It is a blessing and honor to gather together with you today. I would like to take this opportunity to give a heartfelt thank you to our esteemed president, Mrs. Shirley Aronson, for making an arduous effort to ensure the success of the synagogue. G-d blesses you. I would also like to thank the entire Board members as well as the Gabboin and Gabbiot. The Sisterhood and its president, Mrs. Hinda Exler all the volunteers of the sisterhood and men’s club and all the congregants for their cooperation, kindness and help. G-d bless you. May the Almighty give all of us the strength and wisdom to continue.

At the High Holidays we conduct a time of soul searching and giving account of our lives to G-d during High holidays. At our Annual Meeting today we can look at our past and look towards the coming year with plans for our future growth-growth in membership, growth in learning and to make improvements wherever needed. This year, thank G-d; we continue to have our history classes our bible classes and also many outstanding celebrations. As I stand before you today and compare last year to this year I can only choose one word ke’inihoro. We are inspired by all of our members.

No two days in the Rabbi’s life are the same. To mention a few examples, I advise people who either come to the synagogue office, or to my home. Visiting the sick, comforting the mourners in their time of grief, preaching and teaching and taking care of all the need of the life cycles. I share your joy in simchas and feel your pain in times of sorrow.

At this time, I would like to recognize the following people-- Dr. Bruce Friedman, for helping the daily prayer services to run smoothly, and Dr. David Krimins, for helping in our High Holidays services as well as assisting with the memorial services in our holydays. Thank you, Leslie Gradet for leading a study group every Monday evening on the Book of Judges. There is one area that we need more help - our daily Minyan. This is very important in the life of our congregation. We need you to make a commitment to help. Please try to make the commitment to come as often as you can.

We should feel proud that Kneseth Israel is blessed now with many avenues for spiritual growth and innovation in Jewish life. Furthermore, our synagogue can boast of the sensitivity and inclusiveness of all ages and generations. The accomplishments and events of this past year are a clear example of the benefits of teamwork.

In this past year, we celebrated Kneseth Israel’s 100th anniversary, which is a testament to the strength of our faith and demonstrates great cooperation and hard work of our past and present membership as we continue to perpetuate Judaism from one generation to the next. Our shul is dedicated to caring about each member of our community. I am optimistic that your energy and good-will within our community will allow us to continue to growth as we remain faithful to our congregation and what we represent . As king Solomon said "Wit and wisdom are born with men but accomplishments accrue only through hard work."

At this time, I would like to give a special blessing to our High Holiday and Chanukah choir members who expressed their love for Jewish music and their participation enhanced our heartfelt prayers. Our devoted High Holiday and Chanukah choir deserves our utmost appreciation for their beautiful voices which blended with our services and uplifted us.

May we help one another to overcome challenges and bring harmony and peace to ourselves, our families, our communities, and hopefully to the entire world. Amen.