Mar 31st 2008, 00:00

As I write this note, and about a week before you read it, the final tiles are being laid in the Temple kitchen. This will complete one of the major refurbishing projects that have been planned over the last couple of years. As anyone who attended Casino Night will attest, the social hall and the new carpeting extending into the sanctuary look fantastic. Now the kitchen is also complete. I want to once again thank Temple member Yoram Mimum and his family for their more than generous help in getting us the countertops and floor tiling at an incredible price. Our next project will be the ECLC. Our Facilities committee is finalizing a budget for board approval that will allow them to put in a new playground, new flooring throughout the school (thanks again, Yoram), painting, new fixtures where needed and possibly converting one of our infamous “dirt rooms” into a large storage area.

Our ability to do these projects comes from many areas. These include the diligence of the finance committee and its scrupulous chairperson Greg Spalter, and the successful fundraising efforts of our ways and means committee headed by Sandy Wager and Rachael Wager-LaCross (Casino Night this year - $19,000) and by the rest of the board of directors who work hard to be innovative and contain costs. Mostly, though, it is because of you and all our congregants who support TBT by volunteering, by paying dues, and by continuing to make our Temple a warm, loving community. It is not just new “things” in our Temple that move us forward. Rabbi Ken Milhander has set the tone for us by respecting, believing in, and practicing our old traditions while bringing enthusiasm and a growing excitement for “mixing it up” and embracing the new. Creative services, and more and new music are among the changes we are trying as we combine them with more traditional elements of our services. But you won’t know about it unless you come.

See how Judaism allows Shabbat to be our one “wild and crazy” day. To quote one of our fine ex-presidents, “See you around the schul”.