Synagogue Updates

Happy Hanukkah!

Shavua Tov, and happy Sunday. My family wants to once again thank this incredible community. Throughout the weekend, past weeks, and even years - we felt supported and loved. Thankfully, the whole weekend went incredibly well, from the Friday night service, to our Shabbat morning services where I am incredibly proud to say that my daughter rocked it, to Kari's incredible kiddush lunch to Betty the Caterer's fantastic party at night. 

But it has been a long (wonderful) week and I am exhausted, so please forgive a little rambling because there are definitely a few things I want to highlight this week. The theme of this email will be L'Dor V'Dor - from generation to generation.

Looking at the crowd yesterday, I was once again reminded of the power of our B'nai Mitzvah process and being a part of community - in good times and in bad. Our Shiva support is one of the most powerful things that we do (and a reminder since it came out on Thanksgiving - we have a shiva today from 1 - 4pm with Shiva Minyan at 3:45pm if you can join us). My daughter was right during her speech when she thanked the clergy and all of her teachers for helping to make her the person that she is. Our community has an incredible influence on our kids.

Speaking of community - Hanukkah starts tonight. One of our traditions is to put the Hanukkiah in the window or outdoors, sharing the light with everyone. We have so much going on and will be lighting candles outdoors each night, as well as honoring different community members with the lighting. We hope you will join us. I especially hope you will join us on those days that we will be adding in an in-person minyan. The full schedule is available here, but definitely try to join us tonight. Two special events this week, Rosh Hodesh on Wednesday and a special visit from visiting Masorti (Israeli conservative movement) leader Rav Barry Schlessinger on Thursday evening. 

Hanukkah Homecoming is next weekend. A great weekend of events planned for our community. Thursday/Friday night/Shabbat morning events are available here. Saturday evening events are available here. 

Hanukkah is a time to spread positive messages to others in our community while supporting the community at large. During the first two weeks of December, we are sending Shabbat-O-Grams. Send yours today! All proceeds will go to HIAS - Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Simply select the congregants you would like to send a greeting to. Each Shabbat-O-Gram is $3.

Forms submitted before December 1 will be sent the Shabbat of December 3 
Forms submitted before December 8 will be sent the Shabbat of December 10.
Feel free to include a personalized message to the receiver in the notes below. 

With the theme of L'Dor V'Dor, we will be starting up our environmental committee again. Our kiddush is a really important opportunity to add composting to our community. We want to keep looking at what kind of products we use. Our environmental committee will be an easy place to have an impact - and I want to encourage you to ask your teens and twenty somethings if they would like to join. Please let me know if you are interested.

To hear from and amplify different voices, over the next month, other leaders in our community will be writing these Sunday Check-ins, giving me a little break. I will be back in January (and other times as needed) sending out information to our community.  

I look forward to seeing you throughout the week. Wishing you a meaningful Hanukkah filled with light and community,

Ken
513 503 9559