Temple Beth-El of Casper WY

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CALENDAR

High Holy Days 2009 - Click Here

Our Services

We warmly welcome to our synagogue all who wish to attend our services and classes. Prior to visiting, we recommend that you email us at utopialtd1@aol.com, or call us at 307-237-2330, to confirm that there will be a service or class that day.

Throughout the year, we hold Shabbos services on most Friday evenings at 7:00 p.m. Services are usually followed by dinner. We also have adult religious education classes most Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m., which are accompanied by cake and coffee.

What to Expect
We're really "just folks" - a congregation of people from all walks of life, from in and around Casper. A visitor can expect friendly welcomes from the regulars. There is no "dress code" - many members show up in casual dress for Friday evening services, sometimes straight from work. For men, it is respectful to wear a yarmulke (skullcap) during services; we have a number of "loaners" just inside the temple entrance, along with prayer books.

The temple is not unlike a small church, with congregants seated in front of an altar (bimah) from which our spiritual leader (rabbi) conducts the service. At the center of the bimah is an ark containing our temple's two Torah scrolls. Each Torah consists of the first five books of the Bible, written in Hebrew.

Our services are held in a combination of English and Hebrew, typically with readings of the same passages in both languages. Congregants read many passages responsively with the rabbi. Regular Shabbos services typically run about 45 minutes.

At the end of Shabbos services, participants adjourn to rear of the temple for the traditional Kiddush and Hamotzi, the blessings over wine (and grape juice) and bread (braided challah). We at Temple Beth-El end our Friday services with a full, delicious dinner prepared by our spiritual leader Sam Wiseman and his wife Denise.

We invite anyone, of any level of observance or religious persuasion, to visit and attend our services.

High Holy Days 2009

There are no fees or tickets required to attend High Holy Day services at Temple Beth-El.
A Break-fast meal follows our Yom Kippur services ($25 per person, payable at door).

These are the dates and times of our High Holy Days services, marking the beginning of the New Year, 5770:

Friday, Sept 18
7:00 p.m.: Erev Rosh Hashanah

Saturday, Sept 19
10:00 a.m.: Rosh Hashanah

Friday, Sept 25 - CORRECTION
NO regular Shabbos evening service

Saturday, Sept 26
10:00 a.m.: Shabbos Shuvah morning service

Sunday, Sept 27
7:00 p.m.: Kol Nidrei

Monday, Sept 28
10:00 a.m.: Yom Kippur
12:30 p.m.: Study break
3:30 p.m.: Afternoon Service
5:15 p.m.: Yizkor (memorial) Service
6:00 p.m.: Concluding Service

Break-fast meal following Yom Kippur services at sundown ($25 per person).

Services will be conducted by Rabbi Sam Wiseman, assisted by Cantor Jerome Herbert. We welcome the participation of members of the congregation and ask that you contact the rabbi or Mike Smith if there is a particular reading or a portion of a service in which you would like to participate. Also, please discuss with Sam or Mike if you are interested in an aliyah or would honor the congregation by reading from the bimah one of the portions from the Torah.

If you wish to add a name to our Yizkor list, please email the name to us at: utopialtd1@aol.com.

Once again, Betty Walts will be at the organ to support and accompany our prayers. We expect Richard Cohen and Pam Glasser to be with us for Kol Nidrei.

The High Holy Days are a time of return to the synagogue. We are part of a people that has been a coherent whole for longer than four millennia. From time to time, some of us may have drifted away; but our center holds. God has understood us; chastised and admonished us. Torah is the focal point of the existence of our people and the fountainhead from which our Jewish spirit rises. It belongs to each of us and we are participants in the reality of the transcendent moment when the law was first revealed to Moses and the children of Israel in that desert before Mt. Sinai. As it is said in Deuteronomy xxix as Moses recounts to the people:

“Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; but with him that stands here with us this day before the Lord our God and also with him that is not here with us this day.”

The rabbinic interpretation of this verse is that the soul of every Jew ever born or to be born in the future was present at Mt. Sinai. Thus, in the soul of each of us is secured and embraced the lesson and the memory of standing before Mt. Sinai and receiving the Torah. It is a living bond of the community of the Jewish people, dispersed throughout time and space, but on this day united as one person.

We may forget and stray or try to hide even from ourselves but we are, each of us, partners in an eternal covenant between our ancestors and God, tested in fire and blood but annealed by bonds of learning, study, obligation, obedience and love. God is not forgetful. If you have a doubt, read Leviticus xxvi, particularly verses 44-45:

“And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. But I will, for their sakes, remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.”

Not to make light of these solemn days, we point out, to the extent that it may be necessary, most of the Holy Days this year fall on secular weekends. So, there can be no excuse that observance in the synagogue may interfere with our busy schedules. Let us meet together and sit quietly in our beautiful sanctuary, evoke the memories of loved ones and recall the warmth and the lessons of our childhoods, sing our prayers and seek atonement for our sins in the midst of fellow Jews and before God.

* * * * *

Although we write this each year at this time, we cannot too strenuously emphasize that Temple Beth-El is the only synagogue in Wyoming that does not charge any fee for seats at our High Holy Day services. We do not assiduously plea for the payment of our membership dues, though we greatly need those dues to support the good works of the synagogue and keep it open throughout the year supporting, Sabbath worship and study, but we do rely on the good will and generosity of our members. This year we are providing the services of a prominent cantor in what we hope will be but the first year of a long relationship with Temple Beth-El.

We maintain the temple premises and keep the library stocked, provide weekly Sabbath services, dinner every Friday night, Sunday school for adults and many other benefits. It is now time to reflect on our financial commitment to the Jewish Community Association of Casper. As you are well aware, everything costs more these days and we want to not only remain strong, active and organized, but we also want to maintain the integrity of our endowment.

We ask that you consider an additional gift beyond your membership obligations. We make no formal determination of how to quantify such gifts and can only rely on your good will, generosity and common sense

Insofar as the Break-fast following the concluding service on Yom Kippur is concerned, it will be the usual goodies from New York and we are making a modest charge of $25.00 per adult (13 or over) for attendance. The fee can be paid at the door.

Your directors are looking forward to seeing you at services and wish you a health, prosperous and happy New Year.

Mike Smith, Treasurer
David Barahal, M.D., Director
Dan Hill, Director
Evelyn Miller, Director
Sam Wiseman, General Secretary

Introduction___Services/Calendar___News___Location___History___Membership

Temple Beth-El
P.O. Box 50933, Casper, WY 82605
Tel: 307-237-2330_____Fax: 307-472-5158_____Cell: 307-267-2534
utopialtd1@aol.com_____http://www.jewishcasper.org/

This page last updated 7 Sept 2009.
Website created 30 August 2007 by Greg Zsidisin. Masthead photos by Sam and Denise Wiseman.