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Coming HomeMay 2006From the Desk of Rabbi CohonBy the time you read this I will have just resumed my duties as Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El after a four-month sabbatical. I am most profoundly grateful for the opportunity I was given by our congregation - by you! - after six and a half years of labor, to rest and refresh, to complete the Biblical injunction to take a professional Shabbat to restore my perspective and my commitment to serve our synagogue, Judaism, and God faithfully and well. Thank you for granting me the opportunity to take this four-month sabbatical of rest from my regular duties to Temple Emanu-El. It was a great gift. Even more importantly, I am also most appreciative to our congregation and Temple Board for the new five-year contract that I will begin in July, and the responsibility to continue to lead our congregation to new and exciting accomplishments and growth in the coming years. May we go, together, from strength to strength, with God's blessing. And may we again see each other, often, on many happy occasions to come. I am also extraordinarily appreciative of the outstanding work that Rabbi Ben Sharff, our Assistant Rabbi, has done over these four months wile I was on sabbatical. He is an excellent rabbi and a true mensch, and our temple is fortunate to have him, as I am lucky to have such a marvelous colleague and friend. I would also like to thank our cantor, Marjorie Hochberg, for her outstanding service to Temple Emanu-El during this period -- as always, she is a great blessing to all of us, a truly good and faithful klei kodesh and friend. Perhaps the greatest gift of the sabbatical has been the opportunity to reflect on just how special a place Temple Emanu-El is and can be, and what a sacred mission our congregation is entrusted with. We have a wonderful congregation, and the potential for us to become not only wonderful but also great in the coming years is extraordinary. We have, as you know, grown from a shaky foundation of perhaps 300 families in 1999 to a robust, thriving, active, and dynamic congregation of 800 families by 2006. We have also deepened and broadened our commitments to Jewish prayer, education, social action, and community leadership in every way. This is a unique experience in our movement over this period, and I am thankful for having been part of that exceptional transformation -- and the good things to come. Our temple has now become a lodestone for community connection and for experiencing and discovering religious meaning and purpose. We are a place to fully celebrate the joy and excitement of being Jewish, to find consolation and comfort, to help change the world for the better. What a gift that is to all of us! I look forward to seeing all of you again, regularly, in the coming days, weeks, and months, and for continuing to fulfill the profound responsibility of serving as your Senior Rabbi. May the One who blessed our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rebeccah, Rachel, and Leah continue to bring goodness and life to our congregation, now and always. L’shalom
rei’ut v'hodayah, in peace and friendship, and gratitude, Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon
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