Hello Everyone!

Exciting News! The website is now up and running!  If you haven’t had a chance to take a look, please go out there and do that as soon as you can…and Bookmark the page!  You will find the site at www.florencetemple.org.  While a major goal of our new format is to encourage our members to go to the site on a regular basis in order to keep up with Temple events, we also hope it will raise awareness about the Temple, in general, as well as highlight who we are for those looking to find a Temple family in the Shoals area.  Oh, and you will find a version of the “winning” logo displayed at the top of each page on the site. (Logo #1 – see below – the font was changed to make it more legible.)

Please remember that this is our weekend for providing desserts for the Soup Kitchen! Please plan to bring homemade (a favorite) or store-bought dessert items to the Temple no later than 9:30am, this Saturday, April 16.  If you prefer, you can also make a financial donation that will be used to purchase any additional desserts needed.  (Make all checks payable to Temple B’nai Israel.)

Our community Seder is less than two weeks away!  It will be held Friday night, April 22, at the Temple.  Our co-chairs, Emily Kelley and Jane Zeff, have worked hard to make this a special event for all of us and it promises to be a wonderful celebration!  We currently have the opportunity to open up the invitation to a few others from outside of our membership.  If you would like to extend an invitation to others, please contact Emily with the number of those who will attend and their meal choices (256.412.6479). In addition, you will need to send a check to Emily at 407 Wilson Dam Ave., Sheffield, AL 35660.

This Friday, the 15^th, services will be led by Robert Adler.  Rabbi Nancy will be back for the next two Fridays – she will lead us in the Seder on the 22^nd and then will lead our regular worship service on the 29^th. Check the website Calendar for those dates when she is scheduled to be with us.  As always, our Ritual Committee will ensure services are provided on those weeks when she is not joining us.  If you would like to participate in any part of our services, please reach out to our Ritual Committee Co-Chairs, Ken Wolf and Robert Adler to let them know.

In addition, the Torah study group meets each Saturday morning at 9:30.

For your quick reference, Rabbi Nancy will be with us on the following dates through June:

• April 22 (Seder) and 29

• May 6 and 13

• June 10 and 17

Speaking of Rabbi Nancy, going forward, she will be posting the notes for her sermons on the website (see the Messages page of the site).  In addition, there is a column to the right entitled “Messages from the President” where this message is posted.  While I will continue with the email for now, I hope, eventually, we can move to eliminate the email all together and rely strictly on the website except in those few situations where a member may prefer to receive all notifications via US Mail.

As always, if you have any announcements you would like for me to share with our membership, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me and…

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing you Friday evening!

Shalom!

Traci