Presented by Karen Lukeman Rosh Hashana 2024/5785
Happy New Year and welcome; we are so happy that you have chosen to worship with us. My name is Karen Lukeman and I am member of Interim Steering Committee and Membership Chair. What a year we have had!
As many of you may know, we proudly call TBI the little temple that could, and over the past 2 years, our little temple has grown by approximately 25 families whom we’ve been delighted to welcome to our TBI family.
Many of our new members jumped right in to participate in a variety of temple activities, with several now serving on the Board of Directors. In addition, a number of our newer members have taken on leadership roles in various committees including the Finance Committee, the Holiday Committee, Adult Ed Committee, the Social Action Committee, the Jewish Food Festival, the Cemetery Committee, and Sisterhood.
After many years without a Sisterhood, TBI now has a Sisterhood which has been meeting monthly for the last 4 months. This year, they also organized TBI’s presence at Laconia’s Multicultural Day in which volunteers sold out the 300 freshly grilled blintzes approximately 2 hours before the festival closed. In addition, as of Monday, some Sisterhood women started playing Mahjong together.
The Fundraising Committee organizes both the annual Jewish Food Festival as well as the twice-yearly We Care concerts in which the net proceeds are donated to a deserving local non-profit. In fact, over the past 12 years, over $300,000 has been donated to 12 different nonprofit agencies. The reason why TBI is able to donate the net proceeds of the concerts is that local businesses place ads in our Lakes Region Business Directory which is prominently displayed at the concerts, on our website, in our communications. If you have a business or can provide us with contact information for a business which would like to help us give back to the community, please let us know.
The Social Action Committee continues to cook for the Salvation Army and Isaiah House, and there are several collection drives each year to provide food or personal items to those in need.
On a more serious note, after a couple incidents when anti-Semitic graffiti was found, and after Oct. 7th, a Security Committee was formed. We have excellent relationships with the Laconia Police and have connected with government and other agencies to provide the resources and insight that we need to keep our members and guests safe. In addition to our members generously making donations to our security needs, we have applied for and received grants. You may have noticed a police officer and car, cameras, etc., and we now require that non-members register first in order to attend services or programs.
We also have excellent support from the community; after the graffiti incidences and October 7th, the Laconia Human Relations Committee organized a vigil with speeches given by local and state leaders. More important was the large number of attendees showing their support for and solidarity with the Jewish Community.
Recently, the Adult Ed committee had a “sell-out” program on “Hamas: History, Ideology and a Surprising Relationship with Israel” and this committee has a year’s worth of exceptional programs being planned.
You heard me mention the Interim Steering Committee. This past June, our Board president and resident Mensch (just look at his license plate), Ira Keltz, after 5 years of serving as board president, decided to step away and take a well needed break, and it honestly took 5 people to replace him. There was a special celebration to honor him, and members generously donated to purchase and install a new sound system in honor of Ira who was instrumental during the Covid years for the temple to buy audio visual equipment to stay connected.
We also now use our synagogue software, ShalomCloud, to help us with our financials, as well as a member portal on our website for easy access to the TBI calendar, past issues of the Tablet, and more so please remember to sign up if you haven’t done so.
TBI’s religious school student has had in-person sessions in the temple as well as in the home of one of the teachers, zoom sessions, holiday celebrations, crafts and other programs to enjoy. We also were blessed to celebrate a bat mitzvah and a bar mitzvah this year.
So, it sounds like we’ve been busy, but I haven’t mentioned the many holiday celebrations with the High Holidays, Sukkot, Hannukah, Tu Bish Shevat, Purim, Passover, etc. This year, there was a very successful Model Seder for TBI members and the Lakes Region interfaith leadership. I haven’t mentioned the Building Committee, the Tech Team or the incredible Caring Committee which made and delivered a comfort food to members who were under the weather. There were special speakers from the Jewish Federation of NH, NH’s Shaliach (emissary) from Israel, as well as Executive Director of the NH Human Rights Commission. There was a visit from the confirmation class of Congregational Church of Laconia to learn about Judaism. In addition, there was an Havdallah on the Lake, Torah study with the rabbi as well as coffee schmoozes with the Rabbi. And, the event which is called “epic” by residents of the Lake Region, the 27th annual Jewish Food Festival which had more than 25 volunteers helping cook & package delicious food, and another equally sized team who over 2 days, picked, quality checked, and delivered close to 300 orders to 300 happy and smiling customers picking up their orders.
TBI is the family you didn’t know that you had and the little temple who could. AND, Temple B’nai Israel has been voted THE BEST PLACE TO WORSHIP five YEARS IN A ROW!
If you would like any information on how to join one of our committees, and to our guests, on how join TBI, please ask me or any other member of the board. Wishing you a happy Healthy & Sweet New Year.
