What’s
in the works for this year?
Many of you kindly took the time to fill out the survey
questionnaires that BAJC sent out this spring. The congregation
clearly
identified its top priorities for this year as the following:
building, membership growth, education of our children,
and social action. I’d like to give you a brief overview
of what we have planned for this year in each of these
four areas.
Building
The Building committee is pursuing permitting for the new
sanctuary. This project is expected to be costly, and we
believe that we are looking at a four or five year time
frame before the new sanctuary might be completed. In the
meantime, the committee is working on the permitting process
to enable us to use
the existing house for Hebrew school,
Shabbat services, meetings, and small gatherings. We will
need to complete some work on the house (including electrical
upgrades, fire safety upgrades, and other work), as well
as some work on the grounds (including creating parking,
handicapped access, lighting, and safe egress from the
property), but we expect that we can move into our new
home within the year!
Membership Growth
The Membership committee is working on a number of plans
to reach out to current and new members. These range from
simple ideas to make our services more friendly, such as
providing name tags, to considering a major event such
as a community seder.
Hebrew School
Our wonderful Education Director has planned a Tzedakah theme
for Hebrew school this year. Please see
her column for
more information about our school.
Social Action
The Social Action committee has a rich and exciting slate
of events planned for this year. These include an expanded
food drive for the High Holy Days to benefit our local
food pantries, a program on Jewish-Muslim dialog that we
will be co-sponsoring with SIT in November, and a Hunger
Banquet that we are co-sponsoring with All Souls Church.
Wishing you all the very best as you begin the new year – Shanah
Tova!
Rachel
rachel@bajcvermont.org
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