President's Message - June 2017

Shalom everyone,

As usual I’m writing this message for the newsletter much past the time that it should have been submitted since it is 13 minutes before midnight on May 31^st. I never plan it this way but more often than not it happens. Thank you as always to Candice for inputting my report at whatever time she is able to do it.

It has been a month with times of great elation and other times of pain—the good along with the bad. Whenever you have seen me lately I’ve had a big smile on my face because my oldest daughter, Amy, after having gotten married a number of years ago and raised two children she committed herself to going back to college to get her degree. On Friday, May 19^th, she walked down the aisle at California State University Dominguez Hills to receive her B.S. in Political Science. My chest has certainly swelled as a result of my adulation for the hard work she put forth in completing her requirements. Every class day she spent around two hours each way either taking trains/busses or later driving after she got her car. That was after making sure her husband and son were where they needed to be for work and/or school. Mona and I are so proud of her. Now she is preparing to take the LSAT (Law School Admissions Test) prior to applying for law school. She has worked extremely hard and has her goal in sight. I have all the confidence in the world that she will some day soon be a lawyer.

I want to congratulate all the other families in the synagogue who have graduates no matter what their age or school they have attended. Keep up the good work.

The “Mammas and Pappas” fundraiser has been postponed to some future date. I do not want their efforts to go for naught so I hope they can find a time to make it work. It’s not easy to put on the many programs that we attempt to do but keep trying. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed.

We put together a pre-Shavuot dinner on the last Friday night of May and with almost no advertising we ended up with over forty people in attendance. As usual the food was delicious and there was plenty for everyone. We try to schedule these around most of the holidays so plan to be at the next one whenever that might be. The price is easy to handle and just remember you don’t have to do the cooking. Thanks to Mona and her crew for planning the dinner, preparing the food and then cleaning up in time for the service that night. A job well done and everyone who helped deserves a pat on the back.

One last paragraph for this newsletter and it centers on keeping the synagogue in a strong financial condition. The current 2016-2017 fiscal year ends June 30^th so you can expect to receive your next year’s billing statement for your dues soon. As this year has come to a close we have had to dip into reserves much too often. There are plenty of reasons that I can point to as a reason but suffice it to say we need to have money come into our coffers as soon as possible. We appreciate your membership and look forward to seeing you throughout the year. Take advantage of your membership by coming often to many things we provide.

Feel free to pay for your dues or other bills with your credit card but understand that this year we will add a 4% surcharge whenever you do use the card. We simply cannot continue to absorb those fees charged to us by the bank. Out of time and space. Have a great month.  

Ron
Ron Trachtenberg
VBI Temple President