Letters From Our Leaders

RABBI ARI AVERBACH

rabbiaverbach@templeetzchaim.org

A few days after Yom Kippur, we found ourselves in the middle of two events. One happens every year, the other happens once in a generation. The first was Sukkot. With the help of our amazing maintenance staff and Men’s Club volunteers, we put up a Sukkah that was nearly 2,000 square feet. Over the course of the week, we had services and meals in there, all of the preschool students ate and sang, Men’s Club had an event and religious school hosted a dinner for the community. The weather was nearly perfect (including a few raindrops). Among other themes of the holiday, Sukkot is a reminder of how little we need to survive. After spending hours indoors on the High Holy Days praying about our trust in God, Sukkot is the holiday of acting out that trust, bringing us back to the Garden of Eden, surrounded by nature and the elements. All we need is some food, something to drink, some companions to join us in conversation and song, and some bug spray. Everything else is extra. The other major event was the beginning of demolition as we prepare for the remodel of the sanctuary building. As we sat in the Sukkah, construction crews were busy inside disassembling the restrooms. We went through our offices and our communal spaces, packing boxes – some for storage, some for recycling. We were again reminded about how little we need to survive. As long as we have our phones and computers, a few books and other odds and ends, we will be okay. It will be different, for certain, but we can still be Temple Etz Chaim as we begin to update our (almost) 40-year-old building. How lucky we are to have. We have more than we need. But with Sukkot and the building update, we get our reminder that we can get by with just the essentials – and some companions to join us in conversation and song.

ERIC FEIGENBAUM, PRESIDENT

eric@templeetzchaim.org

November is a time of Thanksgiving on the secular calendar and a time when TEC too has reason for gratitude. Our generous congregation donated more than $2.5 million in our recent capital campaign to renovate our synagogue and pay down our mortgage. While services and events will be in the Wolfson Auditorium instead of our beloved Paskow Sanctuary, we’ll be able to look across the plaza with excitement for the beautiful and updated building we’ll enjoy again come Spring. And while Autumn is typically a time of harvest, at TEC we’re planting seeds. Work on new and exciting programming for 2023 is well underway and expected to reach full bloom in Spring. We expect big name speakers both on and off campus, adopting a new sister-synagogue, courses for parents, new congregational “town hall” meetings and continuation of the popular "Sunday Stickaround.” If all goes well, 2023 will be a big year full of new and promising things for Temple Etz Chaim. Of course, there’s plenty to be thankful for in the present too. TEC’s membership has been growing, our schools are full, and we have a strong balance sheet with large reserves. But most importantly, we’re all back together again after two years of distancing. Our services and events feel warmer than ever as we once again share our triumphs, challenges, losses and simchas side-byside.