Brotherhood

Shalom H .

averim!

Summer will be upon us shortly, and warm weather with it. The Brotherhood is looking forward to more in-person activities, and to being able to root for our Temple Emunah Softball team as it takes on the other shuls in the league!

Brotherhood Shabbat was celebrated in May with Parashat Emor (Leviticus 23:23-24:23). We hope you joined us for this annual tradition. I want to thank Scott Lerman for organizing and managing the event, and all the Brotherhood members who participated. Yasher Koach!

Brotherhood members also enjoyed the Memorial Day Whiskey tasting, on May 29. We tasted some great whiskey as we ushered in Memorial Day.

As the year winds down, there are some things I’d like to call out: • During the summer we are planning to set up some more informal get-togethers, such as Brotherhood Beer-call at the Mighty Squirrel, maybe a couple of times. Come for the beer, come for the camaraderie, or both, but we hope you will join us. • Our Man of the Year event to celebrate the contributions of David Geller is an event we agreed should be held in person. After consulting with David and the Temple Emunah office, we decided to push the date out until after the end of the summer. Stay tuned for notices with the new date and time. We hope you will come and celebrate David’s many contributions to Temple Emunah! Also, you can sample the beer the Brotherhood brewed for this occasion!

The New England Region is holding some fun events this summer that we encourage you to participate in as well: • The 75th annual Retreat at Camp Ramah, June 9-12: http://www.nerfjmc.org/theretreat • The Tour de Shuls, June 26, an annual bike ride to raise funds to support the Tikvah program at Camp Ramah: http://www.nerfjmc.org/tourdeshuls

• Woo Sox game at Polar Park, Worcester, on Sunday, July 10. Kosher food will be available. Enjoy the parking, food and game for less than the cost of parking at Fenway!

Finally, as my presidency draws to a close, I want to thank all the board members for the past two years who have helped to keep the Brotherhood vibrant and strong during the COVID crisis. We couldn’t do a lot of in person events, but we did a TON of stuff to keep engagement high and support our fantastic shul. Yasher koach to everyone!

Please welcome our next president Scott Damsky, as he begins his term and leads the Brotherhood going forward. Mazal tov, Scott!

As I always say, if you are looking for a way to get more involved with Temple Emunah, the Brotherhood is a great way to do it, and to meet some great men. Feel free to reach out to me, or any other member of the Brotherhood board, for more information, or just join us for a board meeting (everyone is invited). Please be sure to check our events calendar at https:// www.templeemunah.org/calendar/ to see what’s happening!

I wish everyone a wonderful summer!

David Rosenbaum, Brotherhood President brotherhood@templeemunah.org

Save the date: Keeper of the Flame event

When: The afternoon/evening of November 6, 2022

Where: Hosted by the Brotherhood of Temple Emunah for the Region

Who: This year’s Keeper for Temple Emunah will be named soon.

What: The Region is honoring the memory of Mo Diamant (z’l) for his decades of outstanding contributions to Temple Emunah and the New England Region by officially renaming the Keeper of The Flame event in his name.

Keeper of the Flame

Honoring the memory of Mo Diamant SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6 at Temple Emunah

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H . azon is usually translated as a prophecy.

But what does it mean to prophesy? Does it mean simply to see into the future? Or is there something deeper?

H . azon literally means a vision, a perception with the eyes. Thus, these prophets had the ability to see things differently from the way others could. They were able to look at society with a critical eye and were not afraid to step into politics or call out the powerful. Bible scholars see Isaiah as two or three distinct books with distinct authors. The author of the first half of what we call Isaiah lived in the Northern Kingdom of Israel (the ten tribes referred to as Israel) around 740-700 BCE. He saw the external challenges that would befall the Jewish people, warning them repeatedly. At the same time, he noted internal societal fissures including the growing disparity between rich and poor and the corruption.

But Isaiah also gave the people hope; he deeply believed that they could overcome the difficulties that were on the horizon.

Isaiah and other prophets of those centuries understood the world around them and held out a h .

azon, a vision for the future, along with the encouragement that has sustained us for these millennia.

* * * * *

Today, too, we have no shortage of people presenting us with their analyses of our situation. Our newspapers and the internet are filled with op-ed columnists and bloggers who are keen to offer their perspectives on the world’s challenges: climate change, threats to democracy, COVID and the war in Ukraine among thems.

The Jewish world is not without its challenges, albeit of a different order. For example, the rate of non-Orthodox synagogue affiliation is not what it was decades ago.

In many ways, we at Emunah are in an enviable position. Thanks to our devoted staff and lay leaders, active membership, and generous sustainers, Temple Emunah has been able to successfully navigate the challenges of this time. And I am incredibly grateful to the hundreds who volunteer to make our community all that it is, especially during COVID-time.

We also have the opportunity to sharpen our h .

azon, continuing to take stock and re-envision our future.

While we may not be able to foresee all that awaits us, we know that we need to engage in new and varied ways, strengthening our bonds and building an even more dynamic, caring and compassionate community.

What do you want Emunah to be in your life? What are your spiritual, educational and communal needs? What would you like to see? What are the challenges before us and how can you help us address them? What are the new ideas we should explore? How can each one of us be part of this shared future? How shall we approach our campus? Our staffing needs? And what is our financial vision to address all of this?

And most of all, what other questions should we be asking?

As we have evaluated ourselves over the years, let us explore what our future holds to help us maintain our relevance in our ever evolving communal framework.

It’s time to explore. Over this summer, we will look forward to sharing our ideas in constructive and helpful ways.

As I write this, our community just adopted a new lay structure that reflects our current needs; yasher koah .

to all who worked on that for several years. We are also grateful to the staff and volunteers who have designed our renovated sanctuary with sound and video improvements, as well as the installation in the courtyard of our seven species panels which we hope to dedicate in the fall.

Our leadership is ready to help us see the path forward. While our prophets inspired us with their vision thousands of years ago, we will work together to write the next chapter in the history of Temple Emunah.

No matter where our dreams take us, together we can build a h .

azon that will carry us into the future. Have a wonderful summer! B’Emunah – with faith in our future, Rabbi David Lerner

Kitah Gimmel Siyyum HaSefer