Study, prayer, assembly

Charles Flum, President

Naples Jewish Congregation (NJC) has resumed in-person services at the Unitarian Universalist church (UU) in Naples. We are in the process of ramping up our programs that had been curtailed by COVID. The sisterhood is having regular get-togethers, such as a visit to the Shangri-La spa and gardens in March. Our adult education courses, led by Rabbi Herman, are ongoing. Our unique Flamingle is a congregational get-together to learn more about each other.

Participation numbers are down in organizations of all types. To try to remedy that situation in our synagogue, the president recently sent out the following to the congregation:

There are three names in Hebrew for synagogue: Beit Midrash (house of study), Beit Tefi llah (house of prayer) and Beit Kenesset (house of assembly). NJC is all three, if we all make it so. Let’s look at each of these in relation to our shul.

Beit Midrash (house of study). At this time, we have only one program for study, Rabbi Herman’s adult education. He works hard to fi nd and prepare talks on interesting subjects. We hold these on Zoom at the current time to 1.) be safe and 2.) make it easy to attend. How many and how often have you attended? I urge you to tune in and learn something new. According to research, one way to keep your brain from atrophying is to learn new information.

Beit Tefillah (house of prayer). We hold services to have a communal way of praying to God. Yes, we can pray by ourselves, but there is something very comforting in praying the same prayers with other people. You can only do that by coming to services, now held in person at the UU.

Beit Kenesset (house of assembly). The first time we held an in-person service after being on Zoom for a while, quite a number of people expressed how nice it was to be able to see other people in the fl esh. Humans are social animals. We need to schmooze with others. We need to be with others.

All this is my way of saying, “Come to services.” You belong because you decided to belong and pay dues. Get the most out of your commitment. Come to services. Come to adult education. Come to the various programs as we slowly return to “normal.” Your Yiddish neshoma (Jewish soul) will thank you for feeding it.

Check us out at naplesjewish congregation.org. Then, come join us for Tefillah (prayer) at our Friday night services at 7 p.m. at UU. Welcome to the small temple with the big heart.