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Temple Emanu-El Mission & Vision
Temple Emanu-El is a Reform Jewish congregation upholding the traditions of Judaism, including Hebrew language, Tanakh, T'fillot, Mitzvot, holidays, customs, Jewish history and Israel, while empowering members to cultivate their relationships with God and Torah.
The mission of Temple Emanu-El is to cultivate and nurture the love and understanding of Judaism; provide a warm and caring environment to promote Judaism and ensure the future of our Jewish community; uphold the commitment to Tikkun Olam; and to strengthen and serve our members.
Temple Emanu-El's mission will be accomplished through the following values:
Worship: uphold Jewish rituals and traditions.
Education & Torah Study: the study of Torah is the foundation of our tradition and teaches us the Jewish way to live our lives individually and as a community in an ever changing world. We are dedicated to building and maintaining an understanding with other faith communities through education, study, communication and a respectful exchange of ideas.
Social Action/Advocacy: striving towards Tikkun Olam.
Community: to be a warm, caring and welcoming community that offers support and friendship to the Jewish and non-Jewish community.
Community Fellowship - May 2011 Mother's Day Concert
On Sunday May 8th, Mother's Day, Temple Emanu-El hosted a concert, free and open to our friends in the greater Dothan community, featuring The Dothan Chamber Quartet.
The 80+ attendees were welcomed by Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith, enjoyed eight selections ranging from Baroque to Hava Nagila, and then a warm and wonderful reception in Temple's Social Hall.
Temple Emanu-El in the News!
See a brief video clip about Blumberg Family Jewish Community Services on WTVY Dothan.
by Evelyne Klein When our (fabulous) Membership Director asked if I would host a Shabbat dinner at our house, as a way to have long-standing members meet new members, I thought: What a terrific idea!! There were so many new members we did not know, and members we saw at temple events only. What better way to bring old and new together, get to know other members better, than around the Shabbat dinner table? I was amazed at the synergies between the old and new members who came: the conversation flowed around the table, with everyone introducing themselves, and topics ranging from the impact of Hillel on college students to training for boards, to activities for disabled youngsters and numerous other topics, both personal and otherwise. The conversation was lively and vigorous the entire evening. When our kids were young, my father would insist we come for Shabbat dinner on [...]
by Craig Parks I am a very rare breed in the Reform Movement. Out of over 900 congregations I am one of the very few full time Directors of Youth Programming that has been in my job over ten years. I have now spoken at my third national Biennial in a row and do so with great fervor. When those attendees come to my presentations and hear about the 60 -70 kids coming to our Teen Shabbat Jam 2 hour Friday night service once a month or our well over 100 9-12 graders participating in our programs such as the social action youth group Tikkun Project, or the summer camp that brings in gobs of kids and teens who work on staff I sometimes have to reach for napkins to wipe the drool off the faces. I can’t even tell you how many times I have heard the phrase “Can [...]
The Obama’s dog? No, it’s not that “Bo” my friend We’re talking Torah! In this week’s portion Pesach observance described A law for all time Kids are gonna ask What’s this seder mean to you? You must answer them Exodus 12:26-27 Your children may ask you, ‘What is this service to you?’ You must answer, ‘It is the Passover service to God. He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, sparing our homes.’
by Rabbi Henry Jay Karp In my first installment in this series, I spoke about the merger discussions between our congregation and the Tri City Jewish Center. At that time I stated that since I addressed institutional reasons for why the resulting congregation should affiliate with the Reform movement in my answers to the Merger Task Force’s questionnaire, therefore in this series I would restrict the focus of these articles to personal ideological reasons for my love of and commitment to Reform Judaism. However, as I now conclude this series, I wish to remove that self-imposed restriction and revisit why I feel so strongly about our congregation’s connection to the institutions and organizations of Reform Judaism. While ideology, practice, culture, all are important, they do not exist in a vacuum. They do not spring up overnight, born of thin air. Rather they are the product of like-minded people coming together [...]
