of Peace”
Some synagogues publish cookbooks.
We have our share of enviable cooks as well, but they seem to be outnumbered by the
ranks of artists and poets that Ner Shalom boasts. And so when the idea was floated that
maybe we ought to have an anthology of some of the beautiful work we had been hearing
in the sanctuary, a team of dedicated editors instantly took on this labor of love.
Editor-in-chief Leiah Bowden, joined by editors Sally Churgel, Abby Bogomolny and
Rita Rowan, curated this collection of work by 28 poets and visual artists to create this
rich, delicious offering: In the Light of Peace: Poems and Meditations of a Creative Spiritual
Community.
We were grateful to have had a partner in Rabbi Rachel Barenblat and Bayit Publishing
(www.yourbayit.org) to produce this volume. Rabbi Rachel, herself an acclaimed poet,
lent much love and technical care to the project.
The poetry of In the Light of Peace is beautiful and varied, and a copy should be on every
Ner Shalomer’s shelf. Autographed copies are available at the office and unautographed
can be purchased at Amazon. (If you missed the launch event, you can still watch on the
poetry page of the Ner Shalom website.)
“Enter fully into the broken heart and you will find
Your whole, wild, untamed, uncivilized heart
Here there is only yes
Yes to love
Yes to life
Go deeply enough and you will remember
Your heart is the heart of the world
The world is the heart of God”
From “Wild Heart” by Sally Churgel
The Year in Review – 12Beit Midrash Lifelong Learning
Love of Learning at Ner Shalom
A Year of Successes
Last year at this time we kvelled about what an active year it had been for Beit Midrash,
with 35 sessions wrangled by our Dean, Barbara Lesch McCaffry. But we more than
doubled that this year with 20 distinct classes plus our annual Tikkun Leyl Shavout night
of study for a total of 75 sessions. All in all, nearly 400 individuals made over 1500
appearances in Beit Midrash classes!
Our regular educational offerings from June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 included:
• Chanukah Card Making, led by Ellyn Lazar
• Coming into Being, 7 sessions led by Shoshana Fershtman, Reb Judith Goleman,
Basha Hirschfeld, and Barbara Lesch McCaffry
• Guided Meditation, 2 sessions led by Basha Hirschfeld
• Introduction to Mussar, led by guest teacher Helaine Sheias
• Jeremiah, 2 sessions led by Ari Hilton
• Jewish/Buddhist Conversations, 2 sessions led by Reb Judith Goleman & Basha
Hirschfeld
• Meeting Lilith, 2 sessions led by Ruach D'vorah Grenn
• Mindful of Race, 5 sessions led by Amy Schiff
• Seder-Leading Boot Camp, led by Reb Irwin
• Speaking About Death, 2 sessions led by Sharon Ziff, with Reb Judith Goleman,
Ari Hilton & Andrew Wagner
• Studying the Basics with Reb Irwin, 2 sessions led by Reb Irwin
• The Cosmic Tree of Life in Kabbalah, led by Shoshana Fershtman
• The Letters of Creation, 17 sessions (!) led by Gesher Calmenson
• The Snake and Eve, led by Sheridan & Sharlya Gold
• Who Wrote the Bible, 4 sessions led by Ari Hilton
• Yiddish Tish, 14 sessions led by Reb Irwin
The “Academy” Series
We also launched an “Academy” series with five Sunday afternoon major events
designed for an audience that extends beyond our Ner Shalom members and friends.
Some of these were collaborations with Ner Shalom’s social justice arm, Tzedek, and also
with Reconstructing Judaism and two sister reconstructionist congregations: Or Zarua
Havurah in the East Bay and Or Shalom in San Francisco. Many thanks to Susan Levine
who serves on the national Board of Reconstructing Judaism, who has been a force behind
these collaborations. Our Academy offerings over the past year have been:
The Year in Review – 13• Racism & Antisemitism, 2 sessions led by guest scholar, Rabbi Mordechai
Liebling. Co-sponsored by Tzedek.
