Dear WJC Family,
I hope everyone had meaningful and beautiful High Holiday experiences and that we are all sealed in the book of life for a great year ahead (gmar hatimah tovah). We are excited to turn the page, so to speak, to our next week of celebrations – Sukkot, including Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah! Before we close the book on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur (What? One book metaphor to many?) I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to all the people who work so hard to make it happen. Of course, a huge thank you goes out to my WJC clergy partners, Rabbi Dalton and Cantor Goldberg, as well as to our High Holiday Study Service clergy, Rabbi Jen Tobenstein and Seth Schafler, additional Family Service leader Matt Baum, and Teen Service leader Leigh Rapaport. These incredibly talented folks work for months leading up to the holidays to create powerful, meaningful, and accessible experiences for us all.
And speaking of folks who work for months to make sure things are not only spiritually successful, but also logistically smooth, thank you to our High Holiday Task Force leaders Harold Treiber and Susan Miller, as well as to Tracey Levy, our incredibly dedicated Spiritual Life Committee chair. They, along with a plethora of volunteers on the Task Force, its subcommittees, and honors coordinators for all the services, spent countless hours making everything work as well as possible.
And let’s not forget the professional staff who work so hard to support and supplement the efforts of the volunteers. WJC owes a debt of gratitude to our lead educators Aleza Kulp and Ann Pardes and their teachers, to our incredible office staff under the leadership of David Goldstein and Beth Weiss-Dunn, and to our communications guru Kate Schlientz. And as always, our heartfelt thanks go to the unsung heroes of the shul Jose Luis and our maintenance staff and Patty and her kitchen staff.
To all who helped us enter the year 5785 in the best way possible, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And to all of you who support us and have given me the honor of serving WJC as rabbi, thank you and wishing you a healthy and happy new year.
L’Shanah Tovah Tikateivu,