Congregation Lay Leadership

Wow, what a wonderful day! The dedication of our new Torah was one of the most inspirational days yet at Congregation Shomrei Torah. From the adorable Tot dedication in the morning (with our devoted Tot Shabbat leader, Lauren Kalmenson) to the awe-inspiring musical composition �V�Samachta� by our fellow congregant, Nolan Gasser, we were enthralled. And of course, in between, we had many highlights, including the presentation of the Religious School quilt (coordinated by Marcia Gladstone), the beautiful chanting of Shoshana Leibowitz from our new Torah, meaningful speeches by Rabbi George and our sofer, Rabbi Youlus, and a Hakafa featuring our new Torah, with exquisite new mantle and adornments. As always, Leira and the choir led the congregation in uplifting musical prayer, and the final blasts of multiple shofars seemed a fitting end to an exciting year of writing our new Torah. In keeping with our culture of gratitude at CST, I�d like to acknowledge those who have contributed both to our dedication program on November 15, and to our wonderful year-long Torah project.

To begin, many thanks go to Rabbi George and Leira, who, in coordination with the Year of Our Torah (YOOT) committee, put together a beautiful and smoothlyflowing program for November 15. As they did throughout the year, Fran and Denise in the front office attended to the many details of the event, ensuring its success, as well. Our current adult B�Nai Mitzvah class generously provided refreshments for the reception, and the lovely chuppah was created � as it was throughout the Year of Our Torah � by Cynthia Calmenson. A number of volunteer photographers enthusiastically took on the assignment of recording this event, as did Mike Tunick of Tunick Videography.

An extremely hard-working group of individuals took charge of our Torah project all year long. The Year of Our Torah (YOOT) committee was comprised of our fearless leader, Marlene Stein, and fellow members Gesher Calmenson, Judith Goleman, Manny Nestle, Paul Munson, Billie Blumenthal, Fran Brumlik, Bruce Falstein and myself. This group, in concert with Rabbi George and the Board, set out the plan for the entire year�s activities, and made sure that this plan was followed. The YOOT committee took responsibility for interviewing soferim (scribes), and seeing to our chosen sofer�s transportation, housing and special food needs while he was here at every visit. This was also the group who proposed to the Board levels of giving by congregants, and coordinated letter-writing days with various segments of our community.

Additionally, the committee researched and obtained Torah adornments, handled publicity (thanks to Bruce Falstein), and was responsible for engaging other congregation members to help with the zillion little tasks each event required. Many thanks go to these stalwart volunteers; though, as a member of the committee, I have to say that we each took great pleasure in being intimately involved with this project. Over the course of the year, numerous CST members helped with our letter-writing days: greeting, hand-washing, list-keeping, calling letter-writers up to the bimah, directing folks to their next station. Todah rabah to all of you who volunteered in these ways. Our appreciation also goes to those who helped with Rabbi Youlus� last letter-writing visit � to the hardy group of phone-callers, organized by Franny Posner, who called each member of congregation to make sure that everyone had one last chance to participate, and to the Men�s Bagel Club, who graciously hosted a wonderful bar-b-que. Thanks, as well, to those who helped provide activities to keep our kids occupied on that day.

Others who gave so generously of their time, over the course of the year, were the women of the Pomegranate Guild �and associates.� This group spent many days doing the needlework necessary to create our beautiful new Torah mantle, designed by Caryn Fried. Special thanks go to the Art Committee, for its involvement in choosing designs, and to Ben Benson, who served as Torah handyman, devising ways of keeping the rimonim fastened securely to the Torah, and the like.

Additional people to thank are Jay Peretz and Paul Munson, who spent numerous hours posting the thousands of photos taken by our hard-working photographers: Ira and Janet Gelfman, Scott Posner, Ani Weaver, Owen Shirwo, Jerry Newman, Rick Reisman, Paul, Jay and me. Bill Skoonberg, as always, enthusiastically handled the layout of brochures, forms and mailings, and designed our logo. Finally, I would like to acknowledge Billie Blumenthal, our Religious School Director, who did a wonderful job of preparing and organizing the teachers, parents and kids, for their participation in the Year of Our Torah project. Due to the efforts of all of the above, the days that our children wrote their letters were among the most moving. After the Torah dedication, Rabbi Youlus said that if one thing stood out about our congregation, it was our spirit of volunteerism. I am in complete agreement. Through the efforts of so many of us, as volunteers, we have strengthened our community, and have left an awesome legacy to the generations that follow: a new Torah.