• This is the Day: The Poetry of Counting the Omer, led by guest scholar, Rabbi
Diane Elliot
• Transforming Trauma and Jewish Paths of Healing, led by Shoshana
Fershtman and Reb Irwin
• Where You Go, I Will Go: Same-Sex Marriage & Jewish Law, led by Reb Irwin
• You Shall Not Go Empty: Wrestling with Reparations as Reconstructionists,
led by Rabbi Micah Weiss, in collaboration with Or Zarua Havurah
Tikkun Leyl Shavuot
This year’s Tikkun Leyl Shavuot was offered in collaboration with Congregation Shomrei
Torah and Or Zarua Havurah. Our theme was “Practical Magic: Jewish Wisdom for Hard
Times.” Over 100 people attended! Sessions were taught by Or Zarua teachers Marcia
Falk and Josh Wirtshafter; Shomrei Torah teachers Rabbi Stephanie Kramer, Marilyn
Nagel, Rabbi George Gittleman and Jay Peretz; and beloved Ner Shalom teachers Reb
Judith Goleman, Basha Hirschfeld, Barbara Lesch McCaffry, Ilan Fichman, Orren
Perlman, Shoshana Fershtman, and Reb Irwin. It is not too late to view the sessions. Just
go to www.youtube.com/nershalom and click on the Shavuot playlist!
Capacity and Support
Since December, our Dean, Barbara Lesch McCaffry has been collaborating closely with
Shari Brenner (they served together on the Ner Shalom Board from 2008-2012) to add
some big picture thinking as we envision Beit Midrash in the coming years: how can we
support our community’s interests? nurture our teachers? encourage new participants?
help sustain Ner Shalom financially?
What was once an annual January brainstorming session to plan the year’s curriculum
has expanded and we’ve created a Steering Committee – Gesher Calmenson, Shoshana
Fershtman, Basha Hirschfeld, Linda Pantoskey and Shari Brenner – to help us refine
our vision and prioritize potential offerings. And we will now offer support in class
design for new teachers, thanks to the talents of veteran educators Linda Pantoskey and
Rita Rowan.
And we refined our mission:
Congregation Ner Shalom’s Beit Midrash Lifelong Jewish Learning classes,
programs, and workshops lean into the mystical, magical, spiritual, and
textual as a way to illuminate our lives, spark our creativity and strengthen
our community.
We also looked at what is a realistic bandwidth for us and have decided on a maximum
of two classes a week, one introductory class a month and one Sunday event a month, at
The Year in Review – 14least for now. We set a standard registration fee for classes with scholarships available,
so no one is left out. And all new member households are eligible for a free class, so they
get a taste of what we have to offer.
Looking ahead, we anticipate that most of our classes will continue on the Zoom platform
as our participants have expanded to those across the country and even Canada and
Germany. We will reserve on-site learning for content that requires physical proximity.
In the Wings
Looking ahead this year, Ner Shalomers can look forward to these offerings and more:
• In June, Sharon Ziff will offer two sessions of “Speaking about Death,” with guests
Ari Hilton and Sally Churgel focusing on Compassionate Caregiving.
• Yiddish Tish continues on the first Wednesday of the month at noon.
• “Studying the Basics with Reb Irwin” continues on the third Wednesday of the
month at noon through the winter with topical videos provided by Reconstructing
Judaism and lively conversation to follow.
• Our next Academy Class will be with Rabbi Esther Azar on “Trauma Healing
through Jewish Practice” on August 1st at noon.
Our Beit Midrash brainstorming group meets in January. If you would like to join that
group or have ideas for a class you would like to see or offer, email Barbara Lesch
McCaffry at learning@nershalom.org.
Educator of the Year
We are so pleased to name Gesher Calmenson our Educator of the Year. Gesher offered
to teach a few sessions on the mystical qualities of the Hebrew letters. This expanded,
and this month he completes the entire 22-letter alefbet. Gesher is the former head of Ner
Shalom’s school, Dor Hadash, and currently teaches in Ner Shalom’s Nitzanim Program.
Gesher’s beautiful teaching inspired students and gave room for everyone’s creative
response to the mystical learning. We are thrilled that Gesher intends to turn his “Letters
of Creation” class into a book.
The Year in Review – 15Nitzanim
Experiential Education for Kids and Families
Nitzanim Year 2. The Year We Reinvented . . . Again
Nitzanim was always meant to be a place for children and their families to sing, move
our bodies, and be together in a relaxed atmosphere. We knew that young families tend
to be reluctant to join a synagogue. So, in our pilot year (2019-2020) we went with what
we knew to be true: our families wanted to be outside, they needed a flexible schedule,
and a very low commitment level. And it worked! Under the leadership of our Program
Director, Janet Rae Jorgensen, the Nitzanim Program got off the ground beautifully.
In this pandemic year, however, we couldn’t jump into large gatherings as we had in the
past, so we needed to make adjustments while still trying to fulfill our vision.
