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The Rabbi's Column

      This June, congregational members have two opportunities to strengthen
and 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!

                                                                                          Rabbi Andrea M. Gouze

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

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