"L'Shanah Tovah!"
The story is told of a man who once took upon himself the challenge of walking alone across the entire continent, from coast to coast. He began in Southern California, at the Pacific Ocean, and slowly made his way across the nation. Months later, exhausted, but exhilarated, he arrived in New York, surrounded by the hordes of well-wishers hoping to catch a glimpse of the new celebrity. One reporter managed to catch his attention, and asked him what his greatest challenge was as he traversed the continent. Everyone fell silent, wondering how he would answer. What was his greatest challenge? Was it the heat of the desert? The difficult mountain ranges? The loneliness and solitude he faced? The man paused for a few moments, and then smiled, looked down at his shoes, and replied: "It was the pebble in my shoe!"

A new year begins -- another year has ended. We breathe a collective sigh of relief as we look back upon the last twelve months. What a difficult and challenging year it has been -- a year filled with remarkable, painful, tragic, life-changing challenges. If we are truly honest, though, our greatest challenges may not have been those in the world around us, for which the solutions are so daunting. Instead, what challenged us most were the simple, painful challenges that nagged at us constantly, and about which we could have done something, if only we were willing. Like a pebble in our shoe, we try to ignore these annoyances, but they only get worse, more and more annoying, until finally, we can stand it no more and we do something about them.

The High Holy Days are an opportunity for all of us to do just this. We cannot help but reflect, but our tradition also challenges us to look ahead. How do we want to change ourselves in the coming year? What new challenges will we face? What opportunities lie before us? How will we choose to live our lives?

As we begin a new year at Temple, we have many changes to welcome. Together with the leadership of the congregation, the Temple staff is constantly listening to members, evaluating our strengths and weaknesses, and seeking to make Temple Beth El the best synagogue we can possibly be.

We have exciting plans to strengthen and increase participation in Adult learning at Temple Beth El, to make our worship services even more meaningful and fulfilling, to help every member of the community to find a place to get active and involved in Jewish life. In this bulletin and throughout the year, we will be inviting each and every one of you to choose to make Judaism and Temple more a part of your life. We hope you will all respond. We need your participation, your feedback, your ideas, your partnership, your vision, in order to accomplish our goals. Yes, we need to stop from time to time and take the pebbles out of our shoe, but we also need to remain upon our journey, keeping our ultimate purposes and goals in mind.

May this coming year be one of blessing, love, goodness and peace for all of us, for all the world. Amy, Abby, Ethan, and Michelle join with me in saying "L'shanah Tovah! -- May the New Year be a good one!"
 
James M. Bennett