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Volunteering at Beth Am is a great way to strengthen our community and to enhance your own experience as a Beth Am member. There are many opportunities for participation and leadership. You can join one or more of the groups described below or just volunteer occasionally by being a greeter at services, assisting the office staff or helping out at potlucks and special events. If you are interested in getting involved in any of our committees or volunteering your time some other way, please contact Rabbi Adam Allenberg or call 650/493-4661. You can also volunteer by completing the volunteer checklist. Committees: Adult Learning Council (ALC) is responsible for working closely with Beth Am staff on adult learning classes, programs and special events. We welcome new members and new ideas. Events the ALC helps to coordinate include: Selichot study and reflection, Yom Kippur Afternoon seminars, Scholar in Residence weekend, special Holy Day learning activities, the Asilomar weekend retreat and Shabbat programming for adults. Typically, we ask for members to lead a project, but we welcome help at all levels. We meet on Tuesday night @ 7:30, about every 5 weeks. (Contact: Ina Bauman, 650-969-3661, Cliff Burwick, 650/854-8323 or Rabbi Josh Zweiback, 650.493.4661.) Beth Am Men: Join with other men of the Beth Am community to form friendships and participate in activities you enjoy. We are in the formative stages as an official group and are open to any events that someone is interested in and willing to plan. Past activities have included bike rides and participation in the Beth Am camping trip. (Contact: Amir Matityahu) Beth Am Women (BAW) is the women's organization of Congregation Beth Am. Also known as Sisterhood, BAW provides opportunities for women to get together and have fun, to learn, and to make new friends while also fulfilling its commitment to provide financial support to Beth Am and the greater community, both locally and globally. All of our events are planned with these goals in mind and there are plenty of volunteer opportunities for developing, planning and implementing the varied activities. Beth Am membership is open to all the women of Beth Am. (Contact: JoAnn Kukulus, 650/325-9034, President, or Alice Erber, 650-321-1022, Membership Chair) Caring Committee volunteers fulfill our obligation to create a "Covenantal Community" by reaching out to those in need through personal contacts, meals, transportation to temple and medical appointments, visiting the homebound, sending personal notes, cards and appropriate readings, and special assistance for seating at Flint Center during High Holy Day services. Because needs are sporadic, we do not hold regular meetings but call on volunteers when needed. (Contact: Ann DeHovitz (650-321-4847). Chavurah Committee brings together, upon request, people who are interested in forming social connections with other members of the congregation. These small homogeneous groups come together on a regular basis to share in synagogue and Jewish communal life. These experiences include social, cultural, religious, family and holiday occasions. Opportunities for serving on this committee would include attending new member events, calling chavurah contacts to publicize temple activities, assisting in forming new groups and helping to conduct the annual kick off event. There are about 3 or 4 meetings a year. (Contact Rabbi Adam Allenberg) Education Steering Committee (ESC) provides guidance on policy issues related to education programs for youth and adults at Beth Am. For example, the ESC sets the educational theme of the congregation each year and recently chartered the Hebrew Working Group to re-envision the way Hebrew is integrated into education programs. The ESC is comprised of the professional team (rabbis, cantor, educators, executive director) and lay leaders from Parent Kesher, Beth Am's parent association, Shabbaton, and the Adult Learning Council, along with a rotating member-at-large from the congregation. The ESC meets monthly. (Contact: David Crankshaw or Rabbi Josh Zweiback, 650.493.4661.) Finance Committee ensures the congregation’s financial position is reviewed and monitored on a regular basis and is in compliance with predetermined policies and guidelines. This goal is accomplished by reviewing monthly financial statements, setting the annual operating budget for board approval, monitoring cash reserve investments, revisiting policies that require updating, and ensuring the accounting systems and protocols are in place. The committee includes approximately 12 members, representing varying backgrounds and interests, including past Treasurers, past Presidents, attorneys, financial consultants, and CPAs, but the committee is open to any member who is interested regardless of career background. The committee typically meets 4 to 5 times per year, with a slightly heavier workload in the spring when the annual budget is completed. (Contact: Mark Holtzman, 408/327-6610 (daytime). Friends of Israel Committee provides an opportunity for Beth Am members to educate themselves about
