Ostara and Kate’s Moon
Tuesday gratefuls: Kate, always Kate. The washing machine. Food from CBE. Tara last night with great Japanese. Schmira. Evergreen Mortuary. Zoom. Coffee. Rest.
Sparks of Joy: Snow and cold today. Kate’s favorite.
Schmira. Folks from CBE now watch over Kate’s body in an ancient tradition that guards or watches (schmira) until burial or cremation. One at a time, 24 hours. Her soul lingers until then and needs companionship. That’s the idea. I think. Reassuring and humanizing this wait no matter the reason. Humans and religion. A wonder.
Kate was a Jew of the heart, I told Rabbi Jamie the other day. She walked into Temple Israel in Minneapolis, attended a service officiated by Rabbi Max Shapiro and “I felt at home.” She was in her thirties. This lead to a full conversion, a two year process in which she studied with Rabbi Shapiro.
When we moved to the mountains, our last great adventure together, we happened on a class, “King David”, taught by Bonnie Houghton, then a rabbinical student. At that that class, over five years ago, we met Tara and Marilyn Saltzman. They are our friends today. In fact, Tara brought food for our gathering last night.
Congregation Beth Evergreen became a locale where, for the first time, Kate could live as a Jew in her own synagogue. She became a trusted and loved friend to many.
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Baruch Dayan Emet, With heavy hearts, we share the sad news of Kate Olson’s passing. Kate had been a member of Congregation Beth Evergreen since 2016, was an active member of the Mussar class, and served on the board of directors. We extend condolences to her family. Details about arrangements are forthcoming. |