Online Events 

• Sunday, March 28 at 6 PM – TBH Community Seder.  A haggadah will be sent to each member household.   

Acknowledgments

We are pleased at how well we have adapted to the pandemic and have kept most of our community programs and events going. Thanks to Rabbi Dean and Cantor Shayndel and to     everyone who has stepped up with their talents, creativity, dedication and diligence to maintain     and appreciate our community. Most recently,

• Movie night, which was a wonderful successful experience. People had a lot of fun.    
• Dalia’s bat mitzvah. Dalia did a great job, and she and her family worked with the clergy to create a wonderful and meaningful service.

Issues

• Relevant people asked to make recommendations for various aspects of reopening and matters to take into consideration. Executive Committee will make the final decision.
  
• Succession. Michael Cohen, Jane Durango, and Linda Rose are working on potential Board members and Officers for next year. Contact them if you are interested.

Publicity

We have submitted our seder for the J‘s list of affordable Passover seders.

Social Action

Food for Thought will be meeting Monday to discuss expansion possibilities, geographically and/or through additional organizations; fund-raising; and updating marketing materials. People can and are still donating via online credit card link.

Building and Grounds

• Comcast started laying internet cable but ran into a problem. Michael Cohen will follow up on the next steps.
• The dead trees have been removed.
  

Religious School

Religious School students celebrated Purim and are planning to learn about Passover. Post-B’nai mitzvah class is planning to meet.

Events (on Zoom)

• Sunday, February 21 at 4:00 – 5:00 PM – Purim Celebration.  Rabbi Dean will introduce. Purim spiel Beware the Ides of Adar. (about ½ hour). Purim story and Megillah excerpt with Cantor Shayndel.    
  Spiel is being coordinated with the Actors Ensemble of Berkeley; rehearsals have started. Information has been sent out. Reserve your spot.  If you have trouble making a reservation, contact Michelle Husby.
• Sunday, March 7 at 5 PM – TBH at the Movies: A Night at the Opera. Copyright availability confirmed.       

• Sunday, March 28 at 6 PM – TBH Community Seder. A haggadah will be sent to each member household.    
  

Issues

• Action items from retreat were:
  

• Social events (See Movie Night above).           

• Technology infrastructure to facilitate a variety of ways of operating as well as security (See Buildings & Grounds below)            
     

• Ideas for re-opening more flexibly, e.g. outdoors. Not yet. We will develop criteria that we want to meet to operate safely and plan to set up a task force with the Chinese Church to deal with reopening.
         

• Succession.  Michael Cohen, Jane Durango, and Linda Rose will meet to discuss potential Board members and Officers for next year. Contact them if you are interested.

Publicity

• Generally publicity for events has been internal. Will pursue placing an ad in the J     for Passover.
     

• The website calendar is not working well. Wendy Roth is working with URJ to fix it. Contact her if you see a problem.

Social Action

Food for Thought evaluated the 2020 food distribution, which went very well in a difficult situation. Able to use two locations successfully. Will start planning for 2021 at the meeting next week. If we can start fund-raising now, we may be able to expand the program significantly.

Building and Grounds

• Comcast began to lay cable today for high-speed internet.  It will take a few more weeks to finish and activate it, but then we will have the bandwidth to do much more through the internet, as well as increasing security devices. Rabbi Dean will look into technology devices that may be useful for programming.    
• There are a number of dead trees on the property, some or possibly all of which may need to be removed. We are looking to get an assessment from the Fire Department and an estimate for those which will need to be removed.
• The clothing bin has been removed. Discussion of removal of trash on property     and person living on property who has been helping manage trash.

Events

• Board Retreat – Sunday, January 31, 2021 Learning from Covid -19 impact – with URJ facilitators.
• Purim Celebration – Sunday, February 21, 2021, online. Featuring Purim Spiel – Beware the Ides of Adar.  If interested in becoming involved, contact Michael Cohen.
• Pesach Seder – Online Sunday, March 28.

Social Action

• Food for Thought – Successfully completed food distribution for 400 families.  Each received four boxes of food, a turkey, and a toy.  Meeting January 25 to evaluate 2020 and begin plans for 2021.        
• GRIP annual meeting – Sunday, January 31 online.

