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August

I’m in Nepal at this writing, working with the Ministry of Health on a strategy to reduce iron deficiency anemia in the country. It's gorgeous here—one of the few places that might compensate for not spending July in Vermont.

A few thoughts as we prepare for the coming year—one that will be an historic one for us as we move into our new home.

First, I was so moved by the celebration we held in June for Ben Kotkov. That event made me more aware than ever of the importance of our congregational history, and the fact that the momentous happenings of the present are possible in large part because of the dedicated individuals who shouldered BAJC responsibilities in the past. So, during this year of our historic move, I hope to invite former presidents and other active leaders of our congregation to speak at Friday night services about BAJC during their tenure..

Jim Levinson, Sh'liach Tzibur, and Rachel Prabhakar, BAJC President
 

On to the High Holidays. The Hebrew month of Elul begins this year on August 18. Once again we will be collecting the "random acts of kindness" we and our family members carry out during this month so we can read them anonymously at Rosh Hashanah and then send them heavenwards. Please e-mail them to me at jim@bajcvermont.org or fill out the Random Acts form here.

Once again our BAJC choir will be singing. Rehearsals are tentatively planned for Thursday September 2 and Thursday September 9 from 6 to 7 PM, place to be announced.

And once again I look forward to sharing the bimah with Andi and Andrea. We also are planning some special offerings by our younger generation and tributes to some of our golden age members. We hope to repeat last year's wonderfully successful Torah challenge: present B’nai Mitzvah students and post- B'nai Mitzvah persons who have not yet graduated from college will receive a CD of their choice plus a contribution to the building fund in their names just for learning and chanting three sentences of Torah for the Yom Kippur morning services. Tapes will again be available. If interested, please e-mail me.

I will be offering two of our four holy day sermons. The first, on erev Rosh Hashanah, will be of a spiritual nature. The second, on Kol Nidre, will be on the important but difficult topic of Jews in the world today.

For the first time in perhaps 18 years, dear Faith—who continues to do so much else for our congregation—will not be coordinating the logistics of our High Holiday services. We find ourselves responding with very mixed reactions. On the one hand, Faith and Abe surely deserve to be relieved of some of their responsibilities—and to have the chance to spend time around the Holidays with their family. At the same time, moving forward without Faith on anything brings with it more than a little trepidation!

Happily, Jennifer has volunteered to assume overall administrative responsibility for the High Holidays this year. In this she will get lots of assistance from Laura, Paul, Rachel and myself, and from many others of you who hopefully will volunteer. Please wish us luck, and please be patient with us!

I’m very much looking forward to this historic year for our congregation.

B’shalom,

Jim