By Ben Gilliland
For over 30 years Congregation Bnai Butte has provided Jewish services to the city of Crested Butte, Colorado, and the surrounding area.
Bnai Butte is led by spiritual leader Cantor Robbi Sherwin, who commutes from her home in Austin, Texas, to provide guidance for the 50 members of the congregation.
The congregations co-presidents are Tammi Gitin and Bruce Alpern.
Bnai Butte is currently unaffiliated. It meets in a different home each week for Friday night services, and for High Holidays it meets at the Queen of All Saints church.
The congregation mainly thrives on its second-home owner population, so on any given service it can have anywhere from 25-85 people attending.
In the summer the congregation likes to do outside activities. Mountain Jews are very different from other Jews. We cherish being in the environment, says Cantor Sherwin.
On Rosh Hashanah the members of Bnai Butte hike with their Torah to Peanut Lake where they have services and discussions.
Bnai Butte also offers a Sunday school every other week for kids in kindergarten through Bar Mitzvah. Tammi Gitin is the director.
When in town Cantor Sherwin also offers adult education classes.
The congregation is working on forming a youth group, and hope it will be up and running later this year.
We welcome people with all types of Jewish backgrounds. Some may find it surprising that theres such a vibrant Jewish community in the mountains, but we find a way to come together and make it work, says Cantor Sherwin.
