Among the unsung heroes of Emanu El are the members of our Caring Congregation team. It is difficult even to begin sharing with you the incredible things they do that help make us a warmer synagogue, much less give you a whole list of their contributions.

In addition to being visited by our rabbis and cantor, our hospital visiting team, in consonance with Sisterhood, visits Temple members in the hospitals. Upon returning home from the hospital, members get a call from one of our team, checking on them and offering to help - perhaps they need someone to go to the grocery for them initially, or they need help getting to and from the doctor.

Some of our Temple members are homebound and need long-term help getting prescriptions and rides to and from the hospital for tests. Usually one or two committee members are assigned to each person needing this type of long-term attention so that they get to know each other and feel comfortable. They also appreciate an occasional visit from one of our tearn members once in a while. Or one of our team members stays with the home-bound "patient" for a few hours, giving a family care giver a couple of hours to get out and run some errands.

Temple members who reside at Seven Acres are visited regularly by one or more of our Care Team members. Several times a year we have Chai Tea for those who are residents of The Hampton. And at yontif, the Caring Congregation team sends out sympathy cards to all Temple members who have lost loved ones during the year.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg of the wonderful work done by the unsung heroes of Emanu El's Caring Congregation Team. They are constantly looking for more members who need their help and for new ways of helping them. If you or someone you know could use a little extra tie, please contact my office and let Brenda or me know, and we'll call in the Caring Congregation team.

One of the reasons many of you joined Emanu El is because you were looking not just for a synagogue but for a spiritual community. There are many ways in which we strive to accomplish this. The Caring Congregation team is perhaps our strongest method of fulfilling that mission.

Thanks to all of them for doing such righteous work.