March 2017

By now I assume everyone has seen the congregational letter or heard about our plans with Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly (JCHE) and MWJDS. As I mentioned in the letter, the plan has been in the works since the summer, however, even I as President, hadn’t met with a representative from the JCHE until November so I obviously didn’t want to send out any type of message like the one I sent out until the realization of the project seemed more “real” to me. Before November, it was more of an exploratory investigation until the plans became more concrete.

Finally, when we did meet as a group of 30 people the realization seemed more real that I wasn’t just hearing names but seeing the people that had been working behind the scenes.

One thing I did not include in the congregational letter (because of the space constraints) were the members of Evie’s committee. I would like to recognize them here for their work that they put in with Evie in order to get us to where we are today. The members of the MWJDS Exploratory Committee are: Paul Kaufman, Gail Palmer, Eric Weinstein, Judy Solomon, Renee Finn, and Evie Kintzer-Shorey (Chair). Todah Rabah.

As of this writing, there has been nothing new to report, just excitement in the air.   I will definitely keep the congregation in mind whenever there is something new to report.

Our Strength-to-Strength campaign is winding down for the year. If you haven’t given yet, PLEASE consider giving. We did achieve our first goal of $104,000 which enables us to keep the lights on. Our next goal is $120,000 which will assist us if the snow budget is exceeded (e.g. Blizzard 2017). And to assist if there is any other type of budget pressure put on us.

I’m excited for our future. In April, I’m looking forward to the congregation coming together for the Rabbi’s Bar Mitzvah party bash and our Congregational Seder. These unique parties are a great way to celebrate in our kehillah.   Please make sure you RSVP!

As always, please drop me an email to discuss any of your concerns, issues, or comments.

Dave Levinson
President