Our TE religious school is growing! Come any Sunday morning to the Asefah where students and parents gather, sing and study together. The kids are excited to be there, the parents are engaged, and Jewish learning is a truly joyous experience.
Though our new school building is only 5 years old, we need additional classrooms to accommodate our growing enrollment. This year, all 4 classrooms and the library were occupied, and every nook and cranny of the building is being used as additional classroom space.
Dave Pokras, an architect and a member of TE, designed a plan to add 2 classrooms behind the long wall of the social hall, accessed by a door near the kitchen end of the swing space. Construction has just begun and our hope is to have it completed before the next school year begins.
Fundraising is off to a great start – we need to raise $250,000, and 75% of the total has already been pledged by several very generous members! This leaves a balance of about $60,000 to get to our goal.
Our school is our synagogue’s vanguard. The wonderful children who come to school each week are our future, and the future of the Jewish people. This project is not only a school project – it is our commitment to the future of Temple Emanuel, and the future of our people.
We hope you will be generous, and feel the excitement that Rabbi Farbman, our Religious School director Olga Markus, our teachers and leadership bring to this effort. Our TE school is now well known throughout the community – and we are assuring its continued growth and success.
Thank You!!!
I would like to support the TE campaign for expanding our school!
Our ‘Shabbat under the stars’ services are always a great opportunity to enjoy the beautiful TE grounds and be outside. This year, we continue the wonderful new tradition that began a few years ago: Shabbat on the beach! On August 30 at 6pm head over to the Walnut Beach in Milford (113 E Broadway, Milford, CT 06460) – don’t forget a beach blanket or a chair, and bug repellent just in case! We will sing together and greet shabbat by the water. Please spread the word and invite your family and friends to join us!
A small but hearty group of TE members, along with Rabbi Michael Farbman, visited Israel in July. Our guide was an Israeli kibbutznick, originally from South Africa, who immigrated to Israel in the Apartheid era to seek a more morally balanced Jewish life. Julian Resnick took us to many common tourist sites in Israel, and also to several West Bank locations, where we met and spoke with several Palestinians of various backgrounds – including a reporter for Time magazine, a Palestinian policeman, and a Palestinian billionaire developer. This remarkable man has built a city near Ramallah for upper middle class living, which looks like planned cities in the US including modern apartments, shopping areas, playgrounds, pools, theater. There are already 4,000 people living there, and clearly a growing market for this life. His vision is to help resolve Palestine’s current dilemma of victimhood by looking forward with more jobs, more financial success and more stability for Palestinians and Israelis.