Important Message to the Congregation
March 27, 2019
Dear Congregants,
We are fulfilling the original May 22, 2018 Congregational meeting motion to give the information gleaned over these last few months of research and discussion.
"In order to go forward expeditiously, I move to establish a committee representative of the entire Congregation consisting of no more than 13 people (including representatives from the Board, LRPC, Sisterhood, Brotherhood, Renaissance, as well as religious school parents and other congregants) with the purpose of immediately analyzing the options in the Board of Trustees Strategic Plan and the options in the LRPC report presented at the May 22 informational meeting. The committee will conduct focus groups to determine the concerns and desires of our congregation, seek advice from the URJ, gather information on the consequences and feasibility of the options, and explore the critical factors and key questions required to allow the congregation to make informed decisions. The committee will have up to 8 months to complete their assignment and will make monthly progress reports to the Temple Board. When the committee has presented all its findings to the Board and the Board has determined the options for the path forward are ready to be presented to the congregation, a congregation meeting will be called."
There will be NO vote taken on April 7, 2019. It is an informational meeting only.
Roberta and Ellen
On Friday evening, March 29 following services at 8:00 pm, Temple Sha'arey Shalom, 78 South Springfield Avenue, Springfield, will host New Jersey native and former Kansas Poet Laureate Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, who will read from and discuss her new novel, Miriam's Well: A Modern Day Exodus, about finding our purpose, place, and people. The novel speaks to the role of Midrash in our lives, telling the story of a modern-day Miriam who, while seeking her own promised land, discovers how to turn the chaos and despair of our times into music, meals, and miracles. In addition to a reading from the novel, Caryn will talk about Midrash, finding new meaning in our most sacred stories, and what she sees in the story of the Exodus about how we can cultivate more of the promised land in our lives.
March 8, 2019: Services @ 7:30pm
Rabbi Israel S. (Sy) Dresner was Temple Sha'arey Shalom’s first full-time rabbi. He was one of the most active Jewish religious leaders in America in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. He was once known as the Most Arrested Rabbi in America and continues to be known as the Most Jailed Rabbi in America. As a result of Rabbi Dresner’s close relationship with the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Dr. King spoke at Temple Sha'arey Shalom twice, in 1963 and 1966.
