Welcome to Fall! I hope the Yom Tovim have been renewing for you.

 

Welcome to Fall! I hope the Yom Tovim have been renewing for you. Many of us felt energized just being able to reconnect with community, either in person or on zoom.   

We shared Simchat Torah this year with Shirat HaNefesh, another independent community that is also wrestling with its future.  Some members of the Fabrangen Havurah also joined us when their Simhat Torah was cancelled because one of their leaders came down with covid. They are also another independent community in search of renewal.

This Shabbat we read Genesis and the Story of Creation once again. Actually, in Genesis there is more than one creation story.   I find it so helpful and instructive to be reminded of its teachings.  We are reminded that Light comes from out of Darkness. We are reminded that Creation is Good, Ki Tov. We feel the inherent beauty of life and the emergence of the day, the waters, earth, the stars, vegetation and animal life. We are reminded that the Human, Adam, is created in the image of the Divine, both male and female. During these most challenging times, we need these reminders. And with these teachings in our minds and hearts we can once affirm life and illuminate the darkness within ourselves and around us.

New beginning.  Am Kolel will be embarking on a new beginning this year.   We will be moving our Center back to lower Montgomery County. Soon we will be signing a lease that will provide us with ample space for our offices, library, meeting and davvening gatherings.  The location is across the street from our original location in Rockville Town Center. After 17 years at Sanctuary Retreat Center we hope that our return to Rockville will help us meet our individual and communal needs better. We are also searching for a Program Director and Judaist to work with us.

Sadly, we have to say goodbye to Sanctuary. Thousands of people benefited from retreats, simchas, conferences and numerous events there. We are hoping to either lease or sell Sanctuary to a party who will continue the 72 year old legacy of Sanctuary being a spiritual, learning and renewal center for others. Hopefully, whomever is running it will provide us with retreat space every now and then.

If you know of someone or an organization that may be interested in leasing or buying, please contact me.   The entire property of 28 acres with all its buildings is only 1.6 million dollars. Because we are in the Ag Reserve there are special zoning regulations.

Making a move like this will require some help from our members and our community. Please let us know if you have some time to spare packing us up in the coming months.  Our plan is to be in the new space by February 1. We are fulling booked with retreats during November.  Then, we pack up.

We look forward to a new Creation.

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Reb David