Online Family Offerings and Events
As with so many programs, we went online. Rabbi Irwin very quickly introduced the
idea of welcoming Shabbat together in a low-key way. We would light candles, sing, and
send some blessings to one another's homes from our little Zoom boxes. It was
heartbreaking and powerful. In a time when there was so much unknown, the familiarity
of seeing light from each other’s spaces was comforting. And Janet Rae’s storytelling
(including video versions of Chelm stories) delighted us all.
In order to provide content and connection for families for whom Zoom was challenging,
Janet Rae created an audio library of Jewish children’s stories. Families could use these
at bedtime, and their children would be connected to Jewish content, and to Janet Rae’s
familiar voice.
The Year in Review – 16We recommited to offering monthly family programming. We knew Zoom would not
work for every family, but it was important to create the offerings and let families who
could join us do so.
Teachers Shai Schnall and Ilan Fichman were the Nitzanim angels of the pandemic.
Their programming was creative, engaging, and thoughtful. During each family Zoom
gathering, we incorporated home activities off screen, to keep the experience from being
passive screen-watching. For instance, during one Havdalah gathering, each family was
asked to go outdoors and find something in their gardens that was fragrant. Since
everyone was in California in January, that task was easy and awoke some senses that
are not easily engaged on the computer. It was an extra delight when many of the families
brought the same herb back into their screens. (Rosemary will always remind Janet Rae
of this Havdalah experience with Nitzanim.)
Tangible Goods
In addition to our Zoom offerings, we wanted the program to maintain a tangible
component. Shai and Janet Rae were inspired to create Rosh Chodesh kits which were
mailed to our most active families. The kit included a beeswax candle, handmade angel
cards and a beautiful prayer card to use as guidance for observing Rosh Chodesh at home.
Ilan, Shai and Janet Rae also recorded a Rosh Chodesh instruction video for families to
review at their leisure, and hosted a Rosh Chodesh gathering on Zoom in Kislev, the
darkest month of the year.
For Purim, Janet Rae designed personalized
mishloach manot bags to deliver around
Sonoma County to our Nitzanim families (as
you see in the photo to the right). The bags
included homemade hamentashen, a wooden
grogger which children could assemble, and
other goodies. When we met on Zoom for
Purim, sharing the groggers folks made was
one more way our children and their families
could feel a bit more connected with each
other.
Online and Live Classes for Kids
In November, we re-launched programming for our older students. Although, we didn’t
want a traditional “Hebrew School” experience for the children, we wanted to create
small group opportunities with children of the same age. Thus we launched “Shabbat
with Mia” and “Mystery School with Gesher.“
The Year in Review – 17“Shabbat with Mia,” for students 9-11 years
old, met in person at Wickersham Park in
Petaluma. Seven students gathered on eight
different Shabbat mornings. Students (and
some parents) sat distanced and masked,
relieved just to be in one another’s physical
company. Teacher Mia Zimman guided the
children with lessons on different Jewish
values. The children laughed, shared their
ever-blossoming thoughts on spirituality,
and created skits together. During two of
the sessions, Rabbi Irwin simultaneously
met with the parents to engage in dialogue about their own spiritual searches.
Meanwhile, teacher Gesher Calmenson met with the older children (12–15-year-olds)
online twice a month. Gesher’s goal was to ask questions that were relevant to the
children’s lives as modern young Jews. Gesher created a laboratory !for developing our
individual relationships to God, legacy, happiness, a meaningful life, and each other.”
Parent-Only Events
In response to the parent interest and commitment around the Black Lives Matters
Movement, Nitzanim parents formed a “Raising Anti-Racist Children” dialogue which
continues to meet monthly. The group is most often facilitated by Jenny Levine-Smith, a
Ner Shalom member and Master’s candidate at San Francisco State University, focusing
on Equity and Social Justice in Education. Via Zoom, parents come together to have
thoughtful and sometimes challenging discussions on how they can raise race-conscious
and anti-racist Jewish children. We consider what tools, questions, and guidance we give
to our children and receive from them, as Jewish humans of this generation and the next.
Networking and Community Support
This year Nitzanim received a $30,000 18-month grant from the Jewish Community
Federation of the San Francisco Bay Area. This Community Impact Strategic Grant
supports efforts to connect families and children during COVID times and is funded as
part of the Federation’s Family Engagement Initiative. As part of the initiative, Nitzanim
Program Director Janet Rae has been participating in grantee cohort trainings and
convenings, sharing our learnings and learning from others.
