The President's Corner
January, 2005
How did it get to be Chanukah so fast? Even though you spun like a dreidel with all the things you had to do, I hope you took some time to smell the latkes. Beth Sholom hosted a party or two; I hope you were here to enjoy them.
This Bulletin is being assembled before the Board of Trustees meeting, so I cannot give you a report. I can tell you what's been swirling around in my head regarding the next Board meeting. In random order: Where are we with the Day School? David Epstein will be giving us a heads up; Andy Mekelburg. and Jaques Reifman will be telling us our Investment Committee's plans; pros and cons of adding the once-a-month Day School bingo; and a men's branch of the Sisterhood. Yes, you heard right. Certain men have asked to participate in meal preparation for Shabbos and simchas. I say one-der-ful, but they gotta clean up after themselves. Also, the men may need a few women to open the pickle jars. Seriously, it's about time, but our mashgiach, Eileen Marcus, or a professional will have to be on duty to supervise.
We'll also check the progress on the Home Security grants, defibrillator, building repairs, teen club, library, etc. The high light of the meeting will be the post-mortem of the Gala, which I think exceeded everyone's expectations. The Gala was well attended and hosted with charm by Marty Erlichman and Stephanie Egly. In addition, the food was great, the comedian was funny, and the auction raised lots of money. The best part was that the honorees got to see how many people appreciated their efforts, and the members of the audience got the chance to show their gratitude.
Mistakes were made. It's possible that groups of Beth Sholom members, namely young professionals, have been socially excluded from the shul's focus. We have received a few letters from a member who has high standing in our shul community. She volunteers unselfishly to serve our members. I won't mention her name, but she sees lots of demands and few benefits. I have to agree that we are geared to families with school-age children. Jewish education is, and should be, our most important priority. Parents can be counted on to be vocal about education. And to quote everyone's father, "it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease." So the Board will be talking about how to better serve the "silent minority," those members without school-age children.
I have an audit update for you. We last had one in 2002. We are due for another at the end of this fiscal year, which is June '05. Our treasurer, Richard Stern, and Pauline Horn are currently taking bids from accounting firms.
The Frederick News-Post has run some wonderful articles about Chanukah lately. Last month the newspaper described our arrangement with merchants to donate proceeds from gift shopping to the shul. In addition, a full-page explanation of the holiday was run last week that a gentile friend told me was fascinating. Just today there was a story with pictures showing two of our cheder boys lighting candles. The article went on to quote Myra Triber explaining the miracle of the lights and the significance of those oily latkes. I wonder if there will ever be a religious holiday in honor of Zantac?
On December 19, I'm off to Israel with 89 other Frederick and Baltimore folks for two and a half weeks. Rabbi Finkeistem is hosting and Rabbi Kosman will be joining us. We'll be gone for 16 days visiting Prague , Jerusalem , the Galilee , the Dead Sea , Masada , and other places of interest. I have never been. Rabbi tells me to expect BIG things. Truly, I will be "next year in Jerusalem !"
Shalom,
Andy Carpel
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