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A Message of Peace From Rabbi Pillsbury

Dear Temple Beit Torah Community, 

My heart is heavy as I write to you today. It is heartbreaking to bear witness to the violence and destruction happening in Israel and in Palestine right now. As the death toll climbs, so too do the fear, the trauma, and the ramifications of trauma for everyone living in the region and watching from afar. We pray for peace and an end to violence. As our religious school students reminded us this morning, peace means being kind to each other and building a world without war or violence. A world of peace means a world where all people can be their true selves. 
 
In Hebrew, the word for peace, shalom, shares a root with the word shalem, which means wholeness. Every day we work together as a community and as individuals to build that better world of peace and of wholeness, but today more than ever we reach out to each other to do our part to be just a little bit kinder and promote peace in smaller ways. We may not be able to end war ourselves, but we can make our families, our friendships, and our communities more full of peace and wholeness.
 
May each of us work to end violence in our own spheres of influence and continue to help to create a better, more peaceful world for ourselves and all people.
 
Rabbi Pillsbury
she/her they/them
"The long way is the short way, and the short the long." Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 53b

Your Reform Jewish home in Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region

Temple Beit Torah enriches the lives of our members by providing a safe, inclusive, and welcoming Reform Jewish Community. Our vision is to support each member on our journey of personal and spiritual growth, by providing a home for Reform Jewish values and creating sustained connections to the greater community.

A Message to Our Congregants and Community

We are all in shock and grief about the tragic and horrifying events that are occurring in Israel and Palestine. We strongly condemn the vicious atrocities committed by Hamas and are grateful for all the members of our community that stand by Israel and the Jewish community. We are heartbroken at the loss of life and safety for all people. We continue to pray for peace as we remain vigilant. We are also aware of the potential for antisemitic acts in Colorado Springs and that Hamas has called for a “Day of Rage.”

We have been and are attending ongoing online training and online update meetings to ensure Temple Beit Torah has the proper security protocols in place. We have taken some additional steps to increase security, some of which cannot be discussed in an open forum. For the immediate future, we have increased our security detail from one person to two on Friday nights and Sundays so we can have more complete and secure coverage.

Mayor Mobolade called Rabbi Pillsbury to show support for the Jewish community. CSPD Chief of Police Vasquez has contacted the Rabbi and Jeff Ader to inform us that they are aware of the possibility of increased anti-Semitic behavior and the call by Hamas for “a day of rage.” CSPD (and other law enforcement agencies) are looking out for us.

We are requesting that you register for services.  You can easily do so at www.beit-torah.org.

At this point in time, we have not received any credible threats and so we are staying open for all activities.  As always please do what you think is best for yourself and your family.

We will let you know as soon as possible if the threat environment changes, and we need to close for a period of time.

Please know that the safety and well-being of all our congregants and guests is our highest priority.

If you would like to donate to help Israel please consider following this link to the New Israel Fund:  https://www.nif.org/get-involved/ways-to-give/

Tonight, we will be celebrating Shabbat and Simhat Torah together as a community, two holidays where we take joy in our tradition and in our people. Even in the face of fear and anger and grief, we will continue to celebrate our Judaism and be proud to be Jews. We will continue to work together to make the world a better place. We are so grateful to each and every one of you for being part of our community and continuing this sacred work together. 

Stay safe and well,
Jeanne, Jeff and Wendy 
Am Israel Chai!

Your Safety Comes First

We know that members of our community are impacted by the war in Israel and Gaza, and we are monitoring the local situation regarding anti-semitic activity. We recognize, and understand, that many in our community are frightened, anxious, and feeling understandably unsettled. We want to reassure everyone that in addition to working with CSPD to increase monitoring of our building, we have also increased our armed security on the premises for services and all temple events, and we would ask that all our members leave any weapons at home. 

 
The Board of Directors is working with Adrian, owner of Pikes Peak Security, to help us update our policy regarding guns in the building. When the policy is finalized we will bring it to the congregation for discussion. Please note that your safety is our number one priority, and we are diligently working with law enforcement, CSPD, the SCN, and the FBI to make sure we are doing everything possible to keep us all safe.
 

Revised COVID Policy

With the increase in the new COVID variant, RSV and flu cases, the first priority of the TBT community is to look after each other. We welcome any who wish to wear a mask and request anyone feeling unwell to join our activities by Zoom and not in person. Your Board of Directors will be making masks and sanitizer available again and will monitor the situation in case further action is needed. In the meantime, we welcome any written comments on other action that might be suggested. 

Sat, December 9 2023 26 Kislev 5784