The Year in Review – 18Gratitude and Changes Ahead
Despite the obvious obstacles, this has
been a meaningful year for Nitzanim
families, most of whom continued to
connect regularly with the program. By
the end of the year, we began to hold
our first in-person family gatherings,
including a beach trip for Pesach, in
which families created mock seder
plates on the sand using found objects.
(The saltwater was particularly easy to
procure.) We are truly grateful that the
groundwork of Year 1 carried us
through this challenging Year 2.
As the Nitzanim year draws to a close, Janet Rae and her family are preparing for a cross-
country move to Maine. Janet Rae has been the beating heart of this program. So much
has depended on her creativity, rapport with children and parents, skill as an educator,
natural charisma, and deep commitment. We are assembling next year’s team and we
know we will continue to capitalize on the successes of these first two years, even though
we are heartbroken to be doing so without Janet Rae. All of us in the Ner Shalom family
wish Janet Rae, Paisha and Arielle so much joy and success in everything that’s ahead.
Nitzanim teacher Shai Schnall will be stepping into the role of Nitzanim Director – mazal
tov Shai! We look forward to working with you!
The Year in Review – 19Celebrations
For Young People with Special Needs and their Families
Now completing its 13th year, Ner Shalom is proud to offer the Celebrations Program,
serving the needs of young people with special needs and their families. Celebrations
continues to be a pioneering program. In a typical year, sessions focus on a Jewish holiday
and involve music, art, ritual food preparation, storytelling, games, and teachings about
the holiday.
During the 2020-2021 year, Celebrations was forced onto Zoom. Some Celebrations
participants were not able to manage the platform. For other participants and families,
this worked well – including for new families joining us from Santa Clara, San Carlos and
Vancouver, BC. In the coming year we will be moving back to in-person events,
punctuated by Zoom gatherings, to be accessible to as many families as possible.
Due to shifting priorities, the Celebrations Program will no longer be funded by the
Jewish Community Federation of the San Francisco Bay Area. We are immensely grateful
for their more-than-ten years of support. We are also seeking replacement funding. We
invite Ner Shalomers with connections to charitable foundations to contact us through
the Ner Shalom office!
Thank you to our Celebrations leadership: Mary Ann Malinak, Leslie Gattmann and
Jennifer Lorvick!
Above: Lick a card, any card! At a recent Celebrations Zoom Talent Show, founder Mary Ann
Malinak demonstrated a card trick with Alex’s service dog, Ondre.
Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?
The Year in Review – 20Tzedek
Social Justice at Ner Shalom
Tzedek, the Hebrew word meaning justice, is the Social Justice Action arm of
Congregation Ner Shalom. Jewish social justice is a way to respond to the brokenness of
our world and to inform that work with Jewish knowledge and insights. Central to Jewish
practice is the principle of tikkun olam, to repair the world—working to transform
suffering and pursue justice, in alignment with core values of compassion and equity. For
Jews to fully live our justice values, we believe that we must involve ourselves with those
who are in need now. By being social justice advocates we try to listen to those who are
suffering—hear their stories, become connected with their pain and then help by standing
up with them and for them.
In the year 2020-21 Tzedek has been active on many fronts. During the election cycle we
sponsored a postcard writing campaign to Get Out the Vote in closely contested states,
sending over 6,500 cards to encourage people to register and to vote. We were joined by
our sister Congregation Shomrei Torah in this outstanding outreach effort.
We also found it imperative to make a statement after the murder of George Floyd, on
upon the conviction of his murderer (those may be found on our webpage
(nershalom.org/tzedek) and a statement in solidarity with the Asian-American
community.
In May we co-sponsored with the Workers Circle/Arbeter Ring of Northern California a
talk on Black/Jewish relations by Rebecca Pierce, a film maker who is both Ashkenazi
and Black. In the talk “Other Together,” she helped us explore the complicated and
important connections between these two groups and legacies.
Our 2020 program on refugee and immigrant rights featured speakers from multiple
local organizations and raised $500 that was donated this year to Undocufund, a local
program that provides direct assistance to refugees.
Please look at weekly alerts posted in the eblast and on our webpage for congregants to
take action to support social justice, with a current focus on voting rights. We are
donating $450 raised from the postcard campaign and other events to Central Valley
Matters, an organization mobilizing voter registration among disenfranchised voters.
