MEMBERSHIP DUES AND YAMIM NORA’IM SEATING 5785
Elul 5784
Dear KAT Members,
We hope that everyone had an enjoying and meaningful summer! As we enter Elul, it is time to arrange your KAT Annual Membership, as well as your seating for the upcoming Yamim Nora’im.
Before we launch into the details of our membership campaign for the coming year, we feel it’s appropriate to pause and reflect briefly on the past year that we’ve experienced as a warm, wonderful, vibrant and supportive community, during what has been – and continues to be – a tremendously difficult, tragic and trying time for עם ישראל as a whole.
We launched תשפ"ד with a shul packed with kehilla members and their families for inspirational tefillot throughout the ימים נוראים, a Sukka Farbrengen at the Romms, and a packed beautiful שמחת בית השואבה at the Rosenfields.
And then after a wonderfully leibedik ליל שמחת תורה , the unthinkable events of October 7th began to unfold, and we watched over 80 brave beloved chayalim from our Kehilla families respond to their call for duty. We came together in tefillot, shiurim, tehillim, food drives, sending pictures and thank you notes to soldiers, evenings of shira and achdut, and checking in on one another. In a show of love and support for the families of the chayalim, a group of families with younger children purchased the beautiful תפילה לשלום החיילים in the shape of the map of Israel that now hangs on the wall of our shul.
And over the course of the year, despite the shadow of the war, we have had many kehillati events – including a Hasbara workshop (thank you Hadassah Schwartz), a pre-Yom Yerushalayim seuda shlishit with Rav Alex Israel, a Shavuot women’s shiur, many interesting and inspirational talks and shiurim (including Rav Menachem Kalmanzon, Ariella Ruback, Rav Goldvicht, Rav Doron Perez), a meat and beer night at the Hodes (thank you Stephen and Gabrielle), youth shiurim through TorahNoar, ice-cream kiddushim for the kiddies, vibrant celebrations of chagim, moving tekassim and most recently a Tisha B’Av siyur in Migdal David (thank you Jonty Blackman).
We have tremendous gratitude to each and every person who took some role in making all of the above – and more – happen, as well as to those who are involved in the everyday behind the scenes running and maintenance of the shul. This is also a good moment to thank Hanna Rais for all her hard work during the first half of the yea on the vaad.
And over the course of the year, we have wished hatzlacha to kids starting kita aleph, and congratulated our 12th grade graduates; we have saluted our צה"ל recruits and wished הצלחה to all those embarking on שרות לאומי , studies at מכינות and ישיבות הסדר; we have celebrated Bar and Batmitzvot, engagements, weddings, births and grandchildren, while also supporting those community members going through a hard time whether through sickness or aveilut. And throughout everything, our chessed team has tirelessly, quietly and systematically responded to the various needs of any kehilla member in trouble, organizing literally hundreds of meals, bikkur cholim, phone calls of support and whatever else that was needed at any time. (Huge thank you to Jemma and Shifra and to everyone who responded to calls for meals or help).
Oh and yes – the ceiling also collapsed. And so we ‘adapted’ to our new temporary home in the hall downstairs (thank you Gidon and the Gabbaim, Daniel and Noam, for all the logistics), and after several months of clean-up and rebuilding, we celebrated our return to our renovated Heichal (thank you Gabi Frei, Daniel Rosenfield, Michael Barnett and all those who were involved in our return).
And so, while there are always things to continue fixing (we are working on the air-con issues), and lots of plans and events still to be arranged, at this moment, ahead of our membership drive for the coming year, we’d like to take a moment of הכרת הטוב for the special community to which we all belong, a kehilla that is so much ‘greater than the sum of its parts’, a kehilla that would not be the same without each and every one of you.
And in that context, here’s the membership drive for the coming year:
Each year, KAT depends on raising NIS 150,000 annually through the membership drive and from Yamim Nora’im seating. This amount funds the basic upkeep of the shul (payroll, insurance, utilities and minimal building maintenance). We fund additional shul activities and special expenses from the proceeds received from the KAT simcha hall.
The prices for membership dues and seating remain unchanged compared to previous years.
NIS donations to KAT are tax deductible under ‘Seif 46’.
Annual Membership Dues
⦁ NIS 1,990 per family
⦁ NIS 1,250 per family that has completed or is making ongoing Building Fund contributions (See here for information about the KAT Building Fund
⦁ Free for newcomers to the neighborhood, new olim and anyone under 30
In KAT, no membership request is turned down for reasons of financial hardship. If you wish to discuss this in strict confidence, please reach out to either myself (michael20687@gmail.com), the KAT Gizbar Yair Blumenfeld (gizbar@ahavat-tzion.com) or any other member of the KAT Vaad (Daniel Rosenfield, Zev Jacobson, Gabi Frei, Gabrielle Hodes or Abi Blackman).
Yamim Nora’im Seating
A few important points:
⦁ Membership dues do not include Yamim Nora’im seats, which must be requested and purchased separately from membership dues.
⦁ In order to purchase seats for Yamim Nora’im you must be a Shul member.
⦁ Non members will be able to purchase upon availability a few days before Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur.
