A Tale in Three Parts
Part 1
CHANGE: Remember, the first 7:30pm service at TE will be on January 20, 2017. The Family Service remains at 6:30pm on the first Friday of each month, and on January 13th we have a special Martin Luther King Service at Mishkan Israel at 7:30pm. At the end of June, we will again send out a Survey Monkey to see what people thought of the change to see if we plan to continue it or to make other changes. The other possible change brewing is a switch to a new prayerbook for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (see the Rabbi’s Summer Shofar column for more on the mahzor). The Ritual Committee will be leading several focus groups for people to interact with Mishkan HaNafesh. Please call Barbara Berkowitz or Barbara Goldhamer to be involved in one of them.
COMMITMENT: Our members’ commitment to our community is so fabulous. I can only look on, cheer, and be thankful for their hard work. The last few months have seen some wonderful projects completed: the High Holy food drive collected 3.500 pounds of food under Will Sherman’s leadership, dozens of turkeys were donated to Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen at Thanksgiving under the watchful eye of Peter Stolzman, and 146 baskets were created by the school and some adult volunteers under the organizational skills of Julia Katsovich – one of our madrichim. Julia is the first teen to head such an ambitious project, and it was a smashing success. During this time Laurel Shader, the band, and the choir got together to perform, and Risé Siegel and friends helped to organize our first Annual Shir Magic concert in memory of Jerry Brieger z’l; thus, I believe we have solidified our reputation as the “sing-agogue” in the area! Put in your calendars now the Debbie Friedman concert by our band and choirs at the Towers on February 12th and Yale Whiffenpoofs in concert at TE on February 26th.
CONTINUITY: It with great pleasure that I can announce that Rabbi Farbman has agreed to lead the congregation for another five years and that he and the Board have agreed on his contract. Rabbi Farbman has been essential to the growth and renewed vitality of our community, and we can look forward to continuing to go from strength to strength in the coming years.