I hope everyone is enjoying a great summer. While many of us are vacationing and enjoying the outdoors, Temple Beth El will be busy with a flurry of activities. Although Cantor Bernard will be taking his Sabbatical this summer, we will still be enjoying wonderful Shabbat services with Mary Thomas filling in for him.

Thanks to the generosity of Brotherhood and several congregants, we will be installing new Membership software to replace our old computer software. Once we convert to our new system, our staff will have better information to serve you and to communicate more effectively with you. We are implementing new internal controls in the office, which were recently recommended to the Board by an outside consulting firm.

Rabbi Barras will be taking a group of teenagers to Israel in August and provide a once in a lifetime experience to these lucky young adults. Rabbi Barras has done a remarkable job of kindling the spirit of all of the congregants who have visited Israel on one of our Temple trips.

At the annual meeting, we elected a new Board, and we will be having a Board retreat this summer to plan for the upcoming year. We will be doing our annual update of committees and chairpeople. If you are interested in serving on a committee in any capacity, please let Sara Schreibman or me know.

We have retained EHL consultants to do a capital/building campaign assessment. Their job is to interview a sampling of 40 to 50 families and determine our capacity to conduct a successful campaign to insure the long-term viability of our congregation. Please cooperate if EHL calls you to be interviewed. This study will conclude in August, and we will use this data as part of our long-range plan, which we will share with you when it is completed later this year.

Please save the weekend of September 9,10,11 for a wonderful celebration - Temple Beth El’s Bar Mitzvah. It’s hard to believe that our “new” building is 13 years old, and we are going to have a spectacular and fun weekend celebrating. The weekend includes a Friday night Shabbat honoring our past presidents, a Saturday night party that will be the “event of the year,” and a Sunday filled with family fun. You will be getting more information throughout the summer about the TBE Bar Mitzvah, so please don’t miss it.

Before you know it, we will be preparing for the High Holidays. So enjoy your summer, celebrate Shabbat at Temple when you are home, and we’ll all get together as a Temple community the weekend of September 9,10,11 to celebrate our 13th year.

Thanks to all of you who support and enjoy our congregation. It has been a pleasure to be your President this last year and I look forward to an even better 2005-06.

Fred Dumas, President