Library Committee works to maintain and improve Beth Am’s library collection, which at present consists of over 9,000 books, VCRs, DVDs and tapes. The committee also provides support to our part-time librarian, Diane Rauschwerger. Diane staffs the library during Sunday Program and some weekday afternoons. She also presents a "Mother Goose Program" for younger children. When Beth Am invites speakers during the year Diane and members of the library committee provide a tabletop display of books on the speaker's subject. Committee members also help organize new books and tapes and add them to our computer listing. The committee meets monthly with Diane. There is also a Library Materials Acquisition Sub-committee which meets monthly to check books the library receives as donations, read recommendations for new books and approve the purchase of these new books. (Contact: Eric Bergtraun , 650/967-8728.) Membership/Community Committee works to build a strong sense of community at Beth Am by: 1)reaching out to prospective members from the community, 2) warmly welcoming new members and helping them find their home at Beth Am, and 3) helping build an inclusive community at Beth Am in which members feel involved and valued. Committee activities include organizing events for prospective and new members, creating personal connections for new members through a mentorship program, organizing opportunities for fellowship at potluck dinners and holiday events, and arranging for greeters at services. Opportunities for serving on this committee range from taking a leadership role in planning and organizing events and activities, to helping with mailings, phone calls, food shopping and set-up for events. The full committee meets 3-4 times a year. Let us know if you are interested in helping with any of these activities, or if you would like to serve as a greeter at services. (Contact: Joanne Donsky, Marlene Levenson or Steve Carlson, ,650-856-4889.) The Beth Am Organizing Committee of Peninsula Interfaith Action (PIA) provides a Beth Am presence and support to PIA, which is a non-sectarian faith-based advocacy organization made up of 31 faith communities from Pacifica to Sunnyvale representing over 20,000 families. PIA enables congregations to put their faith into action by working within the political arena to effect systemic change and find solutions to problems of inadequate access to healthcare, housing and education in our communities. Volunteers on the committee, with the guidance of PIA staff, work together to research issues, explore potential solutions, and identify who has the power to make changes. PIA committees then hold public forums (“actions”) where an issue is identified and brought before a public official in order to seek a commitment of support for the issue from that official. PIA volunteers also have the opportunity to participate in community organizing trainings and interfaith activities. The committee meets approximately 11 times a year. (Contact: Terri Goldberg, (650-967-0360)
Social Action Committee (SAC) strives to help Beth Am congregants fulfill our mission to engage in tikkun olam (repair the world). This is accomplished by: creating and managing hands-on volunteer projects (both ongoing and one-time efforts); leading advocacy efforts on issues of importance to our community; responding to urgent, and often unexpected, humanitarian needs and organizing Beth Am’s Tzedakah collections. SAC aims to encourage a broad cross-section of Beth Am’s congregants to participate in these activities. Committee members typically take on some leadership of a project or advocacy effort, with support of the broader committee. SAC meets 3-4 times a year to review priorities and discuss additional areas of interest. (Contact: Neil Tuch ) Worship Committee seeks to create an environment where meaningful worship and spiritual growth can flourish. The worship committee strives to assist the clergy in the creation of a warm, welcoming, participatory worship environment that makes it possible for congregants to experience the weekly peace and renewal of Shabbat as well as the celebration of Jewish holidays throughout the year. Committee members support the clergy by calling congregants to staff honors for weekly Shabbat services, by responding to congregant suggestions regarding worship needs, and by helping to staff the tables outside
Yad l'Yad (hand in hand) provides congregants the opportunity to practice bikur cholim (visiting the sick) as well as the opportunity to increase their religious knowledge of this mitzvah and practical knowledge of conducting visits. The committee serves as a source of volunteers for connecting isolated Beth Am members with the congregation through assignments from the rabbis and Caring Committee. In addition, Yad l’Yad provides support for these volunteers and any other Beth Am congregants who practice sacred visiting (e.g.: of their own relatives or as community service). Volunteers can be involved at whatever level interests them including: making a commitment to visit a homebound congregant regularly, helping organize and/or attend training events and participating in meetings/social gathering where volunteers support each other in the work of visiting the sick. Meetings occur approximately six times a year. (Contact: Lisa Whitmore.) To visit the Yad l'Yad website, click here. Young Adults: Join with other young adults in their 20’s and 30’s to create a dynamic community at Congregation Beth Am. Activities include Shabbat services, Shabbat evening meals, classes, and social action projects. The young adult community is open to members of the congregation as well as the general Bay Area Jewish community. All are welcome: singles, couples, LGBT. (Contact: Rabbi Adam Allenberg, or Ashley Barondess) Young Families: Join with other families with children ages infant to six in creating Jewish community at Congregation Beth Am. Activities include young family Shabbat morning services, art projects, storytellers, music, and camping. (Contact: Rabbi Sarah Wolf ) Parent Kesher: Join the parent association of Beth Am, whose purpose is to make it easier for parents to connect to other parents, to support their children's teachers, and to volunteer their time and talents to help our education programs. Email parentkesher@betham.org if you have questions or would like to get involved.
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