Dear Fellow Congregants, 

I would like to wish the entire Temple membership, their families and friends a healthy and happy New Year.  I would like to welcome our new Rabbi, Yvonne Youngberg to the TBS community. I have worked and planned with the Rabbi this summer. She has a gentle manner and her decisions are made with understanding, knowledge and compassion. We are fortunate to have her with us. Please welcome her and get to know her. She is great asset and deep resource for us all. I am thankful to say this has been the smoothest leadership transition in years. 

From the first time I heard the Rabbi speak I felt our mission, as President and Rabbi was in sync. That mission is the relationship of the Mishkan to the community and the responsibility of the community to the Mishkan The Mishkan was the communal and spiritual center for our people as they wandered in the desert.  Our Mishkan is our own Temple Beth Sholom, our own “dwelling place.” It functions as a social center, an education center, an outreach center and a spiritual center. Each of us has a responsibility to maintain TBS as our founders did; to make it vital for the present membership and to support it financially for the future.  Our new board officers and chairpersons are working hard to make this mission a reality. Our new membership chair, Carol Bloch, has put together an advertising campaign and an open house to keep us in the community’s consciousness and to generate new members. Linda Grant is working to form a Mitzvah Corps as well as a Social Action Committee. These will help us reach both outside our community as well as inside, to serve those in need in many different ways. Laurie Raccuia is working to set up an exciting educational program this year. Lou Rosen and the Rabbi are looking at ways to change both Friday night and a Saturday services to increase interest, attendance and involvement. Linda Lambeck, Debbie Gilbert Taylor and Stacy Severn are working hard to broaden communication within our community through our monthly print bulletin, weekly e-bulletins and the website. Future plans include conducting focus groups.  

There are still many jobs to be done and we are in need of assistance from our membership. We need chairs for Ways and Means, Education, the Kitchen and an events coordinator. See me if you have ideas and can get more involved in helping us realize our mission. The gift of giving is its own reward. We need to start regarding temple events in terms of “whole community.”  In the past we tended to see events as benefiting only a portion of the community, such as education, ritual or ways and means. In fact, all these events are for the whole TBS family.  My hope for this year is health and happiness to all and to make Temple Beth Sholom your own heart’s “dwelling place” - your Mishkan in the wilderness.

Thank You,

Phil Levine 
President, Temple Beth Sholom