About Us, our school, committees, and affiliates
The Rabbi's Column
This June, congregational members have two opportunities to strengthenand acknowledge their relationship to the synagogue. On June 1st, we will be
gathering to celebrate 100 years of congregational life. I have written and
spoken about this numerous times because it is truly a momentous event and
one that should be celebrated and embraced with joyousness and a sense of
gratitude. While 100 years is truly a small blip in the course of Jewish history,
it is no small feat and one should not and cannot minimize the impact that our
members and our synagogue has had on the larger Jewish community. We have
produced lay leaders who have made major contributions to other agencies,
helped to train rabbis who have moved on and used their experience here to
impact others in positive ways and have created an environment which has
been welcoming, spiritual and inviting to all who step through the beautiful
wooden doors of the synagogue. Mazel Tov and Kol HaKavod to us!
Just a few days after our celebration, the
bi-annual meeting will be held.
While
you might not have attended other meetings in the past because you
felt that
they weren’t important or impacted your life, this meeting is radically
different. This is not a meeting of ‘the
same old, same old’, but rather, one
that will have a major bearing on your
life as a Jew and as a member of
Temple Shaare Tefilah. It will be at this
meeting that the strategic
planning of
how to address the budgetary concerns and the future direction of
the
synagogue, which has been very seriously developed over the last couple
of
years, will be brought to you, the full membership of the congregation,
for
a
vote. This vote will determine which
course will be pursued. The three
options,
one of which will be the one recommended by the board, are very
diverse from
each other and will determine the future direction and life of the
synagogue.
I cannot urge you enough
to attend. This is a crucial meeting
and for
anyone for whom the synagogue has any importance or connection, this is
a meeting in which you should participate. As a member, as somebody who
views
the synagogue as part of their life rhythm, whether for attending High
Holidays
or knowing that there is a Jewish presence in the town, this vote
needs your
input and your voice. This is the type
of vote in which all of the
voices, all of the members should participate
because it will affect all of
you and therefore, you have the right and even,
the obligation to participate
and to be heard. Each vote will matter,
each voice should be heard, each
position should
be respected. The synagogue is
celebrating 100 years because
of a tradition of caring. Continue that
tradition by coming on June 4th
and casting
your vote!
GOD WHISPERS BY KARYN KEDAR
Light and goodness are not beyond our grasp. We should not defer or postpone
joy and blessing. We need only to begin to choose life. A spiritual life, a calm life,
a life immersed in love is within our grasp. Reach. All things are connected. The
world of the spirit speaks to you in a hundred voices. Listen with the heart-beat of
your soul. Life is an adventure toward beauty. The grandest of journeys begins
with a single step. May God bless you on your way.
Make the body a throne for the mind,
The mind a throne for the spirit,
The spirit a throne for the soul.
Then the soul too becomes a throne
For the light of the Presence
That rests upon it.
The light spreads forth around you
And you, at the center of that light,
Tremble in your joy.
—Adapted from Your Word Is Fire, edited by Arthur Green and Barry Holtz
United
Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.