Rosh Hashanah I day Saturday, Sept 12 @ 10:00 AM Rosh Hashanah Children’s Service Saturday, Sept 12 @ 9:45 AM Tashlich Saturday, Sept 12 immediately after the kiddush
Featuring AuthorMarjorie Ingall, followed by Havdalah and Selichot Service
Our Annual Selichot Service is cohosted by Congregation Mishkan Israel, Temple Beth David of cheshire, Temple Emanuel of Greater New Haven, and B’nai Israel of Southbury.
This year’s Selichot Service is hosted by Congregation Mishkan Israel, 785 Ridge Rd, Hamden
Please join us on Friday, August 28 at 5pm for the Annual TE BBQ picnic (fun activities for kids open at 4:30 pm), followed by Shabbat Service Under the Stars at 6pm!
Kosher BBQ will be provided by our great chefs, complete with snacks and sides.
This is a family-friendly event, and we will set up children’s games. The Kosher BBQ is FREE if you pre-register online in advance, or $10 per person at the door (maximum $20 per family).
Twenty-five years ago this month, I stood with my classmates on the bimah of West London Synagogue and received my rabbinic ordination, the semikha. Like many newly ordained rabbis, I carried a mixture of excitement, humility, idealism, and uncertainty. I knew that I wanted to help build meaningful Jewish communities, teach Torah, accompany people through life’s joys and sorrows, and help shape a vibrant Jewish future. What I could not have known was how profoundly the communities I would serve would shape me in return.
As I reflect on this milestone, I find myself thinking less about the passage of time and more about the relationships, experiences, and sacred moments that have filled those years. A rabbi may officiate at weddings, teach students, lead worship, comfort mourners, celebrate B’nai Mitzvah, and guide communities through periods of change. Yet the true privilege of the rabbinate is being invited into people’s lives at moments of meaning and vulnerability. Every congregation leaves its mark on its rabbi, and every member becomes part of the story.
During these twenty-five years, the Jewish world has changed dramatically. Technology has transformed how we communicate and learn. Patterns of Jewish engagement have evolved. We have celebrated extraordinary achievements and faced profound challenges, including the painful realities confronting Israel and world Jewry today. Through it all, one lesson has remained constant: Jewish community matters. In an age that often pulls people apart, congregations continue to create spaces of belonging, purpose, learning, and connection.
I am especially grateful that a significant portion of this journey has been shared with TE. For 17 years we have celebrated milestones, navigated challenges, welcomed new members, mourned losses, learned from one another, and continued to build a community grounded in Jewish values and caring relationships. Whatever accomplishments may be associated with my rabbinate are, in truth, the accomplishments of a community that has chosen to invest in Jewish life and in one another.
This summer, I will have the opportunity to mark this anniversary in a particularly meaningful way. I will return to London to attend the World Union for Progressive Judaism’s Darkeinu conference, and will also receive an Honorary Fellowship from Leo Baeck College on the twenty-fifth anniversary of my ordination. I am deeply honored by this recognition, which feels less like a personal achievement than a reminder of the teachers, colleagues, family members, and congregants who have accompanied me throughout this journey.
As I prepare for a month-long sabbatical, I look forward to time for learning, reflection, and renewal. Jewish tradition understands that periods of rest are not interruptions to our work but an essential part of it. My hope is to return with fresh ideas, renewed energy, and a deeper appreciation for the sacred work we continue to do together.
At our Annual Meeting, I shared some reflections on these twenty-five years of rabbinate—what has changed, what has endured, and what gives me hope for the future. Most importantly, I hope we can reflect together on the next chapter of our congregation’s story. While anniversaries invite us to look back, they also challenge us to imagine what comes next.
For all the moments we have shared and for the journey that still lies ahead, thank you. It remains one of the greatest privileges of my life to serve as your rabbi.
During TE’s Annual Meeting in June, I shared that I enjoy looking at data as a way to orient myself. For the past decade, first when I was chair of TE’s membership committee and now as President, I like to look at as much membership data as possible to see how our community is shifting and to ensure I am thinking about our membership accurately.
Our previous member database, Rakefet, shows that we have 188 family units at TE in 2026, up from 148 in 2014, which is the oldest data I could easily get my hands on. You will see that we have been very stable for the past six years after experiencing a nice membership growth for the six years prior. As many area temples are seeing declines right now, I am happy we are relatively flat, but I would of course love to see more new members joining TE in the year ahead.
