Dear Family of Friends,
During the first service I led at Congregation Agudath Achim in March 2024, I had an experience that one might have expected to be a bad sign for future employment, but was in truth exactly the opposite. In the middle of leading the kedusha prayer, my voice gave out. But as I stood there, admiring the way the light poured through the stained glass window above the ark, the congregation kept on singing, supporting me as I gathered my strength, and re-found my voice.
And that’s how my first year in Taunton has felt. Whatever I’ve been able to build here so far, I have built in collaboration with this wonderful, supportive community. Here’s some of what we’ve done together this year:
Since I arrived, we’ve had a baby naming, four funerals, five B’nai Mitzvah celebrations (with another coming in June), and are looking forward to two weddings.
We experienced rich High Holidays based on service outlines shared by Rabbi Heath, and enhanced by cantorial soloist Sam Tygiel.
Shortly after the High Holidays, we held a gala celebration organized by Larry Kostant and the Ways and Means Committee. The gala was attended by over 65 people, both from our congregation and from the wider community, and raised $11,000.
We celebrated Shabbat together on all but five weekends this past year, lacking a minyan only once! We usually have between 15 and 25 people in the room, and a few more on YouTube.
Speaking of which, our sanctuary audio and video have received a significant upgrade, due to the efforts of Kaz Almeida, Mike Peckman, and the Tech Committee. We have 107 subscribers to our YouTube channel, on which we’ve had over 3,000 views. Purim was the most popular video at 335 views, followed by High Holidays and B’nei Mitzvah celebrations.
Our school, while small, had a strong year. Shalom Kids engages our younger students with their parents to cultivate an experience of Judaism in the family. The Upper School begins every meeting with a service and singing, helping our older students become comfortable with the practice of Jewish prayer. We had six Shabbat Rishona family services, five Family Experiences, and the B’nai Mitzvah class met for six Family Programs.
26 people filled out the Adult Education Survey, which revealed an interest in kabbalah classes, which we’ve begun this spring, and the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which will come next year.
Mike Peckman and Rosemarie Curran led the redesign of our logo and website, and Mike and Sheila Thurman did the same for our synagogue sign.
With a nudge from the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board (MAAB), we are working on making our synagogue accessible.
Along the way, the Sisterhood worked tirelessly, the Brotherhood re-started, we hired a new custodian, and much, much more. So many of you contributed to the rich life of our community that I haven’t had room to name. If you missed the annual meeting reports, you can still read them at agudathachim.org/members/annual-meetings (if you need help accessing the members area of our website, contact Mike Peckman at ).
I hope you will read these reports. And when you read them, I hope you have some questions. And when you have questions about my report, I will happily take you out for a cup of coffee to talk about them.
Let us go michayil l’chayil – from strength to strength!
~Reb Josh
