Shalom All,
In the President’s column this month our incoming president, Brian Cohen, praises the work of our outgoing president, Robert Becker. I will only add that I agree, wholeheartedly. Robert did a wonderful job leading us through four very challenging years. The pandemic has forever changed how we meet and gather and pray. The derecho left us with major clean up, damage, and a whole new outside project we weren’t expecting. Thank you Robert, for seeing us through it all.
Part of the new landscaping project included renovating the outdoor sanctuary. For the entire time I’ve been here, and it probably started long before that, the hillside around the outdoor sanctuary had been slowly eroding and washing away. The stone benches had sunk into the ground and the small flagstone patio was being overrun with mud and grass. Following the derecho we set about to fix these issues.
The new space is wonderful. We’ve expanded the patio, tiered the slope, and fixed the drainage. Last month we held our first outdoor service there since sometime before the pandemic. It was great. Kind of like the old days. No Zoom. No technology. Just prayerbooks and people and voices. Even though it had been a very hot day, the outdoor sanctuary was shady, and beautiful, with a lovely breeze. There was even a mother doe and her young fawn who joined us for a song.
We will be hosting two more outdoor services this summer, July 28th and August 25th. I really hope you can join us.
Have a great summer everyone.
Rabbi Todd