TE Family Units (2014-2026)
Membership and Age Shifts (2014-2026)
Looking at our members by age has been helpful to see where our growth is coming from and also which age group is the majority of our community. This chart shows the total members each year, normalized to 100, so you can see how each age group evolved as a portion of the whole community. For example, 24% of our membership in 2014 was over the age of 70 and in 2026 that number is now 45%. Similarly 5% of our community was over the age of 80 in 2014 and that has now grown to 22%. Our older members, many of whom have been TE members for decades, are appropriately aging within TE. We as a community have to be mindful that as a whole, TE has more senior members.
But, interestingly, the split between those over and under 50 has not changed much in the past 12 years. Look at the line between gray and yellow, and yellow and blue in the chart below. We had 18% of our community under 49 in 2014, and today we have 20%. Looking at members below 59, we had 43% in 2014 and now have 37%. These shifts aren’t so meaningful, implying that for over a decade we have had more TE members over 60 then under 60 and that split is relatively unchanged. But, as a community its important that we are mindful that our more senior members are older than they were a decade ago (obviously 🙂) and we need to ensure we continue to bring in younger new members.
TE Members by Town (2026)
TE has always had high membership from Orange and Woodbridge but I thought it would be helpful to show all the towns where our members come from. I combined any towns with 2 or fewer families for ease of viewing, but I am happy to share the details if you are interested. When looking back a decade, Milford is the town that grew the most with TE members. In 2014 we had 17 family units from Milford and today we have 33. New Haven, Bethany and Hamden have all stayed pretty consistent since 2014.
We are shifting our office system from Rakefet to EasyShul in July. With this change I am excited to have more information to share to help us understand TE by the numbers, but more importantly this new system will make it much easier for our office and our community to communicate. EasyShul will have seamless billing, an online directory, easy event sign ups. It will also remove inefficient manual work from Sara and Lynn in the office.
You will receive an invite in early July to log into EasyShul for your 2026/2027 membership renewal and commitment form, as well as to validate and check that we have your right contact information.
Numbers and demographics about our membership is interesting and the administrative ease of EasyShul will help TE run smoother, but it only gets us so far. The most important piece of information that I can gather is directly from you. This past Spring we did a survey and I am so pleased to share that 120 surveys were completed. I shared some information about who completed the survey at the Annual Meeting and I am really pleased that the respondents appropriately represent our TE community.
What three words would you use to describe TE
I will share more details from the survey soon but I couldn’t resist sharing this word cloud. One of the questions asked in the survey was “What Three Words Would You Use to Describe TE”. The size of the word in this image represents frequency of use. Our most used words to describe TE are: Welcoming, Warm, Friendly, Community, Care, Inclusive. I encourage you to review these words. Most are very positive, a few are critical. I appreciate this feedback and will spend time with the board this year keeping this word cloud in front of us to make sure we are being mindful of your feedback.
Please let me know if you have any questions on the information I shared here or at the Annual Meeting. Thank you for your feedback and keep it coming!
April’s Family Shabbat was a full circle moment for me. When we joined TE, Maddy, our oldest daughter, was entering kindergarten and Abby was in pre-school. We joined TE for our girls. Not because we felt a need for them to go to Hebrew School or have a Jewish education, but because they really loved the Jewish traditions and songs they learned in pre-school at Gan Hayeled. (Thank goodness for catchy Jewish kid songs!)
Scott and I enjoyed learning along with our girls at Asepha and then participating in the TE parent ritual of going to Costco and Trader Joe’s from 10:00-12:00 every Sunday morning.
I know everyone says that kids grow up quickly and the young years go by in a blink. I can now say from experience it’s true! In just a moment we went from sitting at Asepha and Family Shabbat with cute little girls on our laps, to sitting as a pair while our girls are on the side of the sanctuary with their friends, in their roles as teachers and madrachim.
Family Shabbat is my favorite service at TE. I love the songs and the visual t’filah, and I also really love the beautiful chaotic energy. For our April Family Shabbat we had 1st and 2nd graders lead the service, and Maddy was one of their teachers. During the service, the young kids were fully engaged. One child even corrected Maddy when she misread a line from “The Little Red Hen and The Passover Matzah”, the evening’s story- “you meant prickly prickly prickly not quickly quickly quickly.” Another child made a fantastic quick comment “he didn’t know the answer!” when an adult joked that they knew what Rabbi was talking about when he clearly didn’t. Everyone couldn’t help but laugh. All evening, there were kids being kids- moving around, talking, playing – so full of energy and a beautiful reminder of the vitality of our community.