Currently Tzedek is educating the congregation about voter suppression activities in
several states, asking us to reach out and support the For the People Act (HR 1; S1).
On August 22, Tzedek is sponsoring a Homelessness Cafe online and in person to educate
our community about the practical and policy issues faced by the unsheltered in our
community, and how we can be of service. Our own Jeff Hoffman and Terry Rowan will
be helping us understand the issues.
The Tzedek Steering Committee are Elaine Leeder, Eszter Freeman, Roberta Teller, Rita
Rowan and Shoshana Fershtman.
The Year in Review – 21Welcome New Members!
So happy to have you.
Ner Shalom burgeoned during the trying pandemic time. Perhaps because so many of us
experienced such a strong need to connect in meaningful ways. Belonging felt more
important than ever before and reflected in a remarkable number of people joining our
ranks. As of today, we have 140 member households made up of truly remarkable people.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the following folks have cast their lot (or re-cast
their lot) with the Ner Shalom community.
Eric and Kathleen Adams
Alexandra Appel
Cody Cammbell
Hannah Caratti
Julie Rachana Chasen
Elaine Daly and Mopani
Aaron Draper and Heather Fischer
Cathy, Jordan and Isaac Epstein
Diane Frank and Erik Ievens
Ruach D’vorah Grenn
Ari, Amanda, Henry and Benjamin Hilton
Doron Hovav and Elon Slozberg
Peter Krohn
Russ Messing
Adrienne Momi
Roanne Olonoff
Les Raffel
Sabra Rahel and Shamayim
Amy and Jace Ricafrente and Malachi
Lilith Rogers
Desmond and Margaret Shapiro
Jessica Tunis
Clare Venet and Jonathon Meltzer
Marcus Webster
Cy Wilcox and George Lin
Mia, Alejandro and Luna Zimman
Mug Shot: Membership Chair
Stephanie Brown models the newest perk of
membership: the Ner Shalom mug!
We are grateful for and enriched by the love,
skills, and joy you bring!
The Year in Review – 22Fundraising Report
When the pandemic closures began, we braced for the worst. We didn’t know how
individuals in our community would be affected financially; our fundraising concerts
and events were cancelled; and we didn’t know if people would even think to donate to
a synagogue that they couldn’t set foot in.
But support for Ner Shalom only grew. Many donations came in expressly “in honor of
the Zoom offerings.” Many new people became connected to Ner Shalom, and veteran
Ner Shalomers deepened their connection.
With this support, we exceeded our fundraising goals for the year (even without taking
into consideration our special “Rebbe-to-Rabbi Campaign,” described below). Here are
some of our fundraising successes over ten months from July 1, 2020, through April, 2021.
Season of Giving Campaign $31,845
Our annual end-of-year campaign
running from Rosh Hashanah through
December 31.
General Donations $6,258
Yahrzeit Donations $3,166
Shabbat Sponsorships $4,509
This is a new revenue source. Instead
of offering Oneg Shabbat, many Ner
Shalomers sponsored Zoom services
to honor or remember loved ones.
Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund
In addition, spurred perhaps by Reb Irwin’s ordination, donors were especially generous
this year in giving to the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund, contributing $11,858 toward Reb
Irwin’s capacity to support congregants’ emergency needs and as well as unusual
synagogue needs and programs that are unbudgeted.
Rebbe-to-Rabbi Campaign
This year was the year that Reb Irwin fulfilled his dream and became Rabbi Irwin, by
way of a unique path through the law, gay rights, drag queen outfits, and song, and
finally with a long stop at a unique shul -- a small, bright light in Cotati, California. What
an amazing journey for him and for our community.
The Year in Review – 23Reb Irwin’s ordination also made it imperative for us to raise the funds to help support
the rabbinic position at Ner Shalom. A team, led by Elaine Leeder, Susan Levine, Basha
Hirschfeld, and Amy Gray, in consultation with Elaine’s cousin, professional fundraiser
Lee Rosenfield, launched our Rebbe-to-Rabbi Campaign.
The R2R Campaign was two-pronged. One element was the recruitment of major donors
who could make substantial commitments to the R2R fund over the next three years. The
second element was a public celebration and fundraising event.
Numerous members immediately stepped up with lead gifts for the major donor
campaign. Meanwhile a vast team of Ner Shalomers volunteered to create the “Rebbe to
Rabbi” event honoring Rabbi Irwin. The producers included Amy Gray, Stephanie
Brown, Leiah Bowden, Rita Rowan, and Doron Hovav, and they were supported by
many volunteers. Presenters included poets, Jewish musicians, the Kinsey Sicks and
Kinsey Sicks alumni. The evening was emceed by Kinsey Sicks co-founder, Ben Schatz. It
was a lively, moving, joy-filled (and technically smooth) evening.
