Perhaps you’ve seen that phrase on a postcard or in a Voice ad, and, if you’re like many members, maybe you’ve taken it to heart. How else to explain why so many of you have chosen to take personal responsibility for our community by volunteering your time and increasing your pledges?

So far, about half of our members have renewed their membership and responded to the survey that was included in your renewal packets. Pledges are running well ahead of last year, with the vast majority of members either increasing or maintaining their financial commitment.

Whatever your reason to pledge, Shomrei Torah depends on you.

The survey results are equally encouraging. While three-fourths of members are satisfied with their involvement in synagogue life, one in five of you are looking for ways to increase your participation in Shomrei Torah activities. Now, with our new Connections Committee led by Paula Duran, getting involved is easier than ever. With a simple email or phone call, the Connections folks will help you find a volunteering opportunity that suits your interests, skills, and schedule. Ask any of the hundreds of fellow congregants about their volunteering experience and you’ll find how rich are the returns on even a small investment of your time and talent.

Whatever your reason to volunteer, Shomrei Torah has a job for you.

With the approach of the High Holy Days, many of us are reminded of the importance we place on being a part of this community. This annual rite is at once broadly communal and intensely personal, a time to gather strength from the group while we turn our gaze inward. Perhaps we need the safety we find in numbers to perform the hard work of individual reflection. For some of us, the High Holy Days are a chance to explore our personal relationship with God. For others, it’s a chance to renew our relationships with one another. And for some, it’s a chance to better understand ourselves.

Whatever your reason to participate, Shomrei Torah has a place for you.

If you haven’t yet renewed your membership, please make the effort to do it soon. Your renewal is required to enroll in Religious School and to receive a seating card for High Holy Day worship services. It’s also required for our community to continue to provide all of the reasons we joined in the first place: learning, prayer, fellowship, tradition, tikkun olam, and, of course, play. We each have our reasons to belong to this community, to support and sustain it, to shape its future, and to make it our own.

Whatever your reason to belong, Shomrei Torah belongs to you.

B’shalom,

Bruce