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Adult Education
- Encourages members to commit themselves to devote some time each day to the study of the Torah.
- Establishes adult classes treating all areas of Jewish life.
- Spreads Jewish knowledge among congregants by means of study groups, symposia, lectures, kallot, tracts and pamphlets.
- Arranges special education Sabbaths.
- Cooperates with other arms, synagogues and organizations sponsoring adult education programs.
- Stimulates and maintains contacts with:United Synagogue’s National Academy for Adult Jewish Studies, the Jewish Theological Seminary and other branches of the Conservative movement.
- Creates, maintains and promotes a total educational program for adults.
- Serves as an example to the rest of the congregation through its concern for and study of the Jewish tradition.
CHESED COMMITTEE
The Chesed Committee is dedicated to promoting community service.
The committee's volunteers facilitate special projects for the congregation and weave ongoing charitable activities throughout our Temple family, helping to encourage volunteerism at every age level. It is the mission of the Chesed Committee to increase awareness about community service opportunities and to devote our efforts to helping those in need.
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Recycling of gently used shoes and sneakers
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Rail Trail and Parks Clean-up projects
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Clothing and Coat Drives
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Habitat of the Lehigh Valley
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Food Pantry collections
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Sustainability and environmental issues
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Mitzvah garden
Finance Committee
The duties of the Financial Committee are:
- Analyze the Treasurer’s Report on receipts and disbursements on a monthly basis.
- Prepare the annual Budget for the Temple – in consultation with the various committee chairmen.
- Review the annual financial statement of the Temple.
HOUSE COMMITTEE
- Provides for the regular maintenance and upkeep of the synagogue building and grounds.
- Supervises the work of the maintenance staff.
- Obtains and presents to the board estimates for any repairs and improvements in synagogue property and, upon board approval, lets contracts for and oversees the execution of such work.
- Inspects the synagogue building and grounds, and presents to the budget committee the estimated cost of any needed repairs or improvements.
JEWISH FAMILY EDUCATION
The Jewish Family Education Committee has agreed upon the following goals for Jewish Family Education Program:
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To enhance and enrich the Jewish and family life of every Jewish family, whatever its shape or current membership.
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To empower families to be more Jewish (in any of numerous possible ways) and to feel more competent to take charge of their own Jewish life as a family.
Jewish family education seeks to:
- Empower the family as an essential agency for Jewish learning.
- Strengthen the ability of family members to enhance the "Jewishness" of their homes.
- Support the family as a unit, no matter what the family composition.
- Connect Jewish families one to another.
Strategy for reaching these goals includes Jewish family education aiming to:
- Provide parents with the skills, information, props, and repertories for Jewish living.
- Emphasize doing rather than talking about Jewish behaviors.
- Offer access to a variety of paths leading to Jewish choices and commitments.
- Center activities around Jewish content and text.
- Take into account the complexities of family life.
- Stress the transference of the practice of Judaism from the institution to the home.
With all this in mind, we endeavor to offer several synagogue-wide programs throughout the year and programs for parents and children organized by grade level. These programs will be offered in conjunction with the religious school and will include families with children in the Jewish Day School of the same grade. We hope to build a greater cohesiveness within the Temple Beth El family as we learn and do together as families with other families.
KIDDUSH COMMITTEE
The Kiddush Committee prepares the Saturday Kiddush lunches in July and August (unless there is a special Kiddush being sponsored).We are a group of men and women, with no special talents, who get together on Friday mornings at 9:00 am for about an hour and a half. Each Friday we have about 6 volunteers who come to chat, laugh, share their culinary skills and have a great time. We prepare the food, wrap it and store it in the refrigerator. Mary Ellen’s kitchen staff takes over on Saturday morning with set-up and clean-up. We are always looking for new volunteers. Each volunteer usually commits to two Fridays, if possible. Please call the temple office to volunteer and join us for a morning of fun.
This project helps to save the temple money (our labor is one of love), gives the kitchen staff some extra time off in the summer and provides camaraderie amongst our congregants. It is a great way to make new friends and renew old friendships.
Membership Committee
PURPOSES and FUNCTIONS:
- Develop a program to increase synagogue membership, seeking and encouraging the affiliation of new residents and of other residents who are not members of any other synagogue.
- Plan a membership orientation program.
- Advise the President and the Board of the special aptitudes or interest of members that they may serve on committees which fit their interests.
- Seek means of involving members who do not participate in congregational activities.
- Receive applications for membership and letters of resignation and present them to the Board.
- Take note, in an appropriate manner, of the departure of members from the community.
- Promote an atmosphere of cordiality and hospitality within the synagogue community.
- Coordinate with representatives of the young married group to implement program to attract young married couples.
THREE FACETS OF MEMBERSHIP:
- Recruitment
- Activation
- Retention
Ritual & Service Committee
- The Ritual and Service Chairman is directly responsible to the President and consults with the Rabbi on Halachic issues.
- Learns, under the direction of the Rabbi, and then teaches the Board and the general membership the Conservative approach to Jewish ritual, worship and synagogue practice.
- Arranges for regular adult worship services appropriate to the needs of the congregation for weekdays, Shabbat, holidays and special occasions.
- Strives continually to raise the level of public worship by both increasing attendance and deepening the content of the woship service.
- Presents for the Board’s consideration a set of guiding principles for religious services in the synagogue, and a set of standards for Sabbath, holiday, and kashruth observance on synagogue premises or at affairs sponsored by the synagogue.
- Presents to the Board any proposals for major changes in synagogue ritual.
- Confers with the education committee on those aspects of the synagogue service and ritual which involve the participation of school children.
- Selects and supervises Corps of Ushers.
NOTE: The Rabbi of the congregation is the final authority on all matters involving Halacha.