President's Page

I would like to begin by thanking you for the confidence you showed by electing me the new president of Bnai Israel.  I understand that the 125-year history of this congregation now sits on my shoulders, and I do not take that lightly.  I grew up in Illinois in a similarly sized congregation which made me immediately feel comfortable and at home when I moved here.  I look forward to a successful term with the help of all of you.

I want to thank Amy DeLoach for her leadership and tireless service to our congregation over the past two years. She steered us through the wonderful Celebration! Installation! Dedication! Weekend in 2022 and this year’s125 Anniversary Celebration. Amy also committed herself to cleaning up the cemetery and establishing  the Bnai Israel Memorial Park. I am grateful for her extraordinary efforts and dedication to Bnai Israel. It also takes  teamwork, and my gratitude extends to the entire Board of Directors, Jon Alper, Nancy Kraselsky, Laurel Westreich, Liz Berger, Scott Johnston, Hal Throne, Felice Zeldin, Diane Gerberg, Walter Winter, Neil Harris, and Billy Hirschen for all of their efforts and contributions. Under their leadership, we have continued to grow, we have made multiple improvements in our security system, our calendar of year-round activities has grown, and we feel a sense of community inside as well as outside of our walls.

Rabbi Bender has continued to grow our youth education program along with Scott Serkin. She has brought new music to our worship along with the KavaNotes and their leader, Norm Schain, and has provided spiritual leadership for all of us. Rabbi Bender’s commitment to civic affairs gives Bnai Israel a seat at many tables and shows our commitment to Tikkun Olam and our involvement in the greater Wilmington community.

I feel quite fortunate to have a strong incoming Board of Directors. They are diverse and each have their own strengths and expertise that when put together provides a synergy that keeps us building on the foundation that we inherited from our founders 125 years ago.

It truly takes a village for our congregation to provide all that we do, holidays, education, Shabbat services and the other multiple programming offers that we extend to you, our family.

I hope that each one of you finds something of interest in which you would like to involve yourself, or perhaps you have an idea that you would like to pursue. Please consider volunteering in an area that may interest you whether you already have a skill set or would like to learn something new.

See you in Shul,

Pam Sender

President

president@bnaiisraelilm.com

847-471-8080