⦁ Seats will be allocated according to demand and a prioritization scale. The KAT Yamim Nora’im Seating Committee works extremely hard to ensure transparency and the fair allocation of seats. Unfortunately, not all seating requests can be accommodated, and we respectfully ask that you take this into account when communicating with the committee, and that a spirit of ‘hakarat hatov’ is maintained.
All instructions and pricing for membership dues and Yamim Nora’im seating are detailed below.
Please ensure that both your KAT membership dues and Yamim Nora’im Seating fees are paid by Monday, Elul 13 / September 16.
In the meantime, on behalf of the KAT Vaad and Finance Team, we wish you all a Ketiva V'Chatima Tova, for an upcoming year filled with good health, happiness and success.
B’vracha
Michael Ackerman
on behalf of the KAT Vaad
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ANNUAL KAT MEMBERSHIP 5785
As in recent years, there are two separate payments:
⦁ Payment of membership
⦁ Payment for Yamim Nora’im seats for Registered KAT members (on next page).
Please note that registered KAT Members are entitled to purchase seats for the Yamim Nora’im (see next page for instructions and pricing), but payment of membership alone does not entitle members to a minimum number of seats.
As usual, there are three membership plan options. Every member must register and pay for one of the following membership plans:
2. YAMIM NORA'IM SEATING PRICING 5785
To purchase Yamim Nora'im seats, receive prioritization as members and avoid disappointment, please ensure that you are registered and pay your membership dues as a KAT 5785 member.
Once that is all sorted, then you can proceed with purchase of Yamim Nora’im seats for you and our guests.
Please note that all plans for Yamim Nora’im seating are subject to change and further specific instructions may be issued in advance of the chagim.
Below is the KAT Yamim Nora'im seating pricing for this year:
Please note the following:
⦁ “Close family” is a spouse, child in kita daled or above, parent, parent-in-law, children- in-law, grandchild or grandparent of the primary KAT member.
⦁ “Other guest” is anyone else for whom a seat is being bought by the primary member but is not included in the “Close family” category.
⦁ Seats for Rosh Hashana are for both days. Single day RH seats are not available.
⦁ Seat purchases will be approved and allocated by the KAT Yamim Nora’im Seating Committee after Monday, Elul 13 / September 16, according to the same prioritization as in previous years:
⦁ 1st priority: Members
⦁ 2nd priority: Member’s unmarried children (in kita daled or above)
⦁ 3rd priority: Member’s married children
⦁ 4th priority: Member’s grandchildren (in kita daled or above)
⦁ 5th priority: Member’s parents or older relatives
⦁ 6th priority: Member’s children beneath kita daled
⦁ 7th priority: Member’s other guests
⦁ No seats will be allocated to members’ children under the age of kita daled unless there are spare seats after the overall seat allocation, in which case they will be at a price of NIS 100, the same price as a member’s older child.
⦁ Any remaining seats will be sold for NIS 400 no earlier than 2 days before Rosh Hashana by email to seating@ahavat-tzion.com with no guarantee of seating.
⦁ See here for the KAT seating map
3. OK… SO HOW DO WE REGISTER AND PAY?
In order for your seating requests to be considered, both your KAT Membership dues and Yamim Nora’im Seating fees must be paid by Monday, Elul 13 / September 16.
New Members (anyone who has never been a member of KAT in the past): Welcome!!
Please complete this information questionnaire and continue with the 4 steps below.
Renewing Members: Please follow the 4 steps detailed below:
⦁ Please visit https://www.ahavat-tzion.com/membership and log-in (or create a log-in).
⦁ Select the relevant KAT Membership Plan for your family and add to your cart
⦁ Select the various Yamim Nora’im seats you would like to purchase and add to your cart
⦁ Follow the instructions for checkout / online payment
Payment Instructions
⦁ Credit/Debit Card via the online order/checkout process above. You are able to pay in up to 12 monthly installments, and you are able to enter an amount which exceeds the membership dues if you wish to donate extra.
⦁ Bank Transfer - Members can pay by bank transfer or hora’at keva. The details are:
⦁ Bank: 12 Bank Hapoalim
⦁ Branch: 446 Ramat Bet Shemesh
⦁ Account: 6858
⦁ Account Name: Kehillat Ahavat Tzion
⦁ Please enter your name in the reference box when making the transfer and send an email to gizbar@ahavat-tzion.com confirming the amount you have transferred.
⦁ Cash / Check please contact gizbar@ahavat-tzion.com to arrange.
(Kehillat Ahavat Tzion holds ‘Seif 46’ - NIS donations are tax deductible)
4. KAT Building Fund
The KAT Building Fund, initiated in 2003, enabled us to complete the building project in 2007, and since then is needed to fund larger repairs and maintenance, which otherwise might be beyond our reach.
Approximately 60% of KAT member families made Building Fund commitments of NIS 9,000 per family (many families have contributed more than NIS 14,000 each), mostly spread into small monthly payments over a number of years.
Contributing to the Building Fund makes families eligible for the discounted annual membership rate, as well as other benefits such as the right to book the Simcha Hall over two years in advance for a shabbat.
Anyone can join the Building Fund – please contact the KAT Gizbar, Yair Blumenfeld (gizbar@ahavat-tzion.com) for details.
Thank you for being treasured members of our very special Kehilla
The KAT Vaad.