October Newsletter

The holidays conclude

With the holiday of Simchas Torah, our fall holidays are complete. The season started 7 weeks ago on the 1st of Elul, the last month of the year. During Elul we are supposed to clean up the messes we have made, repaire damage that we've done, and commit to being a better Jew in the coming year. As the month concludes and the new year begins, God writes us into his ledger book for a good new year or a bad one. Then, starting on the first day of the new year, we have 10 days to appeal the verdict (even though we don't know what the verdict is). Yom Kippur is the last of those 10 days, and our last chance to change God's mind before the book is closed and sealed. We hope that all you and your families have been written in the book for a healthy and joyous year.

But as the tv commercial says, "wait, there's more"! Four days after Yom Kippur we launched into the joyous fall festival of Simchas Torah. And the day after the festival concluded we celebrate completing the annual reading cycle of the Torah on Simchas Torah. Sadly, Simchas Torah now has added significance because of the terrorist attacks that were committed on Simchas Torah last year. Such a joyous day celebrating the ending and the beginning of the Torah reading cycle, now represents both the happiest and saddest of occasions. It is just one more reminder that this never ends. We must look after one another and keep each other safe, as best we can. Am Yisroel Chai.

If this Rosh Hashanah was your first time coming to the Carnegie Shul, we hope that the experience was meaningful to you. We have added your name to our email list so that you can stay informed as to what is happening at shul. We hope that part of your Yom Kippur repentance was a resolution to come to shul more than 1, 2, or 3 days a year. We hope that you will join us for minyan on Shabbos morning, even if only once a month. It helps us make minyan so that others can say kaddish for their loved ones. And we will feed you after services! Since Tree of Life and increased security, we ask that you drop us an email letting us know that you are planning to come on Shabbos at info@thecarnegieshul.org.

We have a new website

Our online promotion of the holidays required that we do a major overhaul of our website. While the website is mostly complete, there is still a lot of work to do. Our initial efforts were concentrated on the underlying structure that connects Facebook, Google, and our website in order to ensure that things on our site are crossposted to social media. That structure is in place, internet traffic is being monitored, and we can now focus on refining the website appearance and usability. Your advice, comments, and help are always appreciated.

Donate online

Being "old school", or in this case "old shul", has its plusses and minuses. We have only taken paper checks until now. Yes, we know; that's so 1900s! So, we have finally done something about it. Under the "News & Dues" tab there is a place to make donations to the shul. You can pay dues or make donations using credit cards, Venmo, ApplePay, or PayPal. This should make things much simpler for those who no longer use paper checks.

We appreciate your financial support in whatever form you choose. If you have already sent a check in the mail, thank you. If you choose to make a donation online, thank you.  If you appreciate what we do, help us keep the doors open, the lights on, and bring AJ back again next year.

Zay gesundt,

Rick D'Loss, President