Some of our highlights would include celebrations of Shabbat led by Sagen Feuer, Jordan Chaput and Josh Stoll, each of whom became bar mitzvah.  As I write this, Max DeMar's bar mitzvah is coming up at the Atlantis in just a few days!  Everyone is encouraged to come.  There were many great moments of community building beginning with our Tu B'Shevat seder, Purim party at the Atlantis with UNR Hillel, and Passover seder in Verdi at Nicole Appel's.   At Simcha Sunday, a picnic at Nicole's house, we celebrated our first year anniversary with Barbara's band and our silent auction raised about $1000.00. 

          High Holiday services were held at UNR in partnership with Hillel and the Jewish Community of Elko County.  Every single one of the Holy Day services had great attendance and participation with many people leyning Torah - some for the first time.  Our group of musicians met throughout the summer to prepare for the services.  We had our first Selichot service, which is a prelude to the High Holy Days, led by guitarist Barbara Ries and then enjoyed our second year of Sukkot at the Ries Ranch at the foot of Mount Rose.  Simchat Torah was celebrated with Bat Yam in Carson City. 

         More recently, there were several group Chanukah candle lightings:  first night with Hillel and Chabad, along with ice skating, on Shabbat when many people brought chanukiah and then again at the Jewish/Hindu comedy hour at the Studio on Fourth.  Between November and December we successfully completed our first food drive for the FoodBank of northern Nevada, collecting a food barrel full of food and establishing a "Cause" on FaceBook for people to donate money to them.