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Dear Friends, This past year was an extremely turbulent and troubling one, to say the least. The COVID pandemic forced us to adapt to a brand new way of life, one often devoid of face-to-face relationships with family, friends, and other loved ones, as well as members of our synagogue. On the brighter side, we now have effective vaccines that will change the direction of this dreadful virus. There is a sense that things will get better once the majority of the populace gets vaccinated. The other positive news is that we have just enjoyed wonderful traditional and contemporary joint holiday services with the JCC, our imminent future merger partner. The services were quite uplifting and demonstrated the cooperative nature of the two congregations, which will only be enhanced once we are formally joined together. In a reach-out to the entire community, we offered free access to our holiday services. Now, it is time for all of us to address the diminution of our finances, after this year of funding new programs and initiatives while also suffering a major reduction in revenues. Each year, our cost of running the synagogue increases while our revenues seem to lag behind – an untenable position! We must attack this problem together, so we implore each and every one of our members, as well as our other friends who also enjoyed our holiday services, to reach deeper into your pockets than ever before to help provide the financial support we need. We are relying on all of you to demonstrate how important our synagogue is in your lives by making a substantial monetary commitment. Only in this way can we survive as a vibrant house of worship and culture, both near-term and well into the future. We can only do this with your help and support! Thank you in advance for your consideration and generosity. With best wishes for the year ahead, Craig Bassett Ed Cohen |