Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Rosh Hashanah, Blessings, Blogs, and a new Web Site...


Welcome to 5772! In the spirit of the New Year, and in the spirit of taking stock of our lives at this important time of the year, there are many exciting and new things happening with TBS online which I thought I would highlight here.

First, we have launched our newly updated web page. You can still find us at www.tbsneedham.org but when you log in, you will notice that the site has a slightly new look and feel. The calendar of events is now firmly linked in to all of our subpages, and we have several exciting new features which will be debuting in the coming weeks (and, in fact, later in this email).

To access much of the customized content, we have moved away from the model of a single user password for the entire congregation. Instead, you will have an individual user identity and password. If you have not already registered for a username and password, please do so by clicking here, and following the instuctions below:
  • Fill out the form to register for an Online username and password.

  • Enter key information: First Name, Last Name, Password and confirmation, Email, and Display Name

  • Enter required information on the Custom Tab: Timezone.

  • Enter optional information: Address, Avatar / Profile photo, Tags tab (to indicate your interests or affiliations), Custom tab (for privacy settings), and Activity tab (settings for how you want to be notified about activities within the Community Area).

You will be sent an email with a confirmation that your account has been established once you have been approved. Login information is per user, so everyone in your family can (and should) create their own username on our new page.

Also on the new page (as you begin to explore) you will find that we have updated the section including the Rabbi's sermons to feature the two sermons delivered on Rosh Hashanah. Rabbi Todd's erev Rosh Hashanah sermon entitled "Opening our Eyes to Blessings" can be found here and the list of blessings mentioned in his sermon can be found here. Rabbi Jay's Rosh Hashanah sermon entitled "Israel: Seeking Hope, Inspiration, and Courage to Act" can be found here. After Yom Kippur, we will update their respective pages with copies of this year's sermons.

Another new feature of our relaunched website are two new blogs for our K-5 and 6-12 learning programs. Following the incredible success last year of our pre-school blog, we have launched two fully interactive blogs with posts from your children's teachers, pictures from the classrooms, information about learning and curriculum, and lots of opportunities for ongoing conversation. We welcome you to come view how exciting learning at TBS is! The Elementary Learning (grades K-5) blog can be found here and the Teen Programs blog (grades 6-12) can be found here. Please note you must be logged into the Temple web site to access these pages. (If you would like to have a family member who is not a member of the Temple [i.e. grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc.] be able to access the blog, please note that they can also register for a username and password using the instructions above although their access to the webpage as a whole may be limited).

As a final reminder and update, we are in the middle of our Annual Shofar Appeal. This is time of year when we reach out to you asking for your support as we begin the year ahead. A pledge card was sent home to all members, and if you prefer to make a contribution online feel free to click here (you will be able to use Paypal to make a contribution by credit card).

We hope you enjoy the start of the New Year as well as the new ways in which we are using technology at the Temple. May the year to come bring you and yours many blessings!

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