Welcome Back From Summer

A welcome back from your summer travels to those who’ve been out of town, and a happy end-of-summer to everyone in our kelillah. I’m sure we all hope for cooler days as the summer winds down.

August means back to school for many of our students. We wish them well as they embark on a new academic year of learning and fulfillment. Our Board of Education is readying its plans for CSI’s Sunday School, which will start in August. Please contact Jennifer Bernstein or Allison Bloodworth with your questions.

September 4th will be a special event at CSI. We will have a speaker from Israel, a member of “Faces of October 7th” which is a group of survivors of that terrible day. These folks travel the world sharing their first-hand experiences in person. Please plan to attend this event. More information will follow. By the way, Saturday, September 21st is the International Day of Peace. I think we can all celebrate that Shabbat, with prayers for more peace in the world.

As we move into Fall, we think ahead to our High Holidays, coming in October this year, later than usual but compelling and gratifying as always. I know that our Rabbi has something special planned for Selichot at the end of September; watch for his announcement. After that, Erev Rosh Hashanah is on October 2nd, followed by Erev Yom Kippur on the 7th and Erev Sukkot on October 16th. Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah follow on the 24th and 25th respectively. October will be a busy month of spiritual renewal for us and for Jews worldwide.

Finally, I want to encourage everyone at CSI to join us at Shabbat services, Friday evenings at 6:15pm and Saturday mornings at 9:30 am. Shabbat prayers with a welcoming community are a lovely way to ease into our weekends. Please let me, the Rabbi or Jeff Lehman know if you would like to share in Shabbat honors, including lighting candles or saying Kiddish on Friday nights and/or blessing the Torah on Saturday mornings.

Shalom, everyone. Have a great month!

Jan