As many of you know, I continue my participation in Synagogue 2000, an institute whose mission is to serve as a think tank and educational training center devoted to revitalizing the American synagogue. I recently returned from a meeting of their national advisory team. These sessions are always stimulating and engrossing. I came away both energized and challenged. This time I found myself considering how the role of the synagogue has changed in just a brief period of time.

Synagogues were once primarily places of study and prayer. Synagogues today have to assume so many more disparate and challenging roles. Today synagogues have to serve as entire Jewish neighborhoods, bookstores, and Judaica shops. Todays synagogues are places where Jewish identities are molded and created, where friendships are made, support groups are sought. We seek out synagogues in order to find and reinforce that part of us that is Jewish. None of it is obvious and it all seems to me so complicated.

I find myself wondering when do synagogues succeed? There are certainly all kinds of measures for success and failure, but I would like to just consider Octobers Underwear Month at Temple Micah. It is certainly great that we set a record for underwear collected (well over 4,000 pairs) to donate to the Community Council for the Homeless. The sixth grade class did a remarkable job in organizing the drive and we all are grateful to them. I particularly like the way we connect the drive to the festival of Sukkot. Just as our ancestors brought an offering to the ancient Jerusalem Temple when they celebrated their festival, so do we come as religious pilgrims during our festival bringing a religious gift, the offering of our hearts to donate to our fellow who is in need. We partner with God when we imitate Gods holy act of clothing the naked. Our liturgy somehow feels more complete when we are able to connect it to a sacred act.

This same thinking lies behind a new program this year, "Share your Hannukah; Spread the Light." In partnering with the Montgomery County Social Services Linkage to Learning program, each family in our Congregation will be able to offer a seasonal holiday gift and more to a family in dire need. What more fitting Hannukah could one want to celebrate? Hannukah, according to the rabbis, celebrates the triumph of the human spirit over the forces of oppression. What better way is there for us to lift the spirits of our neighbors who are oppressed by so many needs? What better lesson could there be to share with our own children? What better way to spend a night of Hannukah than to go shopping as a family buying gifts and even basic necessities for those whose needs go unmet during so much of the year? Please participate in this program. All of the information is available at the Temple. There is no finer measure as to what qualifies as success in synagogue life.

Finally, dont miss our annual Hannukah service on Friday evening Dec. 10. It is always such an amazing evening of song, light, fun and even inspiration. May the light of the Hannukah candles glow brightly in your homes!!