Our heavenly Father, we seek Your Divine blessing, guidance and inspiration this morning as we embark upon the beginning of our annual meeting. We pray that You will grant our congregational leaders and members the wisdom and insight to steer Congregation Kneseth Israel in a positive direction, building on the strong foundation and dreams established by past administrations.

May this new Board, infused with its dedication and enthusiasm, maintain the long-standing values of our Jewish traditions while keeping an eye towards future growth.

Let us, together with our wonderful membership, strive to seek higher paths that elevate our souls and bring us closer to You.

Bless each individual that is present here and their families. Bless all that are affiliated with our 102 year old synagogue.

We recognize that everything we have been able to achieve thus far is because of You, Master of the universe, for You have illuminated the way and guided us at every step.

Oh G-d, please continue to shine your light and countenance on us. We ask this in your name, Oh, L-d, and let us respond Amen.

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Shalom to my dear Kneseth Israel Chaverim,

It is a blessing and honor to meet with you today. I’d like to begin by taking this opportunity to thank our esteemed president, Shirley Aronson for all her hard work. By virtue of your dedication and selflessness, Kneseth Israel has enjoyed another thriving year. G-d bless you.

A deep gratitude also goes to the Board members and all our hard working volunteers and staff as well as their patient and understanding families. Without these essential team players, nothing would get done as well or as efficiently as it did. G-d bless you.

We were able to fulfill many of our goals this year and should be very proud of these accomplishments. Even more than the success of each program and event, is the fact that we accomplished these things by working together as a cohesive unit, overcoming differences when they arose, increasing our membership, recruiting more volunteers in all areas and serving as role models for the younger generations. Like the Nike slogan says, "Just do it…" We did!

We began 2007 with a breakfast program featuring the Deputy Director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, David Conn, who spoke about "Truth, Justice and the Jewish Way."

Then, last February, our congregation enjoyed the "fruits" of their labor by attending the Tu Bishvat Seder, hosted by our own Hebrew School students.

Last Purim followed closely in early March, as more then 100 people heard the reading of Megillah Esther, a very uplifting and noisy festivity to be sure. And let’s not forget to mention the delightful performance of the Purim Schpiel, featuring all ages.

The following week, last March, the congregation honored my family with a heartwarming and generous 5^th Anniversary celebration here. I am unable to put into words just how touched we were by this endearing tribute. This is just one of the many ways you have continued to reach out to my family over the years for which we are just so thankful and grateful.

The community Passover seder was even more spectacular than ever with very nice attendance.

On Saturday, April 28 we observed a special Havdalah service commemorating Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, followed immediately by Yom Ha’atzmuat, Israel’s Independence Day and the 33^rd day of the Counting of the Omer (Lag B’Omer). The highlight for this celebration was having Israeli native Miriam Adelstein share her experiences as a young child living in the Holy Land at the time Israel became a state in 1948.

I heard this saying once and it made me think about the students of our Hebrew School. "I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future " Last June, we graduated the second year of students from the Hebrew School in a moving ceremony. Also in June, we celebrated two simchas for the Sturgis family and the Greenhouse family as Rachael Sturgis became a Bat Mitzvah and Ben Greenhouse became a Bar Mitzvah, making everyone very proud.

And while we enjoyed the less hectic pace that Summer brings, we continued to learn at Thursday morning Bible classes as well as our daily and weekly services before beginning preparations for the High Holy Days. Once again, I wish to thank all those members who helped my family and I through the challenging days following my unfortunate accident. It is not often that the Rabbi is the recipient of "Bikkur Cholim" – but I will tell you that my recovery was surely aided by the warmth and caring of this congregation.

Before you knew it, the High Holidays were here and the Cantor joined us from London, backed by our very own choir, added uplifting harmony to the spirit of the Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur services, making the days of Awe truly awesome.

This was followed by a joyous Sukkot, where the Sukkah, literally became a community gathering place, enjoyed by our member families. So many people participated in building the Sukkah. Even our children were excited to lend a hand by providing their own decorations they created in the Hebrew School. In our prayer Ma Tovu, we recite: "I love the dwelling of your house and the place where your glory resides."

On Sunday, October 28^th, we spread our wings to join other houses of worship in the Greater Annapolis Interfaith Network, known as GAIN. I was asked to give the opening invocation at the first GAIN festival which was held at the Boys and Girls Club of Annapolis. Indeed, we can only stand to gain from these kinds of community events, which give Kneseth Israel visibility and respectability by bringing us closer to our neighbors.

Moreover, eyes were on Annapolis last November, when she was selected as the hosting city for the Middle East Peace Conference. Kneseth Israel in turn, became the focus for much of the media’s attention during this time, making us highly visible to the general public. BBC media for four and a half minutes showed off to people our beautiful synagogue.

As 2007 came to a close, the lights of our Menorahs during Chanukah reminded us that we have a responsibility to be the light among nations. We do this by instilling strong Jewish values and ethics in our children and our members. This year, during the December 9^th Chanukah Luncheon, our Hebrew School students prepared a brand new program that was truly inspirational and remarkable.

Many visitors to Israel have returned home to speak about their journey, hopefully inspiring more of our congregation to visit our Holy Land.

We hosted the annual AZA breakfast, which encourages our youth to participate in Jewish cultural and social programs.

We’ve added several Saturday evening Havdalah services, bringing people back to the shul after Shabbos. Miriam and I keep on opening our home to many visitors, for meals and hospitality as well as many of you.

Let’s talk about the future. As Anne Frank said "How wonderful it is that no one needs to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." We start today to make tomorrow better for us, our children, and their children – and so it goes.

Every year we are constantly faced with the challenges that plague many congregations. Higher bills, dwindling resources, loss of membership, influences from outside the community.

It is not always easy to meet these demands but somehow, through creativity in our programming, through active recruitment and individual participation, Congregation Kneseth Israel has met and surpassed expectations. We have raised the bar for what it takes to stay healthy and vibrant.

In order to continue along this path, we need to grow our membership, our Hebrew School and the services we offer. We have to encourage member participation and be open to new ideas that are outside the box.

Our learning programs will grow to accommodate everyone’s busy schedules. We plan to add more intergenerational programs so all generations can appreciate and love each other. We can expand our fund raising efforts to the broader community and also include more cultural programs, never losing sight of who we are within that community. We should set measurable, realistic goals so we can assess which programs worked, which don’t and where we need to concentrate our efforts.

Please be assertive. If you see someone in the store or in your travels who is Jewish, ask them if they belong to a synagogue. I will be happy to reach out to any unaffiliated Jew. Just give me a name and location. I’ll take it from there.

We welcome new members to our shul. We are a safe port in the harbor, where everyone can feel at home, welcomed and loved. We live by a Divine creed of Mitzvot and Torah, based in kindness, justice and tolerance.

As Principal of the Hebrew School, I am so proud to see the progress in their learning. Our lesson plans will focus on reading and prayer, so children will be more confident with the language, rituals and traditions of a service.

We must keep up with technology and an advancing world. Our user-friendly website and our monthly Kolienu newsletter keep us connected.

I pledge my support in whatever way I can to ensure our growth by offering high quality services, inspiring classes and spiritual leadership and guidance. My door is always open to you.

Just this past month, I witnessed the unbelievable outpouring of love for my son Elimelech and his wife Ayala. And a few months earlier, we received the same reaction to my boating accident. Hopefully, our joys far surpass the tragedies.

I look forward to another successful and meaningful year with you. Thank you.