Buildings and Grounds

• Breezeway lighting has new bulbs and is working well.
• New Comcast internet is scheduled for the end of February.
• Storage unit was broken into.  Loss will be investigated.

Religious School

• Will celebrate Tu b’Shevat.
• Post b’nai mitzvah class will meet.

Events

• Purim Spiel – Beware the Ides of Adar. Sunday, February 21, 2021 1:30-4:30 PM.

             If interested in becoming involved, contact Michael Cohen.    

• Board Retreat – Sunday, January 31, 2021 Learning from Covid -19 impact – with help from URJ

Tzedakah and Tikkun Olam

• Caring Community – If you are able to make some meals for a family needing help,     contact Marilyn Hertzberg.    
• Food for Thought – Successfully completed food distribution for 400 families today.

    Next meeting will be January 25, 2021.

Events

• High Holy Day services and boxes were very well received. Thanks to Rabbi Dean Kertesz for his leadership and to all the clergy, staff and volunteers for their hard work. Although getting technological help cost more than we usually spend, it was worth it. We could not have done it otherwise.    
• Ritual Committee will discuss how we can celebrate Hanukkah.

Issues

• Beginnings of discussion about how to re-envision the Temple if/when/how we can return in person. What have we learned, and what do we want to keep regarding our online activities?    
• We are looking to expand our leadership on the Board and committees. Anyone interested in becoming part of the Board or a committee, please contact Jane Durango or Michael Cohen.

Publicity

• Jane Kemp continues to do a great job updating our Facebook page, as does Wendy Roth with our web site.    
• Letters will be sent to those who joined us for the High Holy Days, inviting them to our other activities and events.

Social Action

• Food for Thought will be packing some boxes at the Temple, and some at Nystrom school. Volunteers are needed, and the hours will be flexible. Instead of pallets of food, the Food Bank will be donating pre-packed boxes, which will be easier for us to handle.    
• We will be sending a sympathy card and donation to GRIP in memory of their cook, Pesa Aulea.
  

Buildings and Grounds

• All lights in the main room are working, and new lights have been installed in the lobby and the library.    
• There is a new hall light switch under the alarm panel and a temporary switch at the entrance to the main room.    
• We have new refrigerators in the kitchen and the oneg kitchen.    
• Comcast is beginning the process of installing high speed internet.
  

Religious School

• Has been meeting regularly online since the High Holy Days.
  

Welcome

• Welcome new members Jessica Broitman and Gibor Basri. Jessica is a psychoanalyst, and Gibor is a professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley. They live in Berkeley and have been coming to High Holy Day services for several years.
• We also welcome a new Religious School family. Chase and Hazel McCrary are joining our classes. Their mother Melinda McCrary, Executive Director of the Richmond Museum of History and Culture, organized the exhibit “Pioneers to the Present – Jews of  Richmond and Contra Costa”.

High Holy Days

• High Holy Day boxes have been distributed and are appreciated. Thanks to Rabbi Dean for creating and organizing the project, and to the Ritual Committee and Michelle Husby for their efforts.
• We have over 70 registrations for online High Holy Day services.

Publicity

• High Holy Day information has been sent to members.
• Ads have been placed in the J and Contra Costa Marketplace.
• Jane Kemp has been updating our Facebook page regularly with information about the High Holy Days and Religious School and has placed information on local community sites.    
• Wendy Roth has reworked our web site so the home page currently focuses on the High Holy Days with various links for participation, including a donation page. Several new people have signed up for the Weekly Update. She is also placing ads on Facebook, which have had many viewers.    

Social Action

• Regular food distributions at the schools are seeing a great demand, about 3,000/week at one school.    
• Food for Thought is working on a safe place to pack boxes, and ways to involve younger people and more community members.

Buildings and Grounds – Thanks to Josh Genser, Michael Cohen, and Neil Zarchin,

• Exterior lighting and security measures are done.
• New lights have been installed in the lobby, and the lobby has been repainted.
• Bulbs in the main room have been replaced.
• Electrician is coming to look at wiring problems in the main room.
• Garbage dumped on property was taken to the dump.

Religious School

• Started last Sunday, with tefillah with Rabbi Dean, breakout rooms for classes, and gathering together at the end.
• Some teachers delivered packets to their students with hands-on projects.