Temple Beth-El
125 E. White Street
Alpena, Michigan 49707 
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 55, Presque Isle, MI 49707

FEBRUARY 2019
THE YEAR IN REVIEW – 2018

Throughout the year, we gathered to worship Hashem, read the Torah, and enjoyed Jewish holidays together.

In May, we held an open house to express our appreciation to all those who gave generously in various ways to the restoration of the exterior and interior of our historic synagogue: Alpena Dry Cleaning, Besser Foundation, the Community Foundation of Northeast Michigan, the First Congregational United Church of Christ of Alpena (Comstock Fund and Congregation), Hap Builders, Home Depot, Ideal Painting, Jewish Historical Society of MI, Project Manager Tim Lutes, the Ravitz Foundation, RGM Wood Floors, Sherwin-Williams Paint, Stanson Floor Covering & Furniture, Sunrise Construction, as well as past and present members of Temple Beth-El.

We received a generous grant from the Ravitz Foundation to help fund our new Guest Rabbi program and were greatly blessed to have a Guest Rabbi lead 2 Sabbath services and enrichment programs.

We welcomed 4 new member families.

The Jewish Historical Society of Michigan completed a beautiful 8-minute video, produced by Infinity Production of Alpena, featuring Temple Beth-El.

One of our members, who has over 45 years of experience in security, completed a security assessment of the building with a security contractor and the Alpena Chief of Police.

A newly-established Nominating Committee selected and nominated candidates to fill 2 newly-created positions on the Temple Beth-El Board of Trustees.

A TBE Congregational Meeting – the first one in recent memory – was held in October and members voted to fill two new Trustee-at-Large positions.

A Service Leaders Team was established to provide interested members of TBE an opportunity to lead and participate in our worship services.

A new Siddur, Eit Ratzon, was considered and has been adopted to better meet the needs of our congregation.

The last-known TBE By-Laws dated 1959 were reviewed and amended by a newly-formed By-Laws Committee. A special meeting of the Congregation will be held in May 2019 to review and affirm the amendments.

The Rabbi’s quarters have been restored for the comfort of Guest Rabbis who may choose to stay there. A special “Thank you” to those who donated their time, materials, and furniture.

We give thanks to Hashem, our members and friends, and look forward to another blessed year!