Synagogue Updates

As the year comes to a close, I have had a song running through my head – Seasons of Love from Rent.

Seasons of Love includes the memorable verse – How do you measure a year?

This year, it feels like we are measuring the year on a whole different scale – and in some ways, that is a good thing. For a synagogue, the core metric isn’t the number of households (although that can be an important measurement tool for the fiscal health and the vibrancy of a congregation); instead, we need to look at far different numbers that focus on the engagement of and opportunities for the community. When I am looking back on this secular year, I am looking at the number of challot baked and delivered, the number of calls made by the Hazzan and our volunteers to do memorial prayers for congregants, the number of days that our ECC classes have been on site and the creative opportunities that people have been able to celebrate with each other (virtually and in person) safely and with meaning.

It has been a strange, awful year, and there is so much that we are learning that we are going to take with us into the future. Thank you to all of you for being a part of our community.

We have been pushing reading the book HumanKind – with the author, Brad Aronson, speaking to our community on January 10^th in the morning. It is available for sale at the Narberth Bookshop (I love and prefer paper copies of books still), but it is also available for sale on the Kindle app for only $.99 – a great deal. For the parents out there, I am having my 13 year old read it and watch the talk. It is so important for our teens and youth to get this message.
 

There is still time to make your matanah donation before the end of the year. As a reminder, you are also able to pay your dues, capital campaign pledge and other donations with stock or IRA disbursement. Prepayments of dues are always welcome.
 

Shop with Amazon? Don’t forget to shop at smile.amazon.com and select Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El. A portion of your purchases will go to TBH-BE as a donation.

I will be taking the next two Sundays off from writing, but we are very aware that the numbers of COVID-19 cases in our area continue to be extremely high. If you have someone that you need a mi shebereich prayer said for or you need help with shopping or anything else due to quarantine or comfort level, please do not hesitate to reach out!

A happy and healthy new year to you!

Ken
513 503 9559