Now my baby is graduating high school, and I’m excited to watch the next group of young teens become teachers. Last month I watched the little kids at Family Shabbat and knew that before long, they too would become the cool teenage teachers. We are so fortunate to be part of TE, where you can really see change happen and watch the community evolve. The baby at Asepha has their bat mitzvah, becomes the teacher, and then graduates, right in front of our eyes.
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Coming Soon.. EasyShul
This summer, we are launching a new community database for TE. EasyShul will be our new platform for the office to manage membership information. It will also be where we post events, register for school, check invoices and make donations. EasyShul is very user friendly and will be a great resource for all of us. More information will be shared soon! Contact Lindsey with any questions.
Each year, almost quietly, we enter one of the most meaningful stretches of the Jewish calendar: the counting of the Omer. Beginning on the second night of Passover, we mark each day – one by one – for seven full weeks, journeying from liberation to revelation, from the story of leaving Egypt to the experience of standing together at Sinai.
At first glance, counting the Omer can feel like a simple ritual—brief, even easy to overlook. But its power lies precisely in its steadiness. Each evening invites us to pause and take notice of time passing, not in large leaps, but in small, intentional steps. Jewish tradition teaches that this period is not just about marking days, but about shaping ourselves. The Kabbalistic tradition, in particular, frames these 49 days as an opportunity for inner growth, with each week and each day corresponding to different human qualities – kindness, discipline, compassion, resilience, humility, connection, and dignity.
In a world that often urges us toward immediacy and completion, the Omer offers a countercultural practice: growth takes time. Transformation happens incrementally. Holiness can be found not only in the destination, but in the daily work of becoming.
This sacred counting leads us toward Shavuot, the festival that commemorates the giving of the Torah. It is a moment not only of receiving sacred text, but of renewing a sacred relationship – between the Jewish people and our tradition, between each of us and the values we choose to live by. The rabbis teach that revelation did not happen only once, long ago, but continues to unfold in every generation, in every community, and in every learner willing to engage deeply with Torah.
This Shavuot (Thursday, May 21 at 7pm), we will also celebrate Confirmation with six of our students, marking an important milestone in their Jewish journeys. Maddy Sussman, Sam Ridky, Jacob Miranda and Roey Back are high school seniors, preparing to embark on the next chapter of their lives as they head off to college, and they are joined by Ava Berkowitz and Rily Spark, our rising seniors. Confirmation is not an endpoint, but a declaration: that Jewish learning and identity are not something one “finishes,” but something one continues to choose.
There is something profoundly fitting about linking Confirmation with Shavuot. Just as our ancestors stood at Sinai and said, “We will do and we will hear,” our students stand at their own moment of affirmation – stepping forward with curiosity, commitment, and a willingness to keep learning. They remind us that revelation is not only something we inherit; it is something we actively receive.
May this season of counting be a time of mindfulness and growth. And may we celebrate, with pride and joy, the journeys of our Confirmands – who help all of us remember that Torah is alive, and that our tradition continues to unfold in their hands and in our shared future.
A few weeks ago I lost my chavruta, a study partner with whom I learned together throughout the rabbinical school and beyond. Rabbi Dr. Robert Ash was not just a close friend and a former roommate, he was a partner in thought and in learning. His sudden death following a post-surgery complication is a heavy blow for our family, and we are eternally grateful for the day we got to spend together in December – a day that began with a visit to a bookshop: where else would you meet a friend after a long period of being apart? In addition to his Rabbinic degree, Robert completed not one but TWO separate PhD programs, and was pursuing a law degree in his spare time. ‘Read the book’ was his response to just about any situation in life!
Jewish tradition has never imagined learning as a solitary act. From the beit midrash of late antiquity to the synagogue classrooms of today, Torah has always come alive in relationship – through voices in conversation, questions offered with curiosity, and disagreement held with care.
We are living in a time when conversations about Zionism, Israel, and Jewish identity can quickly become polarized. Positions harden. Debate replaces listening. People feel either defensive or silenced. And yet, these are precisely the moments when communal learning becomes most essential.
This spring, I will be teaching the Shalom Hartman Institute’s iEngage course, “Zionism in the 21st Century.” The goal of this class is not to win arguments or sharpen talking points. It is not about persuading one another toward uniformity. Rather, it is about deepening our understanding – of history, of ideas, of one another, and of ourselves.
