Thank YOU for filling the sanctuary for Maya’s bat mitzvah. I am so glad our community’s culture is shifting, and you all feel welcome and encouraged to attend every bat/bar/b mitzvah we are blessed to celebrate at TBS. Every mitzvah is a simchah, a communal joy, a celebration of our whole community’s covenant with Torah. It certainly felt like that for our family, especially with the special combination of both our Temple Beit HaYam and TBS communities joined together in prayer and joyful song (“Mamma Mia”, anyone?). I was shepping nachas watching Maya read Torah so “nonchalantly” (as the kids say) in front of all your smiling and supportive faces. I am still kvelling over Maya’s confidence and composure throughout her entire bat mitzvah weekend. It is not easy to be a double RK (rabbi’s kid), and she is truly my hero.
I also loved passing Ellie the Torah, who gave it to Maya. Just days later, I handed my own kids over to our beloved Jewish summer camp, which, in our family, feels like its own spiritually heightened version of passing the Torah. I cannot believe it is Ellie’s last summer as a camper (cue “Sunrise, Sunset”), and I now have a few quiet weeks to myself: a modern miracle and the best advertisement for sleepaway camp I can offer. Speaking of our next generation, I am passionate about using my “downtime” this summer to fully prepare for the debut of our pilot religious school program, “Mensch University” (including, of course, our “mini mensch” curriculum for students age 0-5), and to focus on creating a truly impactful and deeply spiritual High Holiday experience.
Thanks to our dedicated lay leaders, we have so much momentum moving this community forward, and now we need YOUR support so that TBS can thrive into the next generation. You have all gotten so great at our weekly “Shabbat schmoozes” on Friday nights that I am asking you to keep the schmooze going. My friends, YOU (especially the yentas(gossips) among you) are our community’s best PR team, and I would love you to spread this message around town:
For this year, TBS is offering free membership, free Mensch University (religious school) registration and free High Holy Day tickets (all will pay a $100 security fee). Why? Because we have so much meaningful and impactful Jewish life happening at TBS, and we want you, our friends, our colleagues, our acquaintances and our neighbors to share in our Jewish joy!
To recap: we are offering free membership to anyone new to TBS, and to anyone who used to belong and drifted away. So here is my actual ask: if you know anyone, it could be your doctor, your college roommate’s niece who recently retired here, your mahjong ladies, anyone who has been synagogue-curious or synagogue-less, please warmly welcome them to experience the center of vibrant Jewish life in Vero Beach. We ALL share in the obligation and the blessing of helping to keep this synagogue alive for the next generation. As Rabbi Tarfon teaches in Pirkei Avot: “It is not your job to finish the work, but neither can you desist from it.” In other words: Start schmoozing!
With gratitude, Rabbi Rose
P.S. And just as I came home from taking the girls to camp, my sister Ann became my neighbor. We have lived across the country from each other our whole adult lives and are so excited to have each other close by (and yes, I have already schmoozed Ann into becoming our newest member). I know you will join me in welcoming her to our awesome community!: