MyBnai Blog

Shana Tovah. 

On behalf of myself and the board of directors it is my pleasure to welcome our members, guests, and their families to Bnai Sephardim.

Last year, when I had the honor of addressing you, I talked about the many challenges that we were facing and the changes that were forthcoming. 

We spoke about the new direction that our community was taking. We laid out a vision of where we wanted to take our synagogue, but we were not, by any means certain of the results we would achieve. 

Today, I would like to give you a brief update. Call it the state of the synagogue report:

The business of running a synagogue is not an easy one. This year, again, we have faced a lot of challenges, but I am proud to report that they have mostly been met, BH. As a result, we were able to grow and accomplish new things as a community.

First, we were able to achieve an important transition of leadership. We, as your representatives, have tried to be as inclusive as possible throughout the process. We understand that we will not please everyone. We also recognize that we are only caretaker leaders doing the best we can for our community. 
This is, after all, where we come to congregate, pray, learn Torah, and to enrich our Jewish heritage.

Our Rabbi as well as our lay leaders have been working very hard to improve upon last year’s positive results.

Of course mistakes will be made along the way, but we will learn from them. I am pleased to report that  we have added a total of 50 new member families into our community.  To me this is the clearest way to measure the success of the path we have undertaken. 

I would like to welcome those new families into our community. I know all of you have given them a warm Bnai Sephardim welcome. 

Pirke Avot tells us “do not separate yourself from the community.” The Talmud takes it a step further and teaches us that “Any person who works for the need of the community it is as if that person is studying Torah”. The correct lesson here is that it is not enough just to be here. We must take an active role in the community.  

So to those of you who are already deeply engaged I can’t thank you enough. But to those of you who are sitting on the fence, wondering if you are needed.  The answer is a resounding yes. We want to invite all of you to come and join us. We are very excited about our future. But we need your help.

Everyone of you bring to the table a set of experiences and perspective that can help enrich us as a community. We can accomplish more as a group than we could possibly do as individuals. Yes, it is sometimes difficult and stressful to do volunteer work. However, what they don’t tell you is that it is very rewarding.

I have met more of you in the last 2 years than the 18 years I have been a member of Bnai Sephardim. We tend to gravitate towards our comfort zone. We socialize with the people we know. We invest in those close to us. I would like to offer an alternative. This year, let us get out of our comfort zone and try new things. Let’s welcome those new members. Let’s say hello to those we haven’t yet met. Let’s invite to our Shabbat table a new family we can get to know. The reward will be tremendous. We can all be partners in rebuilding our community together. 

We are very excited about the immediate future. Thanks to the many years of hard work and dedication, as well as the financial support of many of our members and supporters, we have managed to secure the financing needed to complete our social hall expansion complex.

This project will place Bnai Sephardim on a more secure financial footing and also provide us with state of the art  facility for us to enjoy. We will have a library, study rooms, and class rooms, courtesy of the Ovaknin family.

We will enjoy daily tefillah prayers in our new small daily synagogue, courtesy of the Miara family.

We are very excited about the first Mikveh truly built according to Sephardic Halacha in Broward County, thanks to the generosity of Isaac Anidjar and family.

We will have new administrative and Rabbi’s offices to better serve you, thanks to the generosity of Leon and Marco Levy and family. We are very thankful to them and all of the other families that have already made pledges.

There are many more naming opportunities available to all of you and I hope we all take part in this cause.

Please take a good look at the fliers we sent you and consider leaving a family legacy for many years to come.  

Of course, the most impressive and exciting feature of all will be the beautiful social hall. Our hall will be able to comfortably fit 450 people! It will finally allow us to have our very own place to celebrate our Smachot and grow as a community

We have been working behind the scenes for some time now, trying to find the best possible partner-match for this venture. I believe we found such a caterer.

In the coming weeks we hope to provide more details once contract negotiations are completed. We are very pleased with the interest and support that has been generated from all of you since we started this campaign. 

Our plan is to have a beautiful inauguration this coming year BH.

While all of these accomplishments and exciting developments are truly wonderful, we believe we can’t, in good conscious look to the future without first recognizing and honoring the past. That is why we have started an ad journal in honor of Rabbi and Rabbanit Benhamu’s 30 years of service to our community. 
It is not often that a community has a Rabbi and wife team that remains a part of its history for such a long time.

So I invite you all to honor them by placing and ad in the journal which will serve as a memento to them and their families, and our way of saying thanks for all the years of selfless service and sacrifice they have given us. 

Finally, I want to personally thank my board of directors and volunteers. Without them we wouldn’t be able to accomplish much. They are the backbone and greatest strength this synagogue has. Thanks to their hard work and dedication are we able to prosper and move forward.  I can’t thank you all enough. I admire you for your dedication and readiness to give freely of your time.  

We are especially appreciative to all of you members and non-members alike for always coming through and supporting us with your donations and pledges. I can assure you that what you give will be for a good cause and the reward will be greater than you can imagine. 

I hope and pray that this New Year Hashem bestows upon our kehillah blessings and good fortune. That we improve as people and as individuals. Like Rabbi Nachman mi Breslov said: "If you are not a better person tomorrow than you are today, what need have you for a tomorrow?" 

In a time that we ask Hashem for another year, let’s work to improve ourselves and our character traits so we can better serve our community. I hope that in the coming year we will realize that we can achieve a great deal more as a community united, than any one of us can achieve as individuals. May we all be inscribed in the Book of Life.

On behalf of myself and my family I wish you a happy healthy and sweet New Year.

Shana Tovah,

Dr. Shalom Amselem
President