Between the major donor outreach and event donations from Ner Shalomers as well as
from Reb Irwin’s community of colleagues and friends, over $183,000 has been raised in
cash gifts and pledges, which will partially cover the cost of the Ner Shalom rabbinic
position for years to come.
We offer our gratitude to all our members and friends for their dedication and enduring
generosity.
Emcee Ben Schatz engages in serious dialogue with fundraising executive Stephanie Brown
during the Rebbe-to-Rabbi Celebration on January 24th.
The Year in Review – 24Financial ROundup
Mark Miller, Treasurer
The current fiscal year, 2020-2021, makes the fifth consecutive year where our income
exceeded our expenditures. And this is after we thought that the rainy days we had been
saving for were upon us!
As we settled into the COVID-19 pandemic, things remained uncertain: fundraising
concerts were canceled, outside renters were not able to use our building, our
programming shifted online, and some community members lost their own sources of
income.
But to repeat from last year: wow. With your continuing generosity in your Annual
Membership Commitments, your support of our Season of Giving, an incredible increase
in supporting and sponsoring our online activities, and extra donations by folks from all
over who have been joining us electronically, we have been able to find the funds to
sustain us through this period and add to, rather than draw from, our rainy-day fund.
All this is in addition to your very generous support of our Rebbe to Rabbi fund!
We started the current fiscal year (2020-2021) anticipating outspending our income by
roughly $7,000. Due to far better-than-budgeted donations, grants, and other income, we
expect to finish the year at about $26,000 to the good. This is the fifth consecutive year in
which income has exceeded revenue.
Income / Expenses 2016-2021
$197,699
$183,659
$158,000 $193,819
$141,750 $167,528
$182,763
$156,990
$132,660
$127,500
2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 (EST)
Income Expenses
The Year in Review – 25Years ago, we set a goal of having in reserve approximately 6 months of operating
expenses. Five consecutive years of positive cash flow has brought us to the verge of
achieving that goal. This fund balance is a reserve for building repairs, emergencies, and
other circumstances, foreseen and unforeseen. It also allows us to be more deliberate and
intentional in all our budgeting and spending, after some years of deficit in which scarcity
too often made the decisions for us.
For the coming 2021-22 year, the Board has approved a balanced budget, with expenses
and revenue both at $222,000. With your support, we are confident we will meet this
budget.
A big thank you goes to our dedicated finance committee: Accounting Guru Art Magnus,
Board President Amy Gray, Board member (and don’t tell her but our Treasurer when I
term limit out) Alison Marks, Administrator Vicki Allen, and me, your Treasurer.
Thanks, team!
The Year in Review – 26This Old House: Building Report
Mark Miller, Building Chair
Last year I started our building report saying, “Hey, remember that? We have a building!
A lovely old building, back behind the fire station. Some day we can go back and use it
again.”
Well, it’s been a whole year and the building has not had the joy of hosting our
congregation. We did get to use the outside spaces a bit so far and will be back inside
soon. Promise.
We also said that we would not take on any new building projects this year unless we
came up with some outside funding sources. And . . . we got another grant!
Under the leadership of Alan Ziff, we inspected the entire outside of the building and
replaced all the missing or damaged shingles, replaced/repaired all of the damaged trim
and fascia boards, repaired the front columns, fixed up the front lighting and fencing,
and completely painted the outside of the building. We are ready for action.
Dianna Grayer and Sheridan Gold stepped up and used some of the leftover tiles from
last year’s bathroom reflooring to redo the countertop in the all-gender bathroom. It
looked so good that Leiah Bowden decided to follow it up with a spiffy new paint job.
Thanks, you three!
We are grateful to all the members of our Building Committee: Lorenzo Valensi,
Suzanne Shanbaum, Alan Ziff, Larry Resnick, Vicki Allen, and tyrannical overlord
Mark Miller.
