Shalom.
As the days get shorter, the month of December at least brings us the Festival of Lights, our eight-day celebration of Chanukah. TBT will bring our families together for dinner (with latkes!), a group menorah lighting, and the Shabbat festival service on Friday, December 7. This will certainly lift the spirits of everyone on a cold December evening.
Chanukah also acknowledges the renewal of the Jewish people and the rebuilding and dedication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Here at TBT, we are engaged in our own rebuilding project, to take this temple of Jewish life on the Connecticut shoreline and keep it thriving and serving all of our needs. Those members who came to either of our two Building Renovation Project congregational meetings in November were able to examine a detailed model and hear the specific plans for how our temple will fulfill TBT’s mission in the years to come. For those who could not attend, we will be posting the presentation online very soon, if it hasn’t already been done by the time you read this.
I also want to encourage all members who are able to do so, to donate to our 5779 Annual Fund, bridging the gap between our budgeted needs and what we collect from members’ pledges each year. The Annual Fund is what enables us to open our temple doors to the entire Jewish shoreline community regardless of means and ability to pay our full pledge amounts. We celebrate the perseverance and strength of the Jewish people during Chanukah, and the TBT Annual Fund is what gives us the ability to serve our entire local Jewish community and help it prosper.
Jeff Babbin