From the President

Dear Haverim:

I am writing to you in my capacity as president of Shir Hadash to wish you good health and many blessings in the New Year. Soon we will be gathering together as a community as we have done for more than twenty-five years, to be together and to pray together as a community.

While we will not have our Rabbi with us in person this High Holiday season, she will be with us in spirit. We have benefited greatly from her presence and I believe that we are a closer and more cohesive community as a result of her influence.

Last year, about this time, I wrote of the important contribution we each make to Shir Hadash every time we participate in the activities of our group. Participating is how we affirm our Jewishness for ourselves, our families, and our friends.

In this upcoming year, I would ask you to do one more thing: be an advocate for Shir Hadash. What do I mean by an “advocate” for Shir Hadash? As you know, we have formed a Communications committee to let our surrounding world know as much about us and our planned activities as we possibly can.

This new committee and the Membership committee have been working< closely with one another to find ways to reach out to the larger Jewish community and to attempt to help grow our membership. We cannot be successful in this regard without your help. Please think about encouraging your friends and colleagues to attend our events, both our services and our social gatherings. Consider acting as a host/greeter every time you see a new face in our midst, and finally, think about becoming a “buddy” to a new member or even a prospective new member. We cannot grow without your support. Both the Membership Committee and I would welcome any thoughts or ideas you may have for augmenting our membership.

Speaking of support; this is the time of year when we also demonstrate our participation in the Havurah by contributing monetarily. At our Members’ meeting two months ago, we set the target voluntary contribution this year at $628 per adult member. This amount is the average per adult member that we need to raise in order to meet our expenses for the year. Please consider giving more if you can. It is our custom that each member should give according to his or her means.

Please give as generously as you can (all contributions are fully tax deductible), and send your contribution by check (made payable to Shir Hadash) to our treasurer, Ellen Fisher.

May the New Year bring good health, peace, and contentment for us and for all of our fellow human beings.

Michael Feldstein