And for those of you who didn�t have an opportunity to volunteer for this project, worry not! Look through the Voice or our website (www.shomreitorah.org) for committees you might like to join, or events you might wish to help with � maybe the cookbook or congregational retreat in April holds some appeal for you. If nothing specific strikes your fancy, think of someone at CST that you enjoy being with, and help them with whatever project they are working on! Or, you can attend the Community in Conversation event at CST on December 9 and discuss ways we can help our congregants make stronger connections.

Recently, I received an email that said, �Cheryl R sent you a message on Facebook.� The subject line of the email was �Temple President� and it was followed by �Dearest Marcy, Does your shul stand or sit during the Shema :)))? How are you? The kiddos? Love and hugs, Cheryl (in North Carolina).�

I eventually figured out how to respond on Facebook (with help from one of my kids) and after a few more exchanges, we spoke at length on the phone. This was wonderful, as Cheryl was a friend from California with whom I had lost contact about 15 years ago. I was quite puzzled, though, about how she knew I was the president of a temple, and even more surprised when she told me that she loved the article I�d written about my father and the shul in Maine � especially since the article had been in the Voice, which I thought was password-protected on our CST website.

So, here is the story: Cheryl had �googled� me. Under my name was a reference to my being the president of Shomrei Torah, and there was a link that went directly to the Leadership page of the CST website. Unbeknownst to me, Jay Peretz (webmaster extraordinaire) had put my Voice article on that page under � duh � �Message from the Board President.�

Anyone can see that message, not just Shomrei Torah members.

Through this experience, it occurred to me that if I didn�t know this article was there � and I was a long-standing member of the Communications Committee � then there were probably lots of Shomrei Torah members who had little idea what was on our website. I thought this would be a good opportunity to mention a few of the remarkable things we are now able to do on the Shomrei Torah website www. shomreitorah.org:

� Submit a recipe to our new Shomrei Torah cookbook.
� Listen to the Shabbat blessings.
� Buy a Shomrei Shop gift certificate.
� View hundreds of photographs of CST members writing letters in our new Torah.
� Send yourself a reminder about a Shomrei Torah event, from the calendar.
� Read an article about CST members helping take care of campers with the H1N1 flu at Camp Newman.
� Find out how to get emergency assistance from a local Jewish agency.
� Listen to Rabbi George�s High Holy Day sermons.
� Watch our Darfur march featured on TV.
� See the religious school schedule for the next four months.

Of course, there is much more. At the moment, you can hear the shofar being blown on the home page, but I�m sure this will have changed by the time you receive this Voice. I would encourage you to peruse the site, and its links, as Jay is always making updates. Also, contributions are welcomed � feel free to send Jay a Jewish Journey, photograph or addition to our ever-expanding congregational calendar. Who knows? Maybe your contribution will cause you to connect with a long lost friend, or perhaps to make a connection with a new friend.

Here�s a �website challenge� for any of you who are interested: by using the Shomrei Torah website, what are some of the ways you can find the answer to the question �Should we sit or stand when we recite the Shema?� I�ll be interested to hear any answers you have found, as well as the various ways you were able to find them. Please let me know at president@ shomreitorah.org. I�ll tell you about the results in a later Voice article.

As President of Shomrei Torah, and on behalf of the Board, it�s my pleasure to welcome you to High Holy Day services. I am grateful to be spending this time with you. You are my extended family.

At the High Holy Days, each of asks �Who am I? Who am I at this particular moment in time? As President, it seems appropriate to pose the question �Who are we? Who are we as a congregation?�

Well, there are many different ways to answer this question, and I�m not going to answer this question in a thorough, in-depth way. Rather, if I were to take a kind of quick �snapshot� of our congregation at this moment, I would describe us as being a very diverse - and engaged � Jewish community.

