Community News's blog

Shalom chaverim! Molly Mills here. I am the VBS ECC Infant-Toddler & Family Center Coordinator. Let me begin by offering a huge THANK YOU to the VBS community. As the newest member of the staff, my family and I have been welcomed with arms wide open, and the result is that I feel instantly part of this amazing extended family. Kehilah (Family and Community) is where it all starts. The Infant-Toddler & Family Center (ITFC) is often the gateway into our Early Childhood Center, Day School, Youth Center, and the greater temple community. From the beginning, we want our families to enter our doors with a sense of connection to something bigger.

I appreciate the opportunity to use this Community Corner space to update the Valley Beth Shalom community about the general progress of our Building Project, in particular the construction of the Howard and Irene Levine Community Center.

There are exciting developments almost every week now, as the construction of the Levine Center is going very quickly at this stage.  At the same time, it is interesting to realize that it really has taken more than 15 years to reach this point.   In the early 2000’s, then-President (and now Building Fund co-chair) Jeff Levine, architecture committee member Bobbie Weiser Blau, Ben Reznik and many others began working hard with an architectural firm from Boston on Master Plan entitlements and building designs.  I first got involved as a lay person – as the Day School Board’s liaison to the Building Committee -- when our oldest son Alex was in fourth grade; to put things in perspective, he is now 25 years old.

It is not what we don’t do; rather it is what we do! This is how I see Valley Beth Shalom and my volunteer work on behalf of VBS.

For nearly 30 years, I have given of myself to make our community a "better" place; our Schools, our Sisterhood and our Synagogue. I came to VBS as a nursery school parent and immediately became immersed in what would be my home away from home.

Grandma and Grandpa, Bubbe and Zayde, Savta and Saba, Mamani and Babayi…whatever we call them, grandparents are special people in our lives. They can connect us to the sacred traditions of our family and of our people. It has been said that one of the most beautiful blessings in Psalms is And may you see children [born] to your children, [and see] peace upon Israel.

Telling stories is part of our Jewish tradition. As a people, we are connected one-to-the-other by our shared experiences and the telling and re-telling of them. Of course there is interpretation, personal bias, and creative license that takes place when story telling, but this is all part of the art. Just ask Talmudic Rabbinic duo Hillel and Shamai who never understand anything in quite the same way and spent a lifetime argue about it!

It’s a New World

“It’s a new world, Tevye, it’s a new world." I always thought those words only pertained to the times in Fiddler on the Roof. Over the years, I continually am surprised to see once again, It’s a new world.

Installation Speech as President of Valley Beth Shalom
By Scott Howard

September 8, 2016

THE COUNTDOWN

FLASHBACK TO JUNE, 2003... VBS NURSERY SCHOOL GRADUATION... 

From the Desk of VBS President, Scott Howard

I am honored to begin my term as President of Valley Beth Shalom synagogue this week. I follow in the strong footsteps of Irv Weintraub, Norm Levine and Nancy Sher Cohen, among the so many others before them.