A note from Rabbi Joseph

If you read your Shofar carefully, you have already heard our most exciting news -- that Paul Richards will be our cantorial soloist for the 2012/5773 High Holidays! Paul has just informed me that several of his compositions will be performed locally in the next few weeks, and I'd love to pass along the details, straight from the source:

Dear Friends,

I wanted to let you know about two concerts in February that will feature some of my music. 

First, on February 9th in the University Auditorium, the University of Florida Wind Symphony will present two of my concertos:  "Snake in the Garden", for clarinet and wind ensemble, with outstanding student clarinetist Mikey Arbulu as soloist; and "Bat out of Hell", for saxophone and wind ensemble, with UF saxophone professor and world-renowned virtuoso Jonathan Helton as soloist. 

Then, on Feb. 28, the Boston Brass, an enormously talented and entertaining brass quintet, will premiere a new fanfare, "Adrenaline Junky", composed specifically for this event.

Hope to see you there!

Paul

TSS participates in JCNCF Day of Jewish Learning

Temple Shir Shalom participated in the JCNCF Day of Jewish Learning on November 13 by hosting a program for students combining Pirke Avot and Krav Maga (an Israelie martial art), under the direction of Amanda Solomon.

"Evening at Home" Fundraiser

Help support Temple Shir Shalom while honoring members Ed Klein and Adrienne deNoyelles (and Maggie!), by sending in a contribution to our "Evening at Home" non-event fundraiser. Ed and Adrienne make manifold contribution to our congregation through their music at Yom Kippur and throughout the year, and their many other volunteer activities around Temple. As Duo Cellissimo, they will be playing at our Shabbat service on Friday, December 30.

Temple Annual Meeting

TSS Board of Trustees: (top row) Martin Hurewitz, Erica Bilsky, Mary Paulson, Tricia Churnick, Virginia Brissette, Jack Hurov. (Middle) Deborah Jervis, Sandy Durham, Anita Prager, Vera Rabino, Eddie Gilbert, Craig Gorme. (Bottom) Toby Hunter, Ed Klein, Ken Kellner, Andrew Hirshik.Temple Shir Shalom ended one program year and began the next with its annual congregational meeting on Sunday, May 15. Highlighting the business portion of the meeting, Temple president Andrew Hirshik was elected to a second one-year term, the contract of Rabbi Michael Joseph was extended for a two-year term, and a new budget was approved. Among the accomplishments of the year cited in the president's message to the congregation were several social action projects, a growing religious school enrollment, a major upgrade of the Temple's website (www.shirshalom.net), and a blossoming relationship with the Jewish Council of North Central Florida.During Rabbi Joseph's dvar Torah, he presented the congregational with a beautiful scrapbook commemorating it's 25th anniversary festivities that concluded in April 2010. The scrapbook will be on permanent display at the Temple. Click here to read Temple president Andy Hirshik's remarks at the Annual Meeting. 

A note from the Rabbi re: Interfaith Habitat House

Dear Friends:

Thursday, June 16 is Temple Shir Shalom’s day at the Interfaith Habitat House taking shape in east Gainesville. As I hope you have read before, we are partnering with nearly twenty Gainesville congregations, Christian, Jew- ish, and Muslim, to build this house together with a low income working family from our community. Work has been coming along very quickly; in fact, most construc- tion is likely to be wrapped up by the end of June.

Our specific Temple responsibility for June 16 is to provide lunch for the construction volunteers -- but we can also swing hammers, etc., starting at 8am. Our lunch provision is being coordinated by Nancy Parks. Send her an email to nrparks@bellsouth.net if you would like to help. Monetary donations are also welcome -- send a check clearly notated to the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund and I will make sure it gets to the right place.

The address of the construction site is 2234 SE 30th Drive, approximately one mile off Hawthorne Road.

Rabbi Michael Joseph

Update on Monday, June 20, 2011 at 09:17AM by Rabbi Joseph

A great day at the Interfaith Habitat House -- thanks to our many contributors and volunteers!