Dear Friends:

These past few days have been some of the most
significant days in the history of our Congregation, making this past
Yom Kippur one of the most meaningful ever.

When a section of
our Sanctuary ceiling fell, in the same week that we were visited by
the Westboro Baptist Church hate group, one had to wonder what tests
God truly had in store for Congregation Beth Elohim!

And
perhaps, through these experiences, we were meant to learn that our
Congregation is truly blessed by extraordinary leaders, a generous and
loving community, and faithful and stalwart neighbors who stand by us
in times of trouble.

Thank you first of all to Reverend Daniel
Meeter and the leadership at Old First Reformed Church. Opening up
their worship space to us on Sunday and Monday was an enormous act of
faith and generosity that we will never forget. True practitioners of
God's command to "love your neighbor as yourself," Reverend Meeter and
the Old First community demonstrated a powerful act of friendship.
Thank you.

Thanks are also in order to our lay leaders,
professional staff, and numerous volunteers who made the transition to
Old First and back again as smooth as possible and as result made for a
warm and meaningful worship experience. As one part of our physical
structure was rendered unusable, we were reminded of how vital, deep
and precious our human infrastructure is. We are truly a community of
members and each and every one of you made this Yom Kippur so special.
Participants in all our services: Main Sanctuary, Yachad Family
Service, Tots and Brooklyn Jews–more than 2000 people were able to
worship on this holiest day of the year and each was able to do so with
a depth of intent and experience that will be felt for months to come.

We wanted to bring you up to date on the state of the situation with our Main Sanctuary.

As
you know, a large piece of the Main Sanctuary ceiling above the middle
of the Balcony fell on Wednesday evening, revealing what will surely be
a long process of repair and restoration. Our Congregation's Executive
Committee will be meeting in Emergency Session on Thursday evening to
develop a plan for immediate next steps. The Congregation's Board of
Trustees will be meeting on October 5th to further discuss our steps
going forward.

As we begin this process, we do so buoyed by the
overwhelming support of our membership, our neighbors, the broader New
York City civic and religious community, and by phone calls and emails
from across the country. This is an incalculable blessing. As we begin
to move toward celebrating our 150th Anniversary as a Congregation, we
do so with the eyes of the city upon us and we are determined to make
our celebration and restoration a source of pride for each and every
one
of you.

We look forward to traveling on this journey
of celebration and restoration together. At this time, we urge you to
take action by making your generous donation today to the Yom Kippur
Appeal, which will enable us to move quickly to take our first steps
towards our Sanctuary's restoration. To donate online, please click here.

May each of you be blessed in the year ahead with abundant goodness, well-being and peace.

Sincerely,
Rabbi Andy Bachman
Elana Paru, Executive Director
David Kasakove, President