As a 3-year-old, Inge Auerbacher experienced Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, and spent three years in the Terezin concentration camp. Twenty of Inge’s relatives were killed during the Holocaust. Inge is the only child survivor from the State of Wuerttemberg who was deported from Stuttgart, Germany, to the concentration camps. (As is noted on the UNA Website)
This week, Inge is in Florence as a speaker in the UNA Distinguished Event Series. In addition, we are honored that she will join us for services this Friday night and has also graciously agreed to share her story with us, through a slideshow presentation on Saturday, the 17th, at 4:00pm. I hope you will make every effort to attend one or both of these events to meet Inge, welcome her to our community and hear the story she has to share!
Please remember that we are accepting donations to go to the JFNA (Jewish Federations of North America) in support of the Jewish families in the Baton Rouge area that have been displaced and have lost all of or, at least a great deal of, their belongings due to the flooding there. If you would like to make a contribution, please make your check out to Temple B’nai Israel and mail it to Marty Abroms at PO Box 632 Florence, AL 35631 no later than Friday, September 16. Please mark the check as “Baton Rouge Support” so that it does not get confused with other funds specific to the Temple. Marty will gather all donations and send one check, from the Temple. There is no obligation here but I hope you will consider making even a small donation of some sort to help the Jewish families that have been negatively impacted by this disaster.
Services and Torah Study:
The High Holidays are right around the corner so please be sure to mark your calendar for the appopriate dates! Below is the information on who will be leading the services for the remaining dates in September and October:
- September 16 – Rabbi Nancy
- September 23 – Rabbi Nancy
- September 30 – Robert Adler
- October 2-3 – Rosh Hashanah – Rabbi Nancy
- October 7 – Ritual Committee
- October 11-12 – Yom Kippur – Rabbi Nancy
- October 14 – Ritual Committee
- October 21 – Rabbi Nancy
- October 28 – Ritual Committee
Our Ritual Committee adds so much to our Temple by always making sure we have someone available to lead our services! In that regard, they are happy to talk with anyone that would be interested in leading us on the weekends when Rabbi Nancy is not available to be with us. If you are interested, please reach out to either Rabbi Nancy, Ken Wolf or Robert Adler and let them know.
Don’t forget that Torah Study is held each Saturday morning at 9:30, at the Temple. Everyone is welcome so come on out and participate!
Reminder items:
- We are responsible for desserts at the Soup Kitchen Saturday, Sptember 17th. Please plan to bring homemade (a favorite) or store-bought dessert items to the Temple no later than 9:30am, Saturday, September 17th.
- Please make plans to join us Sunday evening, October 2 and Monday, October 3 for Rosh Hashanah as well as Tuesday evening, October 11 and Wednesday, October 12 for Yom Kippur. In conjunction with the High Holidays, we will again have our Annual Food Drive so please be prepared to purchase non-perishable food items and bring them to the Temple on Tuesday, October 11 – I will be there to accept your donations before Yom Kippur begins.
- We now have Temple Cards that can be mailed out on your behalf. These are great for sending out well wishes for the High Holidays! Contact Barbara Sherr for more details. Check the Temple Directory for her contact information.
If you are aware of something in the community that you would like me to draw some attention to in my message, please let me know! And, 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.
I look forward to seeing everyone Friday night and, until then, I hope your week is wonderful!
Shalom!
Traci Welch
