Temple Beth Am can use your help.  As you may already know our Sabbath services have been moved to Saturday mornings for the winter months.  Attending Friday evening services given the winter’s inclement weather is very difficult, hence the change.  It would be deeply appreciated by you fellow congregants if you could help to make a minyan on Saturday mornings over this period of time.

So, if you possibly can, do a miztvah and give some time.  Recently, the harsh news about the anti- Semitic attacks in our area have caused us a great deal of concern about our Temple and our safety as well as that of the Jewish Community Center and the other synagogues in Bayonne.

As it happened, Rabbi Gladstone and I were in the office discussing the situation and trying to decide on a course of action when two Bayonne police officers entered the Temple.  They informed us that they were visiting on behalf of Mayor Smith and the Police Department.  They told us that the Mayor and the police were well aware of what had been taking place and wanted to assure us that they had increased their patrols and surveillance around our Temple.  The Bayonne Police Department has always been attentive to us and now even more so.

We owe a Thank You to Mayor Smith and our Police Department for their concern and their quick action.

You can also help by being alert and reporting any suspicious behavior you might see around the Temple.

Don Miller is the president of Temple Beth Am for 2011-2012.