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During my first year at Beth Israel Congregation, I have been privileged to meet many of you in the course of your work at the shul as volunteers and in individual meetings. The scope of volunteer work and leadership here is astounding and I thank the entire community for all of your hard work, time, and energy you give to it. One thing I particularly wanted to do in my first year here was to get to know you and how this warm community that surrounds you can be of help to you - and how you can uniquely contribute to this community. Among our accomplishments were the addition of a monthly Tot Shabbat program, a unique variety of adult educational and social programming, an increase in participation in Shabbat and holiday celebrations and services, and growth in membership and religious school enrollment. Because of the "leap year" in the Jewish calendar (7 times in 19 years, the Jewish calendar adds an entire month of 29 days to the Jewish year in order to ensure that the festival holidays of Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot fall in its proper season), the High Holidays are much later than usual. We will be taking advantage of this extra preparation time by sponsoring HHU, better known as High Holiday University. During my three weekends in September prior to Rosh Hashanah, there will be an adult education each weekend on becoming familiar with different prayers/tunes/themes of the High Holidays. Each session will be its own independent class so don't worry if you can't make them all. Feel free to bring some apples (and honey) for the teacher and each other. I hope to see you there. I also look forward to seeing you at our congregational meeting and Friday night services on Friday night, August 22nd and at our open house for new and current members on Sunday, August 24th from 10:00-Noon. We will also be having regular Saturday morning services at 9:30 a.m. It's a great weekend to reconnect with one another and catch up on the summer that (gasp!) is almost done. At the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy (the book that we are currently reading in the Torah), Moses says, "Eicha Esa L'vadi," colloquially, he says, "Israelites, I can't do this alone. You need to be a part of this leadership team." Each of us is critical to the continued growth of our kehilah kedosha, holy community. I look forward to your participation and enthusiasm in helping our community evolve and grow over the next year. B'shalom, Home | Privacy | Contact Us This page updated:
08.22.08 |
