High Holy Days Gratitude from Laurie Frankino, Ritual Co-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.
- Kim Strausser, temple co-president who gave thoughtful input on all the service details, and took responsibility for the new plantings around our buildings’ foundation in time for the holiday services.
- Mark Schildhouse, who gave a thought provoking speech during Yom Kippur morning services.
- Eric Chupack, who began his term as Vice President with an insightful speech during Rosh Hashanah morning service about all the projects going on at TBS.
- Ed Weisman & Len Liberman, who led 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 2015-16 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, for coordinating the holiday tickets for members and guests.
- David Wismer, our head usher for the last 13 years who gathered an excellent crew, trained them and supervised every service. His team of 12 ushers volunteered to direct traffic, operate the chair lift, check tickets, and answer the many questions asked of them.
- Jean Beasley and Art Busch who read Torah so beautifully during Rosh Hashanah morning services
- Art Busch and Stefani Carlson who read/chanted their Torah portions during Yom Kippur morning service
- Ben Margalit who stepped in to read Torah during Yom Kippur afternoon services
- Rebecca Egolf who handled the Haftorah prayers and English translation during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
- Dave Weisman for his moving violin solo of Kol Nidre
- Len Rose, who gave us another award winning rendition of Jonah
- Marcy Caplin who coordinated this year’s Food Drive
- Jennifer Ramras, who updated, checked and double checked our ever-changing membership and Yahrzeit databases
- 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, and Ben Margalit, who gave us a thrilling 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 him
- The TBS Board for their efforts and their assistance behind the scenes
- And my partner, Art Busch who agreed to work with me a second year to lighten my load and who has an enormous amount of energy, enthusiasm and eagerness to learn.
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.