The Year in Review – 27Technology Report
Suzanne Shanbaum, Tech Guru
Over the years, we cobbled together sound system Ner Shalom that worked well for our
in-person services. The fastest internet available to us at the time was good for 1 or 2
computers doing email. We had a B.Mitzvah coming up on Zoom where we needed to
support multiple computers, live music, and a pre-recorded Storahtelling video. That
afternoon, we ran a test and discovered the video would not play. We also discovered we
needed most of the computers to disconnect from our internet connection and connect
through their cellphone hotspots to prevent Reb Irwin’s screen from freezing. We
managed to have a beautiful bar mitzvah with some quick thinking by Reb Irwin and the
tech team. We learned a lot from that experience. We now have cable-speed internet (we
needed new construction to bring it to us), and the ability to create Zoom-friendly videos.
During our “Zoom only” months, Reb Irwin developed a service format that allowed
many presenters to read poetry, lead prayers, and play music. We rose to the challenge
of helping everyone sound their best after a flurry of research, by working with each
presenter to ensure they had the proper equipment and software configuration to make
sure they were heard, and we worked to improve the sound quality of their music.
Because Zoom does not allow for real-time performance of live, ensemble music, our
Good Shabbos Band and Ner Shalom Singers at first hung up their hats. But then we
began doing recording projects. One musician would create a “guide track” of one of our
favorite songs. Each singer or instrumentalist would play along with it, recording their
part. Then all the parts would go back to either Reb Irwin or me, and one of us would
engineer it into what turned out to be surprisingly beautiful musical offerings that we
could all sing along with at Zoom services. What’s more, for the High Holy Days, we
went a step further, and capitalized on the skills of Doron Hovav, who is a professional
television video editor. We created music videos for the High Holy Days which served
to transport us and make us feel like we were together in the sanctuary! Eventually we
lost count, but we know that our crew created more than 25 audio tracks, many of which
are now available on Soundcloud (search for “Ner Shalom”) and 3 music videos (so far)
which you can find at youtube.com/nershalom.
As we slowly open up to in-person services and events, our challenge has become
developing a platform where our band could play together in person through a live
sound system for in-person attendees, while at the same time broadcasting to a Zoom
audience with good sound quality. That hurdle took me about 2 months of intensive
research, the purchase of some advanced equipment and many, many special cables,
literally hundreds of test Zoom calls/recordings, and some highly specialized
consulting. On the video side, Suzanne and Doron again dove into researching the
problem and experimenting with solutions that will maintain the intimacy on Zoom
while still maintaining our connection with the people in the room.
The Year in Review – 28Although we’ve been working on this for a year, we are still developing the knowledge,
skill, and equipment to support our wonderful physical and electronic shul. We are
proud that we have proven to be very effective at making the Zoom medium work for
us, and that community members from around the world are able to find a home in our
online sanctuary and virtual mishkan.
We look forward to refining the technology to enable us to meet all of these needs for
years to come.
Many thanks to our technology team:
Suzanne Shanbaum: Chair, Tech Guru, Audio Engineer
Doron Hovav: Video Engineer
Mark Miller: Infrastructure, Building Committee Liaison
Roey Abastado: Zoom Shamash
Jim Gray and Sheridan Gold: Live sound team members
Lorenzo Valensi and Mark Miller: Live event lighting
Pictured: The backstage complexity of Yom Kippur on Zoom. Reb Irwin and his husband, Oren Slozberg,
at their Zoom station; in the background, Suzanne Shanbaum plays guitar from her audio engineering
station. Lower left: some of the many cords and cables making this possible.
Photo by Doron Hovav, who also operated the “Torah-Cam.”
The Year in Review – 29Ner Shalom Scrapbook
Some of the Memorable Events of 2020-2021
Here are some memorable moments of the past year. What are other moments that you
especially remember?
Shoshana Fershtman and Kohenet Ruach D’vorah Grenn brought us into the tent to launch Shekhinah
Shabbat, periodic Friday nights in which we expressly honor the Divine Feminine.
We all got to know Reb Irwin’s
living room very well.
The Year in Review – 30We bade a geographic goodbye to Chantleader Atzilah Solot as she prepared for her move to Tucson.
We are glad Zoom has allowed her to continue to offer her gifts to our community.
We welcomed Mia and Alejandro Zimman into the congregation, and baby Luna into the world.
The Year in Review – 31The Goslow-Zwicker Trio, affectionately known as GZ3, offered to our Zoom services some of
the beautiful harmony we sorely missed in that platform.
Emilia, Sophie and Annemarie (and David!) are moving to Salt Lake City this summer.
We hope more Zoom appearances are in the cards for us.
Isaac Epstein’s Zoom Bar Mitzvah included a Storahtelling event that featured his father,
his grandparents, and Reb Irwin.
