" Where Everyone is Family"
President's Message
2023
As the High Holidays roll around (Yes - Rosh Hashana is just one month away!), I am writing to share with you some of my thoughts after being CBS’ President for the past 20 months.
This has been a very successful year for Congregation Beth Shalom – with many new members joining, some new fund-raising events created (Thank you Mike Polis for the Raise-The-Roof idea with a scrumptious Lamb dinner) and with continued active participation of the social action committee guiding our congregants to learn about and to support many worthy endeavors.
The Terumah (“Giving from the Heart”) model of financially supporting the synagogue’s expenses has successfully replaced traditional due paying which had separate bills to individuals undergoing B’nai Mitzvah training or students attending our burgeoning Neshama Program. Now all those costs are supported by Terumah and other fund-raising activities. That being said, we are still dipping into our reserve funds to cover our on-going expenses including the salaries of our beloved Rabbi, administrative and educational staff, and the cost of keeping our facility open and secure. So, I encourage each of you to dig deep this year when deciding what your Terumah contribution will be and try to help us cover all those fixed costs. In addition, please order food from the Food Faire, and attend and support our various fund-raising activities along with your friends both within and outside of the CBS family. Many of our events are open to the public – for example the upcoming Season #2 of the Concert Series is a delightful way to spend four Sunday afternoons, while supporting CBS. The first of this series will be on Sunday November 5th from 4-5 pm. Mark your calendars and purchase tickets! Please also look out for more announcements and a schedule of events to be presented by our newly created Fund-Raising Committee.
I look forward to seeing many of you at the Welcome Back Pot Luck in honor of Rabbi Nancy this Friday; at the Food Faire pick up on September 10th, on Rosh Hashana (Sept 15th-16th) and on Yom Kippur (Sept 24th-25th) services, and hopefully at many other CBS religious and social activities.
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions feel free to reach out to me. My e-mail is President@CBShalom.org.
L’Shana Tova.
Roy Schutzengel, President.
