December 18th through December 26th families will gather for the eight-day Jewish celebration known as Hanukkah or Chanukah which commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had revolted against their Greek Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt.To wish someone a Happy Hanukkah, say “Hanukkah Sameach!” (Happy Hanukkah) or simply “Chag Sameach!” (Happy Holiday). Or if you want to show off your Hebrew skills, say “Chag Urim Sameach!” (urim means “lights”).Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25th as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on twelfth night. Christmas Day is a public holiday in most Countries and is celebrated religiously by most Christians, as well as culturally by many non Christians. New Year’s! So how did January 1st become New Year’s Day? We can partly thank the Roman king Numa ompilius. According to tradition, during his reign (c. 715–673 BCE) Numa revised the Roman republican calendar so that January replaced March as the first month.
We, Santa Monica Rotarians, have a Holiday Schedule, we will be live this week (December 2nd) at the Hilton but DARK ON DECEMBER 9TH . Our Holiday Party will be on December 10 th at the home of Kathy Dracup. We will be live at the Hilton on December 16th for our Club Annual Meeting, State of the Club Message, Financial Report and Elections (see notice below). Our program on December 16th will be Dr. Ben Drati, Superintendent of Santa Monica Malibu School District. We will also have a holidy ugly swater/best dressed contest. We will be DARK ON DECEMBER 23rd AND DECEMBER 30th.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Steve Litvack is in Cedars Hospital in the Marina with COVID and his wife, Gail is at home recovering from COVID. We will have a Get-Well card at our meeting for all members to send their wishes for a speedy recovery.
John Lehne, Past President (2000-01) of RCSM was a member of our club for 32 years, met his wife, Katherine “Kate”, in 1955 and they were married for 63 years. Katherine passed away peacefully on November 23, 2022, after a four-year battle with Alzheimer’s. Funeral services will be at Corpus Christi Church in Pacific Palisades (date yet to be determined). We will have a sympathy card for your signature at our meeting this Friday.
ROTARY ELECTIONS:
Our Club Leadership Elections are coming up! This year’s elections will be held at our LIVE AT HILTON meeting on December 16th . We are making a change this year in how some of the positions are filled. Many Rotary clubs don’t have “contested” elections. Instead, there is a slate of candidates, and the members vote to approve or disapprove the entire slate.
In the past we had two candidates for each open position. This year we are trying a hybrid approach. Some positions will have two candidates, some will only have one candidate. For example, we have five director positions to fill, and your vote will be to approve the entire slate of five directors or not to approve the slate. Since two of these directors will be two-year positions, you will then vote for two of the five directors you want to have filling the two-year positions.
This hybrid approach is a test for this year, and we will evaluate how it goes. There will be absentee ballots available one week before the election if you can’t attend. These must be received by 5pm on December 5th. IF YOU NEED AN ABSENTEE BALLOT, REQUEST ONE FROM BILL POWELL at bpowellmalibu@gmail.com.
The ballot was announced at our November 18th meeting and here are the candidates:
Vice-President: Mike Kallhoff, Kera Snell, Daniel Bennett, Kathy Shepard
Secretary: Felix Crown, Kathryn Markolf
Treasurer: George Pickell
Directors: Bill Rayman, Karin Wallerstein, Kinan Aljamal, Richard Lombari, Brian Linnenkens
Our President-Elect who will take charge July 1 st , 2023, is of course Ken Waltzer. And our new President- Elect??? – MONIKA WHITE!!! Congratulations to Monika and let’s all give her, Ken and the incoming board all of our support.
