Hi Friends. We all affiliate with different aspects of our Jewish community life. I want to describe a week in the life of the temple so you can see what our various teams are up to.Marsha and Norm are busy getting ready for our annual tag sale – with their wonderful team: Jean C, Ellen & Marc K, Wendy Iseman, Barbara Levy, Liz Kelner, Lenore Styler. Lots of great items were donated and proceeds will be shared between the temple and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. HIAS has been in support of refugees and immigrants for 100 years.Terry Plotkin worked with Buckley Health Center to get our services broadcast to Jewish and any other interested residents there. Denise Vassar, who brings a variety of social services and activities to residents, has been very devoted about this. Residents currently attend our Tuesday AM shacharit service and our Shabbat morning services as well. Thank you, Terry, for this good mitzvah.We are happy for all the grandparents and families that have been able to visit each other now that more of us are vaccinated. What a joy and a relief.A wonderful team comes together to beautify our home throughout the growing season. Last week, Nancee Bershof convened Paul Bloomberg (aptly named!), Marc Kaufmann, and yours truly. We trimmed bushes, weeded, worked up the materials into a compost area, etc. Nancee donated tons of beautiful marigolds and a small team waters the plants as needed. Eight new families have joined Temple Israel this past year. We are so excited to be creating outdoor events, zoom presentations and shabbat gatherings with them. Due to the generosity of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, we were able to add Alyssa Bauer to our Roots & Branches team. Alyssa is a young mom herself and is a great barometer for what will engage, serve and excite these new families. Stay tuned for future announcements about summer gatherings for this group.We are continuing to strengthen our musical and audio-video broadcast capacity. A few musicians, singers and tech trainees are planning to meet starting this spring to work with our equipment and sanctuary space to create and broadcast harmonious services in a covid safe way. Three of our teens are in the tech training group!Speaking of covid, we are activating an advisory group to plan for hybrid – including some face to face gatherings – for the summer and fall. Thanks in advance to those who will dedicate their time and skills to this assessment.A group dedicated to poetry has started to meet and we have some very talented writers and readers in our community. Look for announcements in your weekly emails to join us approximately quarterly.It is a privilege to co-create this life affirming work with you all.