High Holy Days Gratitude from Laurie Frankino, Ritual Chair

Most of us don’t realize how many TBS congregants volunteer their time in the preparation and execution of our High Holy Days services.  Thank you all for your valuable contribution.

• Jeanne Bluffstone for handling the publicity for Rabbi Egolf’s appointment to TBS prior to High Holy Days.
• Beth Angelotta who donated and planted the beautiful mum plants in the urns outside our front door in honor of the holidays.
• Kim Strausser, our temple president who gave input on all the service details, and gave a thought provoking speech on Yom Kippur morning.
• Toby Liberman, who began her term as Vice President with an insightful speech during Rosh Hashanah morning service. 
• Mark Schildhouse, Ed Weisman, Cliff Bailey, Rick Singer & Len Liberman,   who lead our heightened security team this year. 
• Mike Miller, volunteer building manager who inspected the entire building to be sure it was ready for services, and made himself available for last minute building emergencies as needed. 
• The 2013-14 B’nai Mitzvah Class and their families who spent a Sunday afternoon polishing the ark, the pews and silver pieces, setting up all the folding chairs to accommodate the overflow crowd, changing all the Shabbat prayer books for the holiday version, and cleaning the dust bunnies off the top of the ark and our beautiful ner tamid. 
• Beth Madis, Terri Cremer and Lisa Singer for coordinating the holiday tickets for members and guests. 
• David Wismer, our head usher for the last 12 years who gathered an excellent crew, trained them and supervised every service. His team of 9 ushers volunteered to direct traffic, operate the chair lift, check tickets, and answer the many questions asked of them.
• Jean Beasley, Ilene Shapiro and Art Busch who read Torah so beautifully during Rosh Hashanah morning services
• Amy Chupack, Elisa Gretta and Rebecca Egolf who provided a full oneg of sweets and treats after the Erev Rosh Hashanah service.
• Ben Margalit and Stefani Carlson who chanted their Torah portions during Yom Kippur morning service
• Ben Margalit who steps in whenever he is needed to read Torah and Haftorah during Yom Kippur afternoon services
• Dave Weisman for his moving violin solo of Kol Nidre
• Len Rose, who gave us another award winning rendition of Jonah 
• Jane Grover who coordinated this year’s Food Drive
• 80+ volunteer service readers, candle lighters and ark openers who participated in all 6 holiday services
• Our Shofar Squad, including Rabbi Jim from the bima, Julius Hess, Gabe Draper, Randy Weiner, Mintz, Ben Margalit, and a darling young lady whose name I don’t know,  who gave us a thrilling new presentation from 3 locations inside and outside the building on Rosh Hashanah morning so the sound of the shofar would follow us out the door. 
• Ed Weisman who led our afternoon education session during the Yom Kippur service break and the congregants who participated with them  
• The TBS Board for their efforts and their assistance behind the scenes
• And my new partner, Art Busch who lightened my load and was a most eager and welcome student.

The Ritual Committee is undertaking large and small projects throughout the year. Please think about joining us as a volunteer for one of them. An hour at home or at temple is meaningful. Do you like to brainstorm? shop? decorate? cook? phone? clean up? We need you! Please contact me by phone or e-mail. lfrankino@gmail.com, 330-620-2020.