Let me give you a quick update of what has been going on at Temple. This summer our early Shabbat service has had record attendance (200-300 congregants per week). The format seems to be very appealing, and we are evaluating the elements of this success to keep building on it during the year.

We have a new Board and Executive Committee which are very talented and dedicated. The Board will kick off the year with our annual Board retreat at the end of August to work on our key initiatives for 2005-2006.

We installed a new computer system for membership management this summer to replace our previously out of date, unsupported system, and thanks to the help of Mike Yaffe and Herm Ziegler, we had a very smooth conversion

The Temple Bar Mitzvah committee headed by Janet Lefkowitz and Marcy Dumas has been working very hard to make the weekend of September 9,10,11 one of the most fun and enjoyable in Temple history. I hope you are all planning to attend some portion of the Temple Beth El Bar Mitzvah weekend, which includes a Shabbat service honoring our past presidents, a very beautiful Bar Mitzvah party Saturday night, and a fun family event on Sunday. Remember that the Bar Mitzvah party on Saturday is limited to 225 members and will be available on a first come-first serve basis, so don’t delay in sending your RSVP.

We will receive the results of the EHL consulting group by early September to provide us guidance for the future direction of Temple Beth El. This study and the results of the survey you participated in at the end of last year will be the foundation for our long range plan.

The staff and choir are working very hard to prepare for another beautiful High Holiday season. It is an incredible amount of work for everyone to make the High Holidays such a wonderful, spiritual time of year. As a reminder, please send your dues commitment in early so that the staff doesn’t have to do a last minute fire drill the week of Rosh Hashana processing dues and ticket renewals. Thanks for your help.

I hope the summer has been a good one for all of you, and I look forward to seeing you at the Bar Mitzvah weekend.

Fred Dumas, President