We are diverse in a number of different ways. Some of us were raised Jewish; some are Jews by choice, and others are here because we are in relationship to someone who is Jewish. We are young, old, middle-aged. We are single, married, divorced, widowed, living with significant others. We have different sexual orientations. Some of us have children and some of us don�t. Some of us have money and some of us don�t (although I�m quite sure that all of us have a lot less of it than we did last year.) We hold different political beliefs.

Our joys and our struggles also run the gamet of all human experience. We are welcoming new babies into our families, and we are dealing with the loss of loved ones. Some of us have lost jobs or our homes; others of us are newly employed and feel energized. Some of us are dealing with elderly parents or with siblings or friends with significant health problems. Others are newly married and feel excited about beginning a life together.

Add to that our innate personalities and personal histories � all completely unique �and the picture emerges of a very diverse group of individuals. It�s a little overwhelming, really, to think about how all of us can co-exist peacefully in this one community. But we do, and I think that it�s because our mission really is to embrace our diversity; one of our overriding purposes, as written in our mission statement, is to �develop a sensitive, caring and supportive congregational community where all are welcome and included.� As members of the Jewish people, we take these values very seriously.

For me, diversity is what makes our congregation grow and change and continue to be the exciting place it has become. It�s the basis for the wide range of activities we offer, enabling each of us to enter congregational life at whatever point we choose. Young families might become members of Shomrei Torah to join the religious school, while other members may be drawn to lifelong learning lectures. Some members feel passionately about effecting change in the world and so join the social action committee, while others of us prefer to attend Torah study or want to explore our relationship to God in a quiet, meditative way. Some of us just like to sing or play mah jong. There is no real �one-size-fits-all� at Shomrei Torah, nor should there be. Different activities appeal to different people, and our goal is to provide a tent that is big enough for everyone.

I would say that our culture of embracing diversity works well for us. Our membership numbers continue to grow, even during difficult economic times. Our religious school remains at near-full enrollment. Based on the attendance and the excitement level at events in the past year (lifelong learning speakers, the Passover seder, the Rock �n Roll Shabbat, and so many more), it�s clear that our congregation is very engaged. In fact, our two ongoing projects, Community in Conversation and the Torah project, have each drawn the participation of hundreds of us. People report feeling so much more connected to one another (through Community in Conversation), and feel a kind of spiritual connection that they hadn�t felt before, with writing a letter in our own new Torah. It�s especially gratifying that both of these projects have involved members from all parts of our diverse congregation.

Another way to think about how engaged we are, is by looking at the amount of volunteerism we have. In my 10 years as a member of Shomrei Torah, I�ve never seen so many people volunteer in so many different ways. The list of our standing committees and their members barely fits on one page of the Voice anymore, and that�s only part of the volunteer picture. (In fact, if you have volunteered in any way in the past year � bringing food to an oneg, making calls for an event, or serving on a committee - would you please stand up.) Thank you. The Board, by example, sets a high bar for volunteerism, and you, our congregation, continue to reach it and jump over it.

As well as being enthusiastically involved in our activities, you have shown tremendous dedication to our community, by responding to our fundraising needs. Last June, the Board initiated a matching pledge drive, and your positive response was overwhelming. In appreciation of your efforts, and in consideration of these being particularly difficult financial times, we on the Board have made a deliberate decision not to do any kind of financial �ask� over these High Holy Days (so when you see a Board member approach the bimah over the next few weeks, you can relax.) There will be a few opportunities to give over the coming year, like the call-a-thon around Hannukah, but for now, we would just like to say thank you. We appreciate that our congregation means enough to you that you share with us the responsibility for our continued existence.

I�d like to end by thanking each of you for being a part of Shomrei Torah. Your uniqueness and your involvement make our community what it is. We would not be the same congregation without you.

And for those of you who have yet to join our synagogue, allow me to invite you to do so. If you like how it feels to be here over the High Holy Days, you might like it even better year-round.

L�Shanah Tova.

