President's Page

The High Holidays are over, the weather is a little cooler, and things are momentarily slowing down at Bnai Israel. Rabbi Bender is on a well-deserved vacation in the North Carolina mountains this week and I finally have a few minutes to relax and think ahead.

Not everyone is relaxing, though.

We hosted a wonderful Hadassah Shabbat service at Bnai Israel last Friday and were joined by Rabbi Emily and Temple of Israel members for this annual event. Joining together as a community is always energizing and this was no exception.

Thank you to Hannie Ricardo, Itzelle Heinberg, and Rabbi Bender for sharing their angelic voices and to Rav Waxman and Rich Weisman for the great songs they played. Kudos to Terry Jensen and her committee for a job well done!

The service focused on antisemitism and Hadassah’s efforts in combatting it. Most of us are familiar with the support Hadassah provides to medical care and medical research in Israel. You might not be aware that they took the lead in securing bipartisan support in Congress for the Never Again Education Act, which established a new federal program and fund for Holocaust and anti-hate education in 2020.

If you are not a member of Hadassah, I strongly encourage you to join and play a part in their remarkable work. There are different levels of membership and it’s NOT for women only!

I also have to thank Felice and Lloyd Zeldin for the work they have been doing to help relocate the library into its new home in our Board room.

This is a major task involving moving LOTS of books, files, extra furniture, and other items. They are also reorganizing our current storage room.

There’s more to be done as our classrooms could also use some TLC and a new coat of paint. It’s important that our children have a warm and welcoming environment to learn in. We also want visitors to have a good first impression when they come into our Social Hall and classrooms.

We’ll be scheduling a Clean-Up Day soon and we hope you will join us!

Shabbat Shalom,

Michelle