The Year in Review – 32Laura Ingram (here with her parents Rebecca Norwick and Geoffrey Ingram) became a bat mitzvah.
Especially beautiful was the moment when the whole family donned their tallitot.
The Year in Review – 33We had the honor of a double b.mitzvah – Ner Shalom member and musician Sheridan Gold and her
mother Sharlya Gold, zooming in from Florida.
Sheridan, flanked by wife-of-the-bat-mitzvah Dianna Grayer, reading from Torah, while we used Ner
Shalom’s second Torah scroll to provide a close-up view using the “Torah Cam!”
The Year in Review – 34Our Purim Spiel was masterminded by Stephanie Brown and Leiah Bowden.
And look who all showed up to tell the story!
The Year in Review – 35The High Holy Days included this music video of the Shimshai song “Come,” featuring our
Good Shabbos Band and Ner Shalom Singers. The audio was recorded and engineered by
Suzanne Shanbaum. The gorgeous video was made by Doron Hovav.
Janet Rae and Arielle Jorgensen pose for the cover photo of our Nitzanim audio bedtime stories.
The Year in Review – 36In Memoriam
Since our last congregational meeting, Ner Shalom has lost two valued members.
Fran Dayan was a therapist, artist, rock-and-roll vocalist, and larger-than-life figure. She
grew up in a Syrian Jewish family in Indianapolis, and was the mother of David
Rubinstein, a friend of many in our community.
Myrna Jensen was a calm and loving voice in this community. She was the mother of our
Administrator, Vicki Allen. Her poetry is included in the Ner Shalom anthology, In the
Light of Peace. She was a fixture at Ner Shalom, and will be missed terribly.
In addition to them, a number of Ner Shalomers lost close loved ones over the past year:
Lou Heckenlaible, mother of Dave Blackburn
Patricia Patton Lawhon, mother of Jane Lawhon
Leo Levine, father of Susan Levine
Viva Brenner, mother of Shari Brenner
Joan Shaffer, mother of Ellyn Lazar
Stuart Shaffer, father of Ellyn Lazar
Ginette Adams, mother of Eric Adams
Beth Frindell, mother of Karen Frindell Teuscher
Eugene Ziff, father of Alan Ziff
The Year in Review – 37Get Involved!
There are many ways to be involved at Ner Shalom. Here are some of our standing
committees and teams that could use your head, heart, and hands:
Membership Stephanie Brown Stephanieb1818@gmail.com
Greeting Basha Hirschfeld bhirschfeld@gmail.com
Fundraising Events & Amy Gray amygray98118@yahoo.com
Auction
Kavanah/Spiritual Life Reb Irwin rebirwinkeller@gmail.com
Band of Angels Leiah Bowden lightspeak@gmail.com
Beit Midrash Barbara Lesch- mccaffry@sonoma.edu
(Lifelong Learning) McCaffry
Nitzanim Shai Schnall shai.schnall@gmail.com
Building Mark Miller mark.ns@threeboysfarm.com
Finance Mark Miller mark.ns@threeboysfarm.com
Oneg Shabbat & Service Liz Hagen lizhagen.1@gmail.com
Sponsorship Stephanie Brown stephanieb1818@gmail.com
Fun Committee Amy Schiff amyschiff1@sbcglobal.net
Tzedek – Social Justice Shoshana Fershtman drshoshanaf@gmail.com
Cemetery Gesher Calmenson gesherc@sonic.net
Office, Marketing & Tech Vicki Allen vicki@nershalom.org
Join a committee, volunteer at an event, come to every service or only once a year.
Sponsor Oneg Shabbat refreshments or a Zoom service in honor of your anniversary or
in memory of someone you love. If there’s a way you want to be involved that you
haven’t seen yet, suggest it! Whatever your level of participation, we’re glad you’re here!
The Year in Review – 38Ner Shalom Staff and Board of Directors
2020-2021
Amy Gray, President
Amy Schiff, Vice President
Linda Schneider, Secretary
Mark Miller, Treasurer
Tanya Robertson, Personnel Chair
Stephanie Brown
Basha Hirschfeld
Elaine Leeder
Art Magnus
Alison Marks
Linda Pantoskey
Reb Irwin Keller, Rabbi
Vicki Allen, Administrator
Paige Hotchkiss-Needleman, Administrative Assistant
Shai Schnall, Nitzanim Director
Images by Lorenzo Valensi
The Year in Review – 39You can also read
