Rabbi David Wilfond’s Message – Friday, September 2, 2022
September 1, 2022Rabbi David Wilfond’s Message – Friday, September 16, 2022
September 15, 2022| Dear Friends, I want you to meet Ashira Boxman. Ashira is a Third Year Rabbinical Student at Hebrew Union College and will be our intern this year. She was raised in an impressive Rabbinical family. Both her Dad and Sister are acclaimed Rabbis. Ashira will be leading services and programs for virtually every age group. Tonight will be her first-time leading Shabbat Services with us. Please come and welcome her to our congregation. You will enjoy getting to know this bright, warm, and rising star in the Movement for Reform Judaism. Once a month Ashira and Cantor Kapustiansky will be writing to the community about Jewish life today. Ashira is writing her first piece today in this newsletter and I hope you will enjoy learning from both of them. Also, once a month Ashira and our Cantor will teach Torah Study on Saturday mornings. Even if you have never attended before, I encourage and invite you to learn with these two outstanding women leaders. It’s by Zoom on Saturdays, so it is easy to access. No prior experience or knowledge is needed to join this very welcoming and friendly group. I personally find our Torah study group intellectually stimulating and spiritually satisfying at the highest level. Tonight is our first Shabbat Dinner of the Fall intended for the entire community, not just Religious School families. Please add October 14th, November 4th and December 9th for future family meals. Let us make dinner for you. Come join for dinner, socializing and spiritual renewal. (If you are joining and haven’t RSVP’d please call the Temple office.) Tot Shabbat is at 5:30pm, dinner is at 6pm and the service begins at 7pm this week. If you are observing Yahrzeit and arrive at 7:30pm, the start time the other weeks of the month, no worries because you will not miss saying Kaddish which will be at approximately 8pm on the weeks we have community-wide Shabbat Dinners. Selichot this year will be observed in our congregation on Friday, September 16th as part of our Kabbalat Shabbat Service. All are invited to participate in the changing of the Torah covers to white. This is a metaphor for the inner spiritual change we strive to attain during the Yamim Nora’im, the Days of Awe and Introspection. This Sunday our Religious School opens! Stephanie Ben Simon, our Director of Education, has been working hard to update our curriculum to be more fun and effective in teaching Jewish knowledge, skills and values. I wish all our children and teens a happy and healthy year of learning and growth! I look forward to seeing you soon at school drop off, at shabbat services, or one of our exciting upcoming events at the Temple. Please come over and say “Hi.” Wishing you a warm Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi David Wilfond |