A TIME FOR CHANGES As most of you know by now, Rabbi Hirschfeld has left us and we have signed a contract with Eliana Falk as our new spiritual leader who will start on August 1, 2008. There is biographical information about Eliana in this bulletin.

A new spiritual leader is always a difficult time for a congregation. There will be some changes that she will introduce: she may omit certain prayers from a service; perhaps some that we like; she may introduce new prayers; she may sing certain prayers with different tunes, not necessarily the tunes we all know. We must also get to know Eliana. It is up to every one of us to make her feel comfortable in our synagogue, just as we would invite a guest to our home. For those of us who have met Eliana, we are comfortable that she will listen to the congregation and try to meet our needs.

We must also listen to Eliana. We must sample the changes she introduces and just like tasting new foods, there will be some that we like, some that we can live with and some that we do not like. We must give her a chance. I am confident that with the appropriate dialogue, we will all find a comfortable level in the synagogue.

We decided to change the location of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur High Holiday services to the Heritage Hotel. We think the venue will meet our needs and the price is right. We are in the process of engaging a Cantor to assist Eliana with the High Holiday Services. We think the combination of new Rabbi and Cantor will make for exciting High Holiday Services.

The Board of Directors is working very hard to insure the smooth functioning of the synagogue. As always, we welcome your input and recommendations.