Keeping Connected May 2025

Keeping Connected April 2025

Shalom Congregation Shalom members! Spring has sprung in New England, and I’m thrilled about the warmer weather and longer days. I know you’re all excited too! I’m also looking forward to the changes coming to our website. We’ve started talking to the web developer about some of the updates, and I can’t wait to see what it looks like! More information about the project to come! Spring also brings us Purim and Passover. We had an incredible Purim Carnival, and I want to thank the Shalomites, School Committee and families and everyone who volunteered to put it together and also to clean it all up. Sometimes it’s more difficult to clean everything up afterwards! The Shalomites are also grateful for the membership and school support for this event. It’s a big fundraiser for the Shalomites and helps cover some of their programming costs throughout the year.

Regarding Passover, I hope you have sent an RSVP for the Congregation Shalom Second Seder on April 13th. The committee members have worked hard to organize this program, and it’s a great chance to celebrate the holiday together. On April 14th at 7 p.m., we will have a special meeting to discuss the need to repair the exterior walls of the building. You should’ve received an email with a Zoom link about this, and we hope you can make it to hear about the need for this repair. Scott Reiter and Mitch Hyatt will be presenting the details so you can make an informed decision at the meeting. Thanks to Scott and Mitch for their hard work!

Lastly, we’re still collecting nomination forms for Congregant of the Year. If there’s someone you want to nominate, please reach out to a board member or email me at  president@congregationshalom.org with whom you want to nominate and why. Thanks for your support!

Keeping Connected March 2025

The Importance of Kavod

Hello Congregation Shalom members! I am hopefully in Florida when you read this article. We have a very important meeting with a well-known mouse. First, I want to thank you for supporting our endeavor to modernize the synagogue’s website and office systems. I think this will make a big difference for us and help us to potentially retain and grow our membership. Eileen, Cory, and Stephen, thank you for your presentation. Joanna and Stacie thank you for assisting at the special meeting. Rabbi Perry, thank you also for your support! As this project rolls out, we will be sure to communicate to you all how things are progressing.

Lastly, I thought it might be interesting to talk about the word kavod which is the Hebrew word meaning respect. Kavod is a very important value in Judaism. We often talk a lot about in religious school with the students in hopes to instill this in them. Sometimes, I think, when people have differences of opinion because they feel so strongly about their view or opinion this value gets forgotten about. In an article from the site Myjewishlearning.com Rabbi Heidi Hoover writes:

“Judaism places high value on the dignity of each person. In Genesis 1:27 we are told that humanity was made in the image of Godb’tzelem Elohim. This teaching urges us to recognize every person’s equal value and treat each other with dignity.”

Our great rabbi Maimonides wrote that “The Sages say, ‘One who shames (lit., ‘makes white’) the face of his fellow has no share in the World to Come.'” (Pirkei Avot 3:15). Therefore, one must be careful in this matter that he not embarrass his fellow publicly, whether a small or great [person].” [i]

I hope as a congregation, we can reflect on the importance of kavod in our lives and in the lives of others.

[i] https://www.myjewishlearning.com/2014/08/26/treat-every-person-with-dignity/

Keeping Connected – February 2025

Keeping a synagogue running smoothly requires many moving parts. I always knew that, but it becomes even more apparent when in the role of President! All these parts are interconnected, even if they don’t seem so at the surface. An important part of keeping things moving and these parts all connected is how information is communicated to members and to the community outside the temple.

This past month, the board of trustees had an opportunity to hear from Eileen Hirsch about temple communications and how we might improve how we interact with our members as well as how we interact with visitors to our website. A huge thank you to Eileen and the committee who worked on this as well as Lisa Lyman, our amazing school committee chair for her part and support! It was an excellent presentation and gave us an opportunity to see how we might move forward to help improve how people see us on the internet as well as improve communication through better access for our members to forms, ability to make donations, improved school registration, and maintaining member data and an improved calendar. On February 13th at 7pm membership will have an opportunity to hear from Eileen about a forward-thinking plan to help us move ahead to modernize our website and our communication strategy. An invitation to attend this special congregational meeting was sent on January 29th.

At our recent board retreat, I mentioned a quote from Pirkei Avot that says, “Rabbi Tarfon said, it is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.” How we communicate is an ever-evolving challenge, and technology moves so fast that it is important that we continue to work and improve on it; otherwise, it becomes neglected.

Keeping Connected – December 2024

While the days are becoming shorter and the weather is getting colder, as Jews, we have the opportunity to be optimistic about the season. Our optimism comes from the chance to celebrate the warmth of the lights of Chanukah and think about how our ancestors were able to overcome great odds, regain their identity and rededicate the temple. I am also looking forward to the warmth from one of my favorite foods this season, latkes! The smell of potatoes frying and the taste of latkes always brings back memories of childhood Chanukah celebrations. Cleaning up after cooking the latkes however, is not my favorite! You definitely do not want to see our kitchen after I have been cooking!

I would also like to discuss what is going on at the temple this season. Food is an important part of Congregation Shalom activities and thanks to a number of donations we will have new refrigerators! Thank you to all those people who donated funds and their time to help make this happen! The Religious school students are looking forward to the Brotherhood cooking latkes and also the Chanukah party. If you can help volunteer to make latkes, I know the Brotherhood would really appreciate it.

Also, stay tuned for information about the menorah candle lighting schedule. Most of what happens at Congregation Shalom would not happen without our staff and volunteers. I want to thank everyone who takes time to help make this temple run. You take time out of your busy schedules to keep Congregation Shalom a warm, caring Jewish community, where would we be without you? Of course we can always use more people to volunteer. There are many areas where Congregation Shalom could use your skills. Please reach out to me or any board member if there is something you feel you could help do at the synagogue. The more members who volunteer help to make it easier to keep our congregation running smoothly. Regarding volunteers, with the position of First Vice President being open, the Executive Committee nominated Stephen Rodman to fill the position. The board of trustees met last week and Stephen Rodman was voted in unanimously. I am looking forward to working with him and appreciate his acceptance of this role. His experience will be very valuable to Congregation Shalom. Lastly, I want to wish everyone a warm, light-filled season with lots of latkes!