It�s hard to believe that as I write this school starts next week and summer will be over. Growing up, we considered this to be the middle of the summer! If you went to summer-long overnight camp, as I did throughout my teens, this was the second month of camp; the August campers had just arrived, bringing with them beginning thoughts of Maccabiah, or Color War�

Jewish summer camp (Camp Naomi, Raymond, Maine) for me, was the ideal life, and to this day, remains the standard against which all of my Jewish experiences are measured. It�s possible that I would have learned some of the same lessons at any overnight camp � such as communal living, enjoyment of meeting new people, adaptability, living joyfully, living away from parental supervision - but learning them in a Jewish setting made being Jewish something that was desirable, of value. Up until this point, being Jewish felt to me to be mostly tedious (religious school), something associated with pain and horror (the Holocaust) and something that set me apart from most people (growing up in an area not heavily populated by Jews.) At camp, everyone was Jewish, and being Jewish was fun!

I still wonder at the magic of Jewish summer camp. I think that the source of it was that we lived � ate, sang, prayed, competed in sports, relaxed in nature � Jewishly, as part of our everyday life. It wasn�t like modern day living, which for most of us consisted of our �normal� activities during most of the week, and then very deliberate, discrete Jewish activities at specific times of the week, month or year. At camp, we joyfully sang prayers before and after each meal, we ate Kosher-style, we enthusiastically competed during the Maccabiah games, and Shabbat was something we looked forward to! In fact, leading Shabbat services was one of the highlights of the summer, and we spent much time debating the merits of selecting one tune over another for Adon Olam (my personal favorite was the summer our unit sang it to �In-a-Gadda-da-Vida.�)

The highest praise I can give an activity is that it is �like camp.� When I was at the URJ Biennial in San Diego last year, we ate, sang, learned and prayed together as a group, and my immediate, happy thought was �This is just like summer camp!� I felt the same way last spring at the Scheidt Seminar in Atlanta (the URJ weekend for incoming Presidents of Reform synagogues); praying in a makeshift outdoor chapel on Shabbat, sharing a room and meals with new Jewish friends, singing and studying together was very reminiscent of camp. Traveling with our Shomrei Torah group in Israel this past winter � living together in the most Jewish of places for two weeks � was like camp on wheels! I�m certain that I made lifelong friends through these experiences, just as I did every summer at camp.

My kids and I made our usual pilgrimage to visit family in Maine this summer, and it was very interesting how people responded to my becoming President of the temple. One older family friend squeezed my cheeks and said to me, �We are so proud of you.� A cousin told me that my bubbe would be proud of me. Another said to me, �I never thought of you as much of a temple-goer. How did you decide to become President of the temple?� I thought about it for a minute, and responded, �Well, it�s not stuffy and irrelevant like the temples we went to as kids. In fact, it�s a lot like camp!� I hope that you enjoy the remainder of the summer. I�ll be spending a few days with a camp friend I haven�t seen in 35 years! I look forward to seeing all of you over the High Holy Days.

When I was in my late teens, my grandmother died. My father (whose mother she was) sat shiva, and then proceeded to go to temple for the next six months, every morning and evening. This was shocking to me, for a number of reasons: First, although he had been brought up as an Orthodox Jew in Maine, our family in New Jersey belonged to a Reform congregation. To my knowledge, his attendance at temple consisted of twice a year, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Second, he and my mother had a very busy social life, and this put a huge damper on that; yet, he, without any discussion, changed his whole lifestyle. Third, this occurred during the summer, where we lived in southern Maine in a touristy, beach town. The only temple in town was a tiny Orthodox shul, where it was difficult to even scrape together 10 Jewish men to form a minyan.

Nevertheless, every single day, twice a day, this small Jewish community rallied around my father, everyone stopping what they were doing, and someone making sure that there were ten Jewish men gathered for shul. This made a huge impact on me � both seeing this serious, religious side of my father, and seeing how this small Jewish community could come together to help someone in need.

A few years later, my father became president of this shul. I found this hilarious, mostly because I couldn�t imagine what a president�s duties would be there. There were probably 10 year-round families that belonged to the temple, and every one of them was in an ongoing argument with someone else at the temple. (In the summer, the size maybe tripled, due to both tourists passing through and to the Syrian Jews who owned seasonal shops in town.)

