We know we are moving into spring; the sounds of motorcycles are everywhere, the weather is beautiful, the Temple raffle is in full swing and the Brotherhood/Sisterhood youth project is off and running. The Temple needs each and every one of you to step up your involvement so we can move into the future. 

Over the past several months I attended the biennial and two regional URJ meetings. I return from each meeting fired up and excited about how we can stay relevant for our members. One of the things that I learned is there are three types of Jews:  Jews of the head - they want to study Judaism, Jews of the heart – who want to explore their spirituality, and Jews of the hand - they want to march for social action, “tikkun olam”.  Which type are you? We have room and a need for each and every one of you.

As we enter March, our Temple is buzzing with activity, but we need your help to keep these great programs funded. We are doing better with our dues collection, but still have a sizable amount that hasn’t been paid. If you are one of these, please let the office know your intentions so we can better manage cash flow. We need to increase membership and need to enlist each and everyone one of you to share the Temple Beth-El story with everybody you meet. 

We have updated the Temple web site and have plans to do the same on the school side. We plan on having a large presence at the upcoming Jewish Heritage Festival and invite you to stop by our booth and say hello.  

We need to think outside the box to take us into a vibrant future.  Therefore, your board has been split into two groups; one to explore ways to improve the Temple and the other to look into improvements at our school. I plan to report back to you on the findings and suggestions from these committees. Please feel free to share your ideas on either project with me or another board member(s).

The most exciting new project is the Youth engagement which is being led by our Brotherhood, WRJ and Cantor Zev. We have scheduled four events.  The first event is taking place on March 4.  This is a class on how to cook Israeli foods and I am sure that it will be well received. While the children do the cooking, we plan to spend time discussing the youth group with their parents. Then we will all have an opportunity to sample the scrumptious food prepared by the youth group.  

We have three more events planned from April through June, so hopefully you’ll be able to join us for one or more of these events.  In the works are a field day of fun sports, a day at the beach, and a pool party.  Like all Jewish events there will be good food at each of the events. Please check your e-mails and the bulletin for the dates.  

If you’ve ever considered sending your child to Camp Coleman, we have some scholarship money available for this summer.  Take a look at the Camp Coleman web site to see the many wonderful activities they offer at camp.  Please contact the Temple and we will be happy to provide scholarship information to you.   We need our youth active and involved after their B’nai Mitzvah for the future of both our Temple and our movement. Studies have shown that successful children have a spiritual background in addition to their educational background and that spirituality is an important part of their success.  So, for our parents out there who understand how vital it is for us to have the youth involved in the temple, we ask, “Will you give us 90 minutes to share our plan?”

JEFFREY BROK

TEMPLE PRESIDENT