“A Righteous man falls down seven times and gets up” King Solomon Proverbs, 24:16. Life is all about the ability to get up from challenge. Greatness is defined as getting up one more time than what you’ve fallen down. The Torah defines someone who’s righteous not as someone who had succeeded, but someone who has persevered. It creates a paradigm of what righteousness is – trying to do what’s right, getting up from failure, and keep moving forward. Charlie Harary
That is exactly what we are going to do is move forward. Over the next year I want you to think about your community. Rather than say where is the new building or why can’t the temple afford this or that focus on what we have. If you are not happy with something in our community become involved and see what you can do to help make it grow. This is what my theme is going to be for the next year. I want to see Temple Etz Chiam strive and continue to grow, but we can’t do that sitting on the side lines. I believe if we come together we will have a community that will continue to feel as welcoming as we are today, but also one that has a stronger bond with the Jewish community we live in today. I am not saying it will be easy, but I know we can do it. We can grow our membership, we can raise money that will provide for our temple. In a year from now when we all meet for the next annual meeting, I want to be able to stand here and say what we were able to accomplish. This has already started by having a balanced budget and great people who have volunteered their time to be part of the Board of Directors or one of the committees. Talk to those people and if you have a great idea become involved. I thank you for coming tonight and make sure to talk to the congregants who were not here and let them know Temple Etz Chiam is here to stay.
– Adam