The actual service at this synagogue was a complete mystery to me: the women sat, grouped, in the back on one side, gossiping, and the men sat on the other side, davening (praying), mostly separately from one another. The service was entirely in Hebrew, and the men on the bimah faced the Torah, davening in a way that I couldn�t understand at all. Periodically, during the service, some relative of mine on the bimah would feel sorry for us female folk, and turn around and yell �page 136� so loudly that we�d all jump, dutifully turn to the page, continue being mystified, and then go back to chatting.

Another interesting thing to me about this temple was that people tolerated practically any kind of behavior from children. They just loved having kids there. So, in the midst of this incomprehensible praying, punctuated by periodic shouts of page numbers, you would also see kids running up and down the aisles, and older adults smiling away at them. It was quite a scene.

I would say that the temple my father became the president of, is quite different from Shomrei Torah (thankfully). Yet the two synagogues have a number of things in common: an overriding feeling of warmth and communal spirit, dedication to those in need, and a commitment to continuing the tradition of Judaism.

As I step into this role of President of the congregation, I feel a strong link with my father, �alava hashalom�, and I also feel as I do whenever I hold the Torah, or as I did when I wrote a letter in our new Torah, recently: I feel that immediate connection with all of our Jewish ancestors who have done this very same thing, in their own way, and with all of those who will come after us, carrying on our Jewish tradition when we are gone.

I am honored to be President of this unique and remarkable congregation, and look forward to getting to know all of you better.

Jews all across the world are once again approaching the High Holy Days, a time that for many of us is �Jewish prime time� � the time that we reconnect with our faith, or our Jewish community, or our true selves, or all of them, by participating in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. Whatever our connection to Judaism, and whatever our High Holy Days customs and habits, we know that this is a serious and introspective time when, together as a community, we welcome the new year and ask for God�s forgiveness and compassion for our behavior in the year that has just passed. It is also a time when, as individuals, we personally ask for forgiveness from those whom we may have hurt or offended.

Catching Up

Just as there are many ways to perform acts of T�shuvah (repentance), there are also many ways that we, as members of the progressive Reform Jewish community at Congregation Shomrei Torah, can reconnect with Judaism. Shomrei Torah is an easy place to make new friends and catch up with old friends, all while taking part in activities that are educational, spiritually fulfilling, and which keep Judaism vibrant for us and for our future generations.Out of approximately 15,000 Jewish households in Sonoma County, only 1,000 or so support synagogue life with memberships�and over 400 of them are at Congregation Shomrei Torah. Our temple is here for us 365 days a year. This is where we celebrate a bris and a bat mitzvah. This is where we see our children married, and where we mourn the loss of our loved ones. It is where we pray and remember and sing and laugh, and where we go to know that we are a part of something bigger�a part of our community. It is where we share the events that are our lives.

Join Us

In the coming year, make a pledge to yourself to come and experience more of what Shomrei Torah has to offer. And whether you will be here for the first time or the 30th time, please come share High Holy Days with your community.

I look forward to seeing you at services, and wish each of you Shanah Tovah, a good year.

One of my good friends, an observant Catholic with an open mind, heard a presentation about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict presented by a Palestinian Christian woman at his church in Sonoma County. He left feeling confused by what she said about the State of Israel and Jews in general. He told me it was contrary to what he understood about the Jewish people and about history, but he didn�t have a firm grasp of Judaism�s history with or connection to the Promised Land, nor did he have enough of an understanding about Middle East politics between World War II and the present. He asked me if there were any reading materials available that would present the Jewish perspective.

What follows is the reading list and list of websites I gave him. It was provided to me by the Jewish Community Relations Council in San Francisco. I�ll be exploring them myself, as I feel less than well-educated on these issues, and I would not be surprised if some of you might have had need for some of this information yourselves.

I don�t often get publicly political about Israel, as it�s a hot button for most of us, and I�m not going to start now, but it is clear that anti-Semitism is having a resurgence not only in Europe, but in our own community, and it is being fed by some of the comments made about the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict during �educational� forums like the one my friend attended. Regardless of your feelings about the actions of the Israeli government, we as Jews need to understand the religious/social/political issues if we are to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism that is being fomented, right here and right now, in our own backyards.