In this eight-unit course, Hartman scholars invite us to explore the core tensions and values of Zionism in the 21st century, responding to the dominant critiques of Israel and Zionism in a post-October 7 reality. Together, we’ll explore frameworks for holding moral complexity, for talking about Israel in a time of war, and for engaging in conversation with courage, compassion, and clarity.
These are not simple questions. They are layered, complex, and at times uncomfortable. That is exactly why they require communal learning. I invite you to join me and fellow TE members on this learning journey — not because you already know what you think, but because you are willing to think more deeply. Not because you are certain, but because you are curious. Not to debate, but to discover.
Let’s learn together. Perhaps we will all form some new and meaningful chavruta relationships.
A few weeks ago I lost my chavruta, a study partner with whom I learned together throughout the rabbinical school and beyond. Rabbi Dr. Robert Ash was not just a close friend and a former roommate, he was a partner in thought and in learning. His sudden death following a post-surgery complication is a heavy blow for our family, and we are eternally grateful for the day we got to spend together in December – a day that began with a visit to a bookshop: where else would you meet a friend after a long period of being apart? In addition to his Rabbinic degree, Robert completed not one but TWO separate PhD programs, and was pursuing a law degree in his spare time. ‘Read the book’ was his response to just about any situation in life!
Jewish tradition has never imagined learning as a solitary act. From the beit midrash of late antiquity to the synagogue classrooms of today, Torah has always come alive in relationship – through voices in conversation, questions offered with curiosity, and disagreement held with care.
We are living in a time when conversations about Zionism, Israel, and Jewish identity can quickly become polarized. Positions harden. Debate replaces listening. People feel either defensive or silenced. And yet, these are precisely the moments when communal learning becomes most essential.
This spring, I will be teaching the Shalom Hartman Institute’s iEngage course, “Zionism in the 21st Century.” The goal of this class is not to win arguments or sharpen talking points. It is not about persuading one another toward uniformity. Rather, it is about deepening our understanding – of history, of ideas, of one another, and of ourselves.
In this eight-unit course, Hartman scholars invite us to explore the core tensions and values of Zionism in the 21st century, responding to the dominant critiques of Israel and Zionism in a post-October 7 reality. Together, we’ll explore frameworks for holding moral complexity, for talking about Israel in a time of war, and for engaging in conversation with courage, compassion, and clarity.
These are not simple questions. They are layered, complex, and at times uncomfortable. That is exactly why they require communal learning. I invite you to join me and fellow TE members on this learning journey — not because you already know what you think, but because you are willing to think more deeply. Not because you are certain, but because you are curious. Not to debate, but to discover.
Let’s learn together. Perhaps we will all form some new and meaningful chavruta relationships.
I hope by the time you are reading this the snow has mostly melted and spring is slowly making her way to us. We had some wonderful events and community gatherings this winter and have a lot planned for the spring, including many b’nai mitzvahs!
Your generosity and thoughtfulness during our Raise the Roof campaign were meaningful and the investment in our building says a lot about your commitment to TE. I’m glad we had the roof replaced before the worst of winter hit us. We had a few frozen pipes during the really cold days, but thankfully we were able to identify and thaw them before anything burst. Thank you Doug, Melissa, Jim, Scott, Ariette and our Buildings and Grounds team for your help.
I have some favors to ask as we enter spring and prepare for the summer.
We recently launched a survey to understand how well TE is meeting your needs and how we can improve our community, programs, and communication. Please complete the survey by the end of March so we have time to compile your feedback before our annual meeting on June 7th. I hope the majority of TE members complete the survey and provide feedback to help shape TE for now and years to come.
Are you curious to learn more about TE committees or the board? Do you have a skill or interest that would benefit TE? Would you like to have an active voice in decisions we make? Would you like to volunteer some of your time to support our community?
Spring is the time for us to review committees and the board, and seek interest from members who want to become more involved at TE.
There are so many ways to get involved in TE, with flexibility to match your interest and schedule. Joining a committee is a clear way to get involved at TE and I would love to see each committee gain a new member this spring. But, there are other ways to help too. If you enjoy facepainting—volunteer at a school event or our annual BBQ. If you like to cook-—join the kitchen crew at one of our many events. If you like connecting people or finding the right words to describe our community—join our membership committee. If you are a lawyer and enjoy reading contracts—offer to help the board when these come up.
You can contact me at President@tegnh.org to talk about committees, the TE board and additional opportunities to get involved at TE. I would love to connect and hear about your interests and priorities for TE.
