President – 65th – Sept

The falling leaves
Drift by the window
The autumn leaves
Of red and gold

Autumn Leaves, adopted from the French song “Les Feuilles Mortes”, by Johnny Mercer.

Yes, I know I used the same song theme for my message last year at this time,
but you have to admit it still fits the bill for a fall message. Summer becoming but a
distant memory, the High Holiday season a more recent one and a distinct chill is
taking over for the warm weather experienced into early-October. I sincerely hope you enjoyed our very beautiful High Holiday services and I’m particularly pleased by the large turnout we experienced. Judging from the number of “outsiders” in attendance, we can truly believe that the Word about MJC is spreading .And spreading widely, considering we had an attendee all the way from California joining our internet stream. All credit and appreciation go to Rabbi Elkodsi and her team for beautifully weaving spirituality and every-day relevance into the services. Thank you, Rabbi, Carl Dropkin, Pat Sachs, David Elkodsi, Amy Zuckerman and Herb Brodsky. You guys really hit a home run. (Hey, the World Series is in progress as I’m writing this article).

Despite the extraordinary turnout for High Holiday services and the very favorable comments we received from those in attendance, our difficulties getting a minyan for Shabbat or even Yom Tov services persist. I’ve written about this before (last year at this time, after the high from the High Holiday turnout), but we unfortunately haven’t made much headway in improving the situation. As I’ve indicated in the past, this situation not only makes it difficult to experience the kind of Jewish service we should expect, but it
fails as well to provide our friends with the community with which to share a nachas event or is required to say Kaddish to honor a loved one. If for no other reason, we owe it to them, to the very viability of our congregation, and to ourselves to make every eff ort to attend services so that we may all exercise our Jewishness in the proper manner.

Another issue, closely related to the minyan difficulties, is the need for wider participation in the governance and committee structure of our synagogue. We discussed this at our “parlor meetings” and last spring’s meeting of our congregation. Beyond the fairness aspect, we cannot leave the running of our shul and its programs to the very few willing to take on the responsibility and put in the eff ort for the benefit of the entire congregation. We need the talent and participation of everyone if we are to continue as a congregation and possibly add to our numbers. So please, step up and join a committee or two or even offer to serve in our leadership. Your talents and participation are needed.

In the meantime, let’s enjoy fall with all its splendor as the foliage shows off its beauty with an unimaginable display of color and let’s not think about what always seems to follow … winter (UGH!).instead, let’s look forward to a new season of programs, lectures, Hebrew classes, dinners and other reasons to join with fellow MJCers for the camaraderie that makes the Malverne Jewish Center so special. As always, Rabbi Elkodsi and Pat Sach’s Program Committee are working extra hard to give us more reasons to get together, with an array and variety of programs designed to provide something for everyone. Whether you’re looking for something spiritual, educational, motivational or just plain fun, you’ll find it at MJC. So, plan on joining us and making certain you keep up with what’s happening by checking out our website (www.MalverneJewishCenter.org), the various social media outlets, looking for our announcement flyers, reading this informative Newsletter or doing it the old-fashioned way by just calling the office.

As I do every year at this time, I want to remind our members that if a lack of convenient transportation is preventing you from attending services or our events, we have arranged for taxi service for members in good standing at no cost to you. All it takes is a phone call to the taxi company (make certain to have our account number available, which may be obtained by calling the office) and we’ll even arrange to get you home. If you plan to use the service, you are asked to call the taxi company at least an hour (preferably in advance of your trip to arrange for pick-up.

So, as I encouraged you last year at this time, the [will] days grow long and soon [we’ll] hear old winter’s song, so make it much more bearable (and even enjoyable) by spending those winter days (UGH!) with your friends at the Malverne Jewish Center. We look forward to spending them with you.

“Shana Tova.