Good reading!

Websites:

• Human Rights First � Middle East Initiative
• Matthias Kuntzel (German Political Scientist, author of �Jihad and Jew-hatred: The Roots of 9/11�)
• Engage! Online �Engage!� challenges contemporary antisemitism.
• Jerusalem Post Online Israel�s main and oldest English-language newspaper.
• Middle East Media Research Institute Provides timely translations of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends in the Middle East.
• Washington Institute for Near East Policy
• Bitter Lemons: Palestinian-Israeli Crossfire Presents Israeli and Palestinian viewpoints on prominent issues of concern. It is produced, edited and partially written by Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian, and Yossi Alpher, an Israeli. Its goal is to contribute to mutual understanding through the open exchange of ideas. Bitterlemons.org aspires to impact the way Palestinians, Israelis and others worldwide think about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.�

Books:

• The Zionist Idea: A Historical Analysis and Reader by Arthur Hertzberg (Editor)
  This 1960 �historical analysis and reader� gathers the writings of the most important Zionists of the time.
• A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time by Howard M. Sachar
  When first published in 1976, this truly monumental history was hailed as a definitive work.
• Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Michael B. Oren
  This is the most complete history to date of the Six Day War of 1967, in which Israel entered and began its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
• Icon of Evil: Hitler�s Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islam by David G. Dalin and John F. Rothmann
  The authors show how al-Husseini ingratiated himself with his hero, Adolf Hitler, while dreaming of being installed Nazi leader of the Middle East. They provides compelling evidence that al-Husseini�s actions and writings inspire the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations pledged to destroy Israel and the U.S.
• 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War by Benny Morris
  A riveting account of the military engagements, it also focuses on the war�s political dimensions.
• Fabricating Israeli History: The �New Historians� by Efraim Karsh
  This text takes issue with �revisionists�. The author argues that they have ignored or misinterpreted much documentation in developing their analysis of Israel�s history. There are numerous in-depth studies to illustrate the author�s argument.
• Israeli Historical Revisionism by Anita Shapira (Editor), Derek Jonathan Penslar (Editor)
  Essays shed new light on the Israeli historians� controversy of the creation of the State of Israel, the 1948 War and its aftermath, Israel�s attitude toward Holocaust survivors, and the �melting pot� absorption policy.
• The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book and The Jews of Arab Lands in Modern Times by Norman A. Stillman
  A comprehensive and articulate history of the turbulent and complex relationships in the Middle East.
• The Forgotten Millions: The Modern Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands by Malka Hillel Shulewitz (Editor)
  The Jews from Arab lands and their descendants constitute nearly 45 percent of the Israeli population. This book recounts the cruel treatment of non-Muslim minority groups throughout Arab lands historically, the expulsion of the Jews from Arab lands, its implications, and the subsequent resettlement of the majority of these refugees in Israel.
• Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11 by Matthias Kuntzel
  This bracing, even startling, book reminds us that it is perilous to ignore idiotic ideas if these idiotic ideas are broadly, and fervently, believed.
• The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace by Amb. Dennis Ross, Special Presidential Envoy to the Middle East
  This is the ultimate insider�s account of the rollercoaster ride of the Middle East peace process from 1988 to the breakdown of talks in 2001.

At its regular meeting on September 10, the Shomrei Torah board:

Heard a report from Diana Klein, Director of Jewish Family and Children�s Services and CST member on the services JFCS is providing, and the increased demand for assistance the agency is experiencing. JFCS may be contacted at 571- 8131.

Reviewed financial statements for the month of July, and noted positive results as compared to budget and July 2008. Approved seven new families for membership: Ellen van den Berg, Jessica and James Heaney, Jeffrey Finkel, Penny Wolfsohn, Justin Kornfein and Bonnie Hayne, Julie Feingold, Madeleine Rose and Edward Berger. Four of these families will be enrolling children in Religious School.

Reviewed and approved a policy presented by the Dianne Smith and Irv Rothenberg, representatives of the Endowment and Gifts Group, setting out guidelines for accepting and managing major gifts to Shomrei Torah.

Heard a report from Billie Blumenthal, Religious School director, on enrollment, curriculum and new safety and security policies in effect for the new school year.

Questions or comments regarding this report should be directed to Marcy Pluznick-Marrin, CST President.

At its August 13th meeting, the CST Board:

Was reminded by Rabbi George that we are approaching the month of Elul, the time when Jews should prepare for the High Holy days.

Heard from Executive Director Fran Brumlik that the outside wall of the Shalom Hall would be painted with a special paint to prevent future water damage due to winter rains Reviewed the year-end financial statements, which indicated a modest surplus from operations as opposed to the projected deficit.

Approved five new families as members:
� Kathleen Brown and Gary Tharler
� Susan Bailyn
� Sharon and Daniel Post
� Penelope and Jay Hodes
� Robin Winning and Geoffrey Waterhouse

Discussed the Community in Conversation program, and noted the upcoming area-wide meeting to be held at CST on August 26.

Discussed progress on security issues, including the appropriate type of barriers needed to protect religious school students during their outdoor play periods. Heard a report on the plans of the committee that will be developing a cookbook as a community-building and fundraising effort in the current fiscal year. Comments on this column are welcome, and any questions about board actions should be directed to President Marcy Pluznick-Marrin.

Reviewed the financial statements for the month of May, presented by Gary Goodman, VP for Finance, and noted we are currently on track to meet our 2008-09 budget projections. Discussed planned fundraising events for the coming year, including publication of a CST cookbook, chaired by Bruce Falstein, and a call-a-thon, to be chaired by John Weinstein and Reed Ferrick. Temporary Fundraising Chair, Sue Lewis mentioned a few other options.

Discussed the last two events of our Year of Our Torah project: Last letter-writing will be August 30 and 31, and the Dedication Event is on November 15. A Congregational BBQ is on August 30.

Discussed the Community in Conversation project moving into its next phase, a series of one-on-one conversations to further identify members� interests and energy for action. Several trainings are occurring this summer, and the Sponsoring Meeting for all of the North Bay member organizations will be at CST Aug. 26.

Discussed the upcoming Concert In the Tower event, July 12, chaired by Cynthia Nestle. Over 90 people have bought tickets, including a number of non-CST members. Jay Peretz, webmaster, was acknowledged for the beautiful Concert page he designed for the website.

Bruce Falstein, Voice Editor, noted that the Voice will be back in action this coming month.

Approved for membership Lacey and David Fichera, and their children Sofia, 6, and Amelia 1.

Approved the new Integrated Membership Program, which combines the functions of recruitment, welcoming and integration of new members into a single membership team. The volunteer coordinator position, currently held by Franny Posner, will become part of this program. Members who would like to be part of the �membership team� may contact Membership chair, Cynthia Nestle.

Fran Brumlik, Executive Director, noted that an art collection is possibly being donated to CST, and is awaiting appraisal. Melissa Kort, Chair of LifeLong Learning reported that Rabbi Sanford Ragins will speak at the upcoming Rabbi Michael Robinson Memorial Lecture on August 14. Planning is also beginning for the Congregational Retreat at Camp Newman, in April 2010.

Marcy reported that funding for Chaverim has been delayed, due to a shortfall in Federation fundraising. Chaverim will continue next year in its current format, should minimal funding be received. Enrollment is ahead of last year�s schedule.

Arnie Rosenfield reported on traffic barriers to be selected by the Security Committee to protect religious school kids playing in the circle.

Jeremy Olsan reported on progress in dealing with continuing building and property issues. David Barkin, a Jewish organizational consultant, has been hired to consult with leadership regarding High Holy Day location issues. This was the first Board meeting led by Marcy Pluznick- Marrin as new CST president. Marcy reported on her activities in this new position, including visiting committees and meeting individually with Board members. She would like it noted that the meeting ended on time :)

Board members gratefully enjoyed refreshments provided by Beth Goodman, director of the JCC of Sonoma County, and ice cream bars hand-delivered by Arnie Rosenfield.