The Days of Awe

Dear Temple Sinai Members,

As you read this bulletin, we will be celebrating a most important time in our calendar: the Days of Awe, framed by Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It is not only a time to reflect on the past and plan for the future, but also to meet and greet each other. I look forward to seeing you both at Conard and Temple Sinai to wish you and your family a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year.

And speaking of new years, the Welcome and Welcome Back Shabbat on September 5th was an amazing event. Over 200 adults and children were in attendance to pray, sing, and of course enjoy dinner together after the service. Many thanks to our Membership committee for another successful event! Sunday morning, September 7, marked the first day of Religious School and a record number of students were welcomed by their teachers and student aides. Kudos to our Religious School Director, Rena Citron, who works so hard to ensure that every detail is taken care of so that the first day and every day is meaningful to our students. We are also excited to have a new pre-K program which is open to non-members as well. There are openings in this class, so please pass the word to your friends and neighbors.

Also on September 7, our Board of Trustees met to plan our goals for the coming year. We chose “Lifelong Learning” as our theme for the year and have broken this down into groups: Religious School, Teens, and Adults. As we develop our objectives, we will share our plans with you.

I am repeating my “pitch” from last month: asking you to consider housing teens who will be attending the NFTY regional Conclavette at Temple Sinai, November 14–16. I guarantee you will gain more than you give by having these amazing young people share your home for the weekend. If you cannot house teens, there are many other ways to volunteer for this event. I am sure Mitzi Young, our Youth Director, has provided details in this bulletin and I know I can count on our congregation to give a huge welcome to this group as we have in the past.

I want to extend a special welcome to the families who have joined Temple Sinai in the past few months. I assume you decided to make our congregation your spiritual home for a variety of reasons but, most of all, I hope you find us to be a warm, welcoming community. I also hope that you will find ways to become involved and I am happy to help you in this area if needed.

L’Shana Tova,
Carol Benjamin, President new-message24