Re:Bris Planning Date sent: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 10:46:36 -0500
Irene Bleiweiss
would be a fine place to have it. You seem also to be concerned about
the cost of the room rental though so I thought I'd mention a few
additional possibilities. Many East Coast apartment buildings have rooms
that tenants can rent for events. These go by a variety of names such as
community, party, or recreation rooms. Check with your rental office.
Even if your own building doesn't have one they may know of a nearby
building available to their tenants, maybe one owned by the same
company. You could also ask friends and colleagues if there is such a
room in their building.
Also, don't necessarily assume that synagogues are beyond your reach. It
sounds as if you are a "perspective member" of several synagogues, but
haven't had the time yet to choose which one is exactly right for you.
Synagogues are interested in perspective members and might be willing to
host the bris if you are seriously considering joining. Or, if they make
their facilities available to members only, they might have applicable
discounted fees for "young" members, students/recent graduates, "new to
the area" members, a sliding scale based on need, and an option of
waiving or delaying building fund payments for the first year. Plus, if
the synagogue's fiscal year runs from September to September, they might
charge you only 75 percent to join in January. You might find that it
costs less to join a synagogue and to use their facilities than to rent
the YWHA. If you discover during your first year that the fit between
you and the synagogue isn't as good as you'd hoped, there's nothing
stopping you from joining a different synagogue next year.
As for catering, it need not be expensive. Bagels, cream cheese, and
juice is all that you need. In Westchester it shouldn't be hard to find
a bagel store that satisfies the kashrut requirements of whatever venue
you may choose. Irene
"Andi" <andrea...@gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you for you kind wishes! I agree about the synagogue and would do
that if we belonged to a congregation. I worked for a temple when we
were living in Los Angeles earlier this year and, alas(!), that would
have been our perfect solution. However, we just moved to Westchester
three months ago and haven't yet settled on one. Membership fees would
be a real hardship right now so we decided to put it off until we are
able to really "shop around", go to services, talk to people, etc.
Unfortunately our apartment is too small to accomodate likely guests and
homes of relatives are too far of a drive for him (and us), particularly
for a bris anticipated for the last days of January/the beginning of
February. (That sort of planning would almost certainly guarantee a
blizzard, no?) I've recently contacted two relatively local JCCs and a
YMWHA all of which apparently rent space for simchas. So now, I guess,
my only remaining issues are availability on eight days notice, cost of
rental, and catering. And, of course, a mohel/et, but I think I might
already have that covered. Has anyone ever attended a bris at a JCC or
YMWHA? If so, what were they like? I've only been to them in private
homes. While my husband and I aren't the most conventional people and
are quite open to considering more unusual venues, we can't really think
of anywhere else appropriate for this sort of occasion, particlarly in
mid-winter. Westchester is tough, too.
This is all so complicated, undoubtedly expensive, yet so important. I
feel so fortunate to have had several ultrasounds determining his gender
ahead of time! It's really nice having this head start! We appreciate
any and all suggestions/advice!
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