Meeting Minutes: February 23, 2006

Minutes of February 23, 2006 meeting at Central Agency for Jewish Education, Miami

I) Marci Wiseman welcomed everyone at 12:07PM. Since the guest speaker planned to discuss Jews in India, the lunch consisted of Indian cuisine prepared by a kosher caterer. After lunch, Heidi welcomed everyone and thanked Marci for hosting the meeting.

II) Heidi discussed the upcoming AJL convention in Cambridge, MA June 18-21.

III) Heidi then drew attention to a podcast of The Book of Life which can be accessed at jewishbooks.blogspot.com Heidi explained that a podcast is a radio-type broadcast available through the Internet.

IV) Heidi introduced the guest speaker, Ellen Goldberg, who wrote the book, Kashrut, Caste and Kabbalah: the Religious Life of the Jews of Cochin. Ellen was a reporter and photographer for the Christian Science Monitor in Sri Lanka when she visited Cochin in southwestern India. She later stayed a year to experience and document the community and its history. A slide presentation displayed photos of the synagogue, the people and their customs.

V) The meeting ended with a tour by Marci of CAJE's Pedagogic Resource Center, followed by informal discussion about convention, the meeting in Naples March 2 of the southwest Florida chapter and ideas about future chapter activities.

The meeting adjourned at 1:45pm.