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We can be so proud of what we have here at Temple Bat Yam!
Our Calendar is absolutely packed with Programs for all ages, worship, educational, social, social action, music, holiday and life cycle celebrations. These wonderful programs continue to build and get better and better each year. We have a beautiful facility to house us all these activities.
This year we were pleased to dedicate our religious school in honor of Sy and Susan Sperling. The naming of The Sy and Susan Sperling School of Jewish Education is testament to their continuing generosity and commitment to Jewish education.
We embarked on our first Temple trip to Israel. This trip was an incredible opportunity to see Israel with members of our Temple family and to tour it accompanied by our wonderful Rabbi and Cantor. I hope it will be the first of many such adventures.
On a personal note, I attended the Scheidt Seminar, a URJ sponsored gathering for Temple Presidents, and President Elects. There we were able to learn from wonderful educators, to brainstorm with each other and to spend to spend a fantastic musical Shabbat with Beth Shaffer. I learned so much about Community and sharing from this weekend and came back recharged, with many ideas and a better understanding of the Reform Movement.
We are moving into the electronic age. Thank you to Naomi Smith, and her email Blasts, and thanks to Naomi and Rob Feinberg for making our Hakol available in electronic format - saving the Temple printing costs, postage, and trees.
I would also like to take a moment to offer congratulations and very best wishes to David Levin. David has been our first Vice President this year, and an active board member for many years, as well as founding our Social Action Committee at Temple Bat Yam. David has been accepted into the Hebrew Union College. He will begin his Rabbinical study in Jerusalem this summer. Mazel Tov, David, on your new journey. We are so proud and happy for you.
There are challenges ahead. With a difficult economy, it will be harder to maintain the flow of income needed to sustain what we have worked so hard to build. It will take resolve on all of our parts to make sure the future of Temple Bat Yam, will remain financially healthy for us and for the future generation of Jews it will serve.
A healthy endowment fund is critical to this goal. We will be working to develop a program utilizing a capital campaign and planned giving, to increase our Endowment. We need to get it to a level that will ensure that we can always fully support the needs of the Temple.
We have such a wonderful group of dedicated congregants who give so generously of their time and energy. I would love to see even more people get involved. You don't have to chair a committee. Just volunteer to do one task or take part in one event or program that touches you.
We currently have immediate openings in the areas of Social Action, Public Relations, and email communications. Some of these tasks require as little as 1-2 hours per week. Please see me at the Oneg, if you would like to know more.
We are embarking on a Leadership development program. Our June board meeting is open to all and will feature Rabbi Linda Joseph of the Union for Reform Judaism, who will speak on Synagogue Leadership. I invite and encourage any of our congregants who have considered getting involved in this very meaningful way, to attend this meeting.
I would like to thank Naomi Smith, Geoffrey Mombach, Arthur Kahn, and Harris Solomon for their always wise and generous counsel. Thank you to Rabbi Littman, and Cantor Wendy for their kind and steadfast support, both spiritual and otherwise, and to Arnold Bergman for providing a wonderful learning experience for all ages of our Temple family.
Thank you to Ellen Nisselson, the "woman behind the women", who takes care of so many important details, with her expert support. And thank you to Pepe for seeing to all preparations, and always making sure our environment is wonderful.
Finally, thank you to the Board of Trustees, committee chairs, committee members, volunteers and all of you who have come together to make this Temple the dynamic, extraordinary place it is.
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