Please excuse our  ex-uberant and ex-hausting ex-pression of ex-ultation, but The Shofar is ex-tra ex-cited to report what shul president Susan Rosenstreich calls an “ex-periment.” In the spirit of the ex-periment, we offer the following ex-planation.

The ex-periment will be ex-ecuted three times over the dark winter months, beginning in January, the darkest of them all. It grew ex-ponentially from a discussion at the December meeting of the Congregation, where analysis of the Long-Term Planning Committee’s survey was ex-plored. In dialogue focused on preferred times for synagogue events, congregants ex-plicated that Shabbat services in the winter months take place long after the start of Shabbat, which begins not at 7:30 in the evening, when Shabbat services are scheduled, but often in the late afternoon. Combine that notion with a suggestion that Shabbat dinners are an ex-cellent way to appeal to congregants and prospective members and, well, there you have it — the ex-periment.

So, on Jan. 31, the Shabbat closest to Rosh Chodesh, services will begin at 6 p.m. instead of 7:30. And, services will be followed by a Shabbat supper in the social hall. Similarly on Rosh Chodesh Feb. 21 and March 20, the ex-periment will continue. Watch your email for more information on the January installment of the ex-periment.

See you at 6 on the 31st — no ex-cuses. Please RSVP ctigreenport@gmail.com so we’ll know to ex-pect you. And be sure to ex-press your thoughts to the president before you ex-it.