Leah at Beit Sefer

Dear Beit Sefer Families, 

In this week’s Torah portion, we read some of the ways that the Levite caste, the priests, kept themselves holy.   The book Leviticus is named for the Priests and the many laws they followed to be holy and to make the Temple holy. During ancient times, the Temple was cared for by the priests.  They maintained the Temple, and were the agents for worshipping  God.   The Levites didn’t own land, they were born into their work, and they were sustained by the gifts and donations brought to the Temple.   In today’s times, our Temple leaders aren’t born from a separate class of people who inherit traditions, and a guidebook of how to do their jobs.   Our leaders are ourselves.   The members of our Temple make sure that we have a building, that we can pay for the electricity, pay the staff, maintain the grounds, and run the programs that we want to run.  While the professional staff has training and experience to bring to our daily work, so much of the day to day leadership of the Temple is done by members who work, have families and who find the time to care for this institution.    Parents of Beit Sefer and Beit Sefer alumni spend countless hours looking for ways to raise the revenue necessary to fund all the things we appreciate about this community.   I ask you to take a moment to think what it means to you to have this community here, to have a Jewish place in the midst of the Pomona Valley,  to have educated and talented clergy available, to have education programs, to have a Torah, a well kept facility, and a place to convene with other Jewish community members.   If it means something to you, then I ask you to show your support for our Temple leaders in one of the following ways:

• Go to the TBI Facebook Page and “Like” the posts about our upcoming auction.
• Share the TBI Facebook Page promotions for the pre-event ticket.
• Make a donation of any size, even $5, as an act of support for the work that our volunteers do.
• Volunteer to help at the auction on Saturday night!
• Buy tickets to our auction on Saturday night! Walk-ins will be welcome. 
• Click here to buy a pre-event ticket to win a trip to 7-day trip to Mexico.   (See the photo below for more details.)

Thank you to everyone who has already shown support by making a donation towards an auction basket!