Message from the President 5/8/2014
This communication serves as our announcement for the annual congregational meeting this year on June 6th at 7:30, right before our service at 7:45 PM. Fifteen minutes is all we have to do the following things: elect new members to the board or to new positions on the board, review the past year and answer questions regarding the budget. Because of the limited time, I am offering this e-Megillah communication to convey as much as possible prior to the annual meeting. Here is the slate of people to be elected: Toby Liberman to a vice president position, Cliff Baily to the secretary position, and two new trustees to the board-Robin Rosen-Sharp and Eric Chupak. Other board members currently serving have agreed to remain on the board and complete or continue their terms: me, president, Steve Fettman, vice president, Lisa Singer, treasurer, Mark Schildhouse, past president and trustees: Laurie Frankino, Elisa Gretta, Sandy Ternay, Art Busch, Terri Cremer, Jane Grover, and Wendy Hess.
The past year has been an exciting one for me as your temple President. It started off with hiring a new education director. How fortunate we are that Stefani Carlson took on the role so expertly. As the High Holy Days came, we discovered that we would need to find a new rabbi for 2014. I am grateful to the search committee and board for their dedication to the process. In July 2014 we will welcome Rabbi James E. Egolf as our new rabbi. Our search committee members included: Marcy Caplin, Andry Scholem, Ed Weisman, Eric Chupack, Howard Moss, Jodi Fettman, Len Liberman, Jean Beasley and James Levin. We kicked off our 36th anniversary with a lovely event at Sandy Ternay and Howard Moss’s home on August 10th. We walked the Torahs from our old building to our new and celebrated Simchat Torah in September. We celebrated Thanksgivukkah in 2013 and had a beautiful Tu’bishvat event in January. We saw the beginning of a wonderful new and active group to TBS-Brotherhood! They hosted an Israeli wine tasting event and then helped organize a moving and incredible Yom Hashoah service. Sisterhood held a fundraiser for the religious school in October and started their own book group during one of their monthly dinner parties. A Sistas and guest night was another great success in May. As I recently noted, Temple Beth Shalom is a happening place! We have Hubsty, Torah study, book groups, religious school, community events and worship services. Our anniversary celebration weekend is on Friday, May 16th with special Shabbat services and guest speaker, Rabbi Steve Mills; and a cookout on Sunday, May 18th. Members of TBS should be receiving notice about our farewell celebration for Rabbi Ezring on Friday, June 6th. Please come and honor Rabbi Ezring and celebrate his retirement.
Stefani has prepared a report about our religious school below. I felt it would be helpful for members to read these reviews before our very short meeting on June 6th. As always, if you have questions or concerns send me an email at kimmike89@roadrunner.com or give me a call at 330-653-1311.
Kim Strausser
President