September 15, 2025
As the weather cools and the leaves turn colors, we’re naturally prompted to reflect on the year that has passed and all that has transpired. This time of year—as we begin a new school year and prepare for the High Holy Days—always invites us to contemplate the changes in our lives.
Sometimes these changes are momentous: births, deaths, graduations, and other significant lifecycle events. Other times, they’re more subtle shifts that quietly reshape our daily experience. These transitions often carry complex emotions, and we need meaningful ways to process and mark these important thresholds.
As a community, we too stand on the cusp of a major threshold. For 75 years, Beth Emet has been served by just three senior rabbis. This year, we begin searching for a new senior rabbi who will succeed Rabbi London in July 2026.
Our theme for this year will therefore focus on navigating life’s thresholds—both personal and communal. We’ll hold a series of congregational events on aspects of this theme and we’ll explore this topic together in small “salon groups”; if you would like to be part of a salon group, please contact ManyVoices@bethemet.org.
We’ll kick off the year on Sunday, November 9 from 12:15-3:00 pm with lunch and an informal, interactive event. We’ve already had some major changes that have happened recently in our community with the retirement of precious long-time staff members and new staff who have joined Beth Emet this summer. This will be your chance to meet the many new staff members—and they’re eager to get to know you too!
This is not only a time of transition for Beth Emet but for the broader Jewish community. Together, we will discover how we experience change personally and communally as we move through evolutions in our Jewish identities, transitions in our life stages, as well as through significant changes at Beth Emet.
