Executive Officers 2015-2016
|
Cheryl Rosenstein |
Rabbi |
|
Elliott Magnus |
President |
|
Greg Broida |
Vice President |
|
Tim Fromm |
Corresponding Secretary |
|
Jill Egland |
Recording Secretary |
|
Irvin Pike |
Financial Secretary |
|
Andy Abrams |
Treasurer |
|
Lorrie Larribas |
Administrator |
RABBI’S ROSENSTEIN’S RUMINATIONS (from the September 2016 Shofar)
I recently spotted on Facebook a very clever video produced by Temple Sholom of Cincinnati. It was an installment of a series they’ve titled “The Modern Synagogue.” In it, a reporter follows “Someone Else” as she undertakes each and every task “assigned” to her. In the video, “Someone Else” is an actual person who spends all her time voluntarily setting up the oneg Shabbat, arranging chairs, putting away Torah commentaries in the sanctuary, and generally doing all the necessary things no one else will do. From her inconspicuous corner on the floor of the synagogue, sans desk, she even draws up plans for the Temple’s new dues structure and vision for the future.
The humor is clearly tongue-in-cheek. And it reminded me how fortunate we are to have as many “Someone Elses” as we do: members who fix what breaks, trim and tend our plantings, show up to serve oneg Shabbat and tidy the kitchen afterward, move the siddurim and machzorim (Shabbat and High Holy Day prayer books) in and out of the sanctuary in season, build our Sukkah, staff the gift shop, shelve the library books, and more. It truly takes a village to do all the things that need doing to keep our Temple running!
When Moses stood on the other side of the Jordan River and delivered the sermons that make up the better part of the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy), he entrusts his knowledge and his Torah to the people. He knows he will not be around to see things through- so Gd has already told him. And he is very concerned about the people, and the Torah, and the fate of the entire project to which he has devoted his life.
Fortunately for us, Joshua, his successor, and many others did in fact pick up Moses’s torch and ran with it – again, and again, and again. The Torah is still among us, still teaches us, because of their efforts. And now it is our turn. Our turn to keep Judaism alive and moving forward, our turn to fulfill the commandments, our turn to ensure that the everlasting “Olympic flame,” the Ner Tamid of tradition, remains lit to inspire generations yet to come.
I thank you for heeding the call – and pray that you will continue to heed it. We need each other. Our Temple needs you. Bakersfield needs our Temple. And Judaism needs all of us to tend and carry the flame.
Livracha,
Rabbi Cheryl Rosenstein