Shul News & Notes

This has been an extraordinary year! At home and around the world. Now, the 2025 High Holidays sharpen our perspective, highlight our fears, stir old memories and, at the same time, bring hope for the future. This year in 5785, we recognize with a renewed commitment that we are linked by tradition, by community and, at the very core of our beings, by a shared identity as Jews.

In the excruciating years since October 7, 2023, we remember our history with greater clarity, with less distance, and with clear vision of who we are. At the same time, we are distressingly aware of our vulnerabilities.  Consider the rising antisemitism at home and around the world. The thirties in Germany don’t feel so far away. This clearly is a time for solidarity and a united vision to join together for common goals.

This is also a time to pray for the remaining hostages, those bodies captured into Gaza, for the few survivors clinging to life, and for the millions of Palestinians suffering and dying in Gaza. This is a time to recognize and pray for members of the IDF and the 7,000 among them who have chosen to serve as lone soldiers. Two of my grandchildren are among them. This is a time to remember those who have fallen so that we might enjoy our freedom as Jews  — in the land of Israel and here on the North Fork of Long Island.

Some may see different paths forward.  But above all, it is our shared identity that creates that path forward and strengthens our resolve and our resilience. Our collective experiences and heritage protect us and mark our strength.

Yes, we may disagree. We may argue. But at the end of the day, our power comes from our community. Our comfort and our strength come from our community. It is our community that we protect and nurture. There is strength in our diversity. There is power in our different points of view. We can celebrate and respect our differences, and we can recognize that sometimes compromise increases our power and resolve. So in this time of giving, when differences can be turned to power, it is what we DO ultimately that matters.

We are expanding our program offerings with new lectures and classes, including teaching moments as an integral part of services. A Renovations Committee has been meeting to plan improvements to the shul, repairs to the parsonage, and renovations to the community spaces.  All of these plans raise questions about funding.

Do you know that our High Holiday Giving Campaign raises 50% of our annual operating budget? Is that a surprise? It is the work of devoted volunteers and Board members that allows us to do so much with so little.

How do we raise half of our annual operating budget during the High Holidays? Our Leadership Donors contribute to CTI in any one of multiple categories beginning with gifts of $10,000, $5,000, $2,500, and  $1,250.  Then the campaign is sustained by YOUR gift.

It is YOUR generous High Holiday gift to our shul that will mark the success of this year’s High Holiday Campaign. Consider a High Holiday Leadership donation. Consider a gift in multiples of $18 or $54 for every member of the family. Or for every child. Or every grandchild.

Once again, remember, one-half of our annual operating budget is raised during this High Holiday campaign.  Once a year we ask you to be as generous as you can.  Help define and shape our future. Please give as generously as you can.

Thank you,

Judy