Category: President’s column

By now, hopefully everybody has heard that the year 2012 has special meaning to the Temple Emanuel community — we turn 50. We will be ending our first half century on a positive note — membership is increasing — since the beginning of our fiscal year (July 1, 2010) we have gained 17 new families. Participation in Friday night services are up,
we have scheduled many events and membership has responded by attending. It is clear that we have chosen the right rabbi in Rabbi Farman to continue the work started by Rabbi Brieger. As was discussed at a congregational meeting on November 21st, plans are under way to commemorate the significant anniversary. A committee has been formed to work on an Event to be held in the spring of 2012. This event will feature a dinner as well as various remembrances of our history.
Anyone having pictures of TE building or events from the early years is requested to contact me or the TE Office. While things are still being planned, speakers and a movie are also being considered. We are also working on a fund to help us continue to move forward. The fund is aptly named the “Second Half Century Fund.” The goal is to have members make a commitment of a three-year contribution, and it is hoped that over the three years the Fund will raise $375,000. At the time of this writing we have three year commitments totaling $140,000. As explained by Fund Chair Jon Zonderman, the Fund is for medium-term “revival” funds for Temple Emanuel as it moves into its second half century. The $375,000 to be raised over three years would be used over a period of six years to add programing ($120,000 total), the restoration/upgrade of our facilities ($120,000 total), to close the annual budget shortfall (three year period — $20,000 a year) and as a “Launch Pad” for growth (any funds over $300,000 — there will be a $25,000 annual holdback). Be on the lookout for additional information.
We should all be pleased that TE has been awarded a grant of $1,800 by the Jewish Federation’s Women of Vision Society. Our proposal was written by a committee headed by Lori Welch-Rubin and is entitled Celebrating Ourselves: Exploring the Sacred Feminine in Judaism. Congratulations to all who worked on this project.
I am informed by the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven that a Shiva list has been established for our area. While all synagogues send notices to congregants concerning deaths in their specific congregation, up until now a single list for our geographic area did not exist. If you wish to subscribe to the list, please go to www.ShivaList.net.
While the year is almost over, there is still time to do some tax planning for the 2010 tax year. Simply pay your membership commitments by December 31st, so you can use the charitable deduction this tax year.
Finally my wishes to all for a very happy new year.
— Lew

Hopefully you’ve noticed some changes taking place at Temple Emanuel this summer. Last month
I wrote about the projects involving the base-
ment of the TE House and the fire landings. As stated in last month’s Shofar, those projects were paid for out of our budget.
In August, both the House and Sanctuary underwent a thorough cleaning. Vinyl floors, carpets, walls, and even ceilings have been thoroughly cleaned. The Sanctuary kitchen has likewise been cleaned, a process that even involved the moving of appliances so that all dirt could be reached. This extensive cleaning was done without the use of Temple Emanuel funds—our Treasurer Howard Schachter, along with Jon Zonderman and Bruce Spiewak, discovered that puff backs that occurred in the past were responsible for the damage and that we were still entitled to file a claim with our insurer. The insurer is still evaluating our claim, but has approved and paid for the cleaning.
Another room has been freed upstairs in the house. As many of you are aware, the Youth Group did fine work in creating and painting a Youth Lounge. Now we have another open room upstairs opposite the Rabbi’s Office. This room was formally used as the caretaker’s apartment and now can
be used as a library. Risé Siegel and Melissa Perkal have spent many hours cleaning, removing wallpaper, scraping paint, and then repainting. Jean Silk sorted through the many randomly stored boxes there and properly filed some and discarded those that were not necessary. Many of the saved documents contain a fascinating history of Temple Emanuel, but more on that another time.
Not all change is manifested in the physical. We are also in the process of improving our methods of communicating with the congregation. Jean started this process at the beginning of the year. It involves the sending of electronic newsletters through Constant Contact. These will supple- ment the Shofar which will still come out in print. Arlene Cohen, Marc Webber and Jen Poulsen have been doing a great job on this and we should be seeing the results of their labor shortly.