Fall of 2018 was my family’s 5th year at TBE. I have three kids enrolled in various learning programs – my 7th grader just started his second year of B’yachad Hebrew curriculum and just celebrated his bar mitzvah in October; my 6th grader finished Tagliyot (the STEM based program) and started B’yachad this September. My 4th grader is trying Explorations for the first time and she has decided to try Tagliyot as well.

I was recruited to join the No’ar, or youth committee, when we first became members and was excited to get to know the parent community and temple leadership in a more intimate, meaningful way. This parent committee works hand in hand with the education staff as a sounding board and partner on educational matters and to promote community. Three years later, I became one of the co-chairs and will continue in this role for one more year.

My role has had a huge impact on the way I see the temple and its congregants. My former co-chair and I told the joke to the education team that four things you will never hear are, “no,” “we can’t do that,” “that won’t work,” and “this is how we’ve always done it.”

This is the same attitude I experience from the broader temple staff, clergy and lay leadership – a rarity in any organization or group of parents. The positivity of working with people who are constantly asking, “How can we improve?” is always inspiring to me. I have loved getting to know other parents in this setting where we are all working toward making our children’s experience one that we can all be proud of and where we as parents and congregants are equally interested in becoming involved for our own personal and spiritual growth.