Rabbi's Blog

I wanted to wish you all a nice break, and hope you can relax a little bit over the next few weeks. Recently we have seen three new staff members join our ranks. Our Executive Director Mordechai, has already become one of our elder statesmen. Nancy, with really helpful assistance from Michelle, has transitioned nicely to the office administrator, aka "responsible for everything" job, and now that Faige is married and living in the Holy Land, I am excited to introduce you to Daniel Mendel, our new Bookkeeper/Comptroller( see bio below). What has struck me about our old staff is how willing and accessible they have been to our new staff. What a Blessing!! In addition to many lifecycle events, this past month it has been a real treat participating in our Mega Chanukah bash and to see new Members taking on leadership roles at The Centre. The Chanukah committee ( Katie Mandel, Lauren Goldman & Karen Angell) is just one example of this. We also enjoyed a very special Shabbos tribute to the Glace Bay community as we brought in a Torah from their shul to our Centre. Lastly, I just want to let you know that our membership has surged to over 300 families. This is, in my opinion, a major milestone. However, beyond the numbers, what is just as significant is the diversity of our Congregation. We have members from all ages and religious levels. We even have people that root for the Red Sox amongst us. I know... we have no standards :) I would like to share with you some of my personal and Centre goals for the remainder of 5779. On the personal side, I would like to get back to my pre-marriage weight, and return to jogging and run a half marathon with Rifky . I would like to continue with my current studies, but start learning Derech Hashem with the 7:50am group . I also want to become more proficient in Mikvah laws as we are opening up the Mikvah in just a few weeks. I also want to be better at homework with my children. No promises. As far as the Centre goes, I would like to see our Shabbos morning attendance grow, and our classes impacting more people. I have a few ideas about connecting with our tweens and teens but I'll reveal that soon. I also want to see growth in our weekday Minyan, and plan to launch something new in January to support that. I would love to see all of us grow in our Service of Hashem (that's key:). This January I am off to Israel with my son Shlomo, and plan on searching for our much elusive couple to run our youth department. After a quiet 2018, we have an exciting major fundraising campaign which we will be launching soon. These are just some of the things happening here. Enjoy your break, and I can't wait to connect for an amazing 2019. Good Shabbos, Stay Jewish, Be Jewish, Live Jewish .