Company’s coming!  And a lot of it, if past history is any indication.  The Yiddish Food Festival is this Sunday, June 7, from 11 AM to 3 PM.  The Klez Dispensers will be performing Klezmer music.  Our Israeli folk dancers will perform.  There will be tours of the Synagogue, and an opportunity to meet Rabbi Mitch Delcau and ask him questions. 

And most of all… is the food!  Our volunteers have been hard at work preparing tons of food for sale.  Here’s a quick list of what will be available:

Chicken soup with Matzah balls

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Bagels and Lox

Pastrami Sandwiches

Kosher Hot Dogs

Potato Knishes

Latkes

Israeli Salad

Hummus with Pita

Sweet Noodle Kugel

Challah

Hamantashen

Biscochos

Apple Strudel

Rugelach

Mandelbrot

Honey Cake

Macaroons

Matzah Brittle

Pop and Water

People start lining up outside the Synagogue doors just before 11 AM.  At 11, Jason Bloomberg will go out the front door and sound the Shofar (“scaring all of the cats in the neighborhood” as he puts it).  Then all of the front doors of the Synagogue will be opened, and the crowd will pour in.  They will line up to exchange their money for wooden shekels (one dollar = one shekel) and then come into the Social Hall to shop and enjoy the festivities.

Getting ready has been a lot of work, and we’re not done yet.  Cooking will take place all week and the social hall will be cleaned and then set up with all of our tables and chairs.  We’re setting up the social hall on Wednesday at 5:30. Please come give us a hand.  It shouldn’t take long if we get a lot of people.

Our thanks go to Jeff and Mary Weinstein and the many volunteers who have spent long hours in the Synagogue kitchen preparing the food.

We look our best during the Yiddish Food Festival.  If you want to see how wonderful our Mt. Sinai community is, come to the Festival.

With such a large crowd coming, we will need your help on the day of the Festival.  Please come to the Synagogue at 9 AM on Sunday to help us put the final touches on everything and then stay for the Festival itself.  We need people everywhere, to make sure our guests have a wonderful time.

We’ll want to take a breather after the Festival, so let’s get together for a Shalom Dinner on Wednesday, June 10.  It will be a night off from cooking and way to relax after the hustle and bustle of the Festival.  Let’s meet at Tres Amigos Mexican Restaurant on West Lincolnway at 6:30 PM on Wednesday.  There’s bound to be good stories to share.

On to other news… Rabbi Mitch Delcau is officially our Rabbi!  His contract went into effect today.  The Rabbi and his wife Kelly (and their daughter Lili) closed on a house in Cheyenne last week.  The Rabbi has already been leading services for us, and Kelly immediately stepped in to help with the Festival and other Synagogue activities.  Welcome to the Delcau family! 

And we have to bid a fond farewell to Ben Thornell and Rebecca Slingwine, and their adorable kids Tirzah and Toren.  You may remember Ben was our Office Administrator before Stephanie Sterling stepped in.  Ben and Rebecca have moved to Eureka, California.  Ben sent us an email about the move:

“Thank you all for welcoming us to Wyoming, to Mt. Sinai, and to the Jewish faith.  Rebecca and I have always felt that converting to Judaism was like we were returning home.  We are so proud and happy to be Jews, to have been part of Mt. Sinai, and to call the wonderful community in Wyoming our home.

Goodbye for now, but not forever, and thank you all again!”

We wish them all the best in their new adventure.

Back in April Jay Abramson contacted us.  He is working on a project to post pictures of Torah scrolls from around the world.  He asked for photos of our Torahs, and we obliged.  He also asked for some background about our congregation.  That turned into a lengthy article about Mt. Sinai, including our history and photos.  Mr. Abramson just notified us that the article has appeared in the Times of Israel.

You can see it here: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/mt-sinai-congregation-wyomings-oldest-synagogue/

Here’s our Yiddish Phrase of the Week:

Nem di oygn in di hent.           
Take your eyes in your hands.            

Shalom,