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Building construction update
Groundbreaking ceremony
On
Monday, September 2, 2002, the Beth El community celebrated
at the official Ground Breaking Ceremony for phase 1 of the
building construction project.
Kulanu
Phase One Ground Breaking Ceremony
Temple Beth El
September 2, 2002 10:00 am
Master
Of Ceremonies: Richard Robinov
National Anthem: Cantor Ruth Ross
Hatikvah: Levey Day School Students (Gale Davidson,
Education Director)
Invocation: Rabbi Carolyn Braun
Welcoming Remarks: Barbara Dichter, Temple President
Anu Bonayich: Composed & Sung By Cantor Ruth Ross
Greetings
- Honorable
Nathan Smith, City Councilor, District 3
- Honorable
John Baldacci, Congressman, Maine 2nd District
- Honorable
Susan Collins, United States Senator
- David
Lewis & Richard Robinov, Chairpersons, Building Committee
- David
Unger, Executive Director, Jewish Community Alliance
Mah
Tovu: Temple Choir Members, Composed By Cantor Ruth
Ross
Letters: Richard Robinov
Ground
Breaking Ceremony Participants
- Deborah
Bornstein
- Rabbi
Carolyn Braun
- Barbara
Dichter
David Lewis
- Eleanor
Merdek
- Ellie
Miller
- Richard
Robinov
- Participants
Of The Ground Breaking Ceremony from 9/11/49
Remarks
At Temple Beth El Groundbreaking Kulanu Celebration
by Nathan Smith City Councilor, Portland, Maine
September 2, 2002
I am here on behalf of the Mayor, the Portland City Council
and the Citizens of Portland to congratulate the congregation,
the Temple and the Kulanu Committee on the successful completion
of Phase I of your Capital Campaign and the groundbreaking
for these exciting new changes to your building and community.
In
a City where sadly too many places of worship and gathering
have fallen into disrepair, been taken down or converted to
other uses, it is heartening to see a community of faith thrive
and grow with new and evolving leadership. With this effort,
you are indeed building a Temple for the 21st Century and
doing the most of what can be asked of each generation –
leaving the world a little better than you found it.
I
would like also to take this opportunity to speak about Temple
Beth El in a larger context. We live in a time when Portland
is experiencing extraordinary but not unprecedented growth
in diversity. We now have 57 languages spoken in our public
schools. Walk through the halls of Portland High School and
you will feel that you are at the United Nations. This growth
is not without its stresses. There are many who welcome this
diversity but others who resent it – who fear change
– who argue that scarce resources should help those who
were here first – that maybe all these people should
go somewhere else – that we will have a new underclass
that won’t carry its own weight.
To
those who fear change – I say let them stand here in
this place at Temple Beth El and reflect on the transforming
effect that this congregation and the immigrants from which
it grew and grows has had on Portland. The impact that this
congregation has had on Portland as we now know, it is legendary.
The
Bernstein, Zoloff, Abramson, Aranson, Elowitch, Sky, Miller,
Brenerman and Wilson families to name just a few have provided
leadership and enriched the civic, cultural, business, religious,
social and political life of this community in countless ways.
May
it come to pass that 50, 75 or 100 years from now, that someone
will stand before a group of Sudanese, Ukranians, Thais or
Somalis and marvel at the contributions that they too will
have made to our City.
These are not easy times – our community has many challenges
ahead. We need as always the leadership that has come from
this congregation by example and by participation with an
enlightened vision and tolerance borne of a community of faith
that has an abiding sense of its history, traditions and moral
bearings.
I
leave you with congratulations and thanks for so much and
with one word that I have just learned from you – Kulanu.
Nathan
Smith
City Councilor, Portland, Maine
September 2, 2002
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