​Politics are on everyone’s minds. Maybe it is because of the upcoming elections. Then again, it seems to me that everything – and I mean everything – from one’s thoughts on climate change to the kind of coffee I drink becomes a reason to invoke politics. We are a very troubled, anxious, and divided people, and it is not all about politics. Media, social media, and politicians use the deeper causes of division to “rally the base,” as they say. Making everything political makes money and garners votes won out of fear. 

​In March of 2023, the Congregation Council had its first discussion of a capital campaign to address needs identified by the Property Team to sustain our building into the future. Fifteen months later, we have concluded a Capital Campaign to fund those improvements. We set a three-tiered goal: $1.5 million to do the minimum. $1.8 million to do what was essential. $2 million to do all we hoped to accomplish. As it stands, we have received commitments of $2.352 million from 203 households of the congregation.  

​In this next week, two commemorations take place that should remind us, once again, that among the many sins and evils of our age, racism is still far from dead. The violence, hatred, and inhumanity wrought by racism don’t need to be detailed or debated, though there are still people who claim that racism is a fiction or a thing of the past. They are woefully wrong. 

It is graduation season in America. Over the last few weeks, I have experienced a lot of graduations. My oldest child graduated with her master’s degree and my youngest graduated from high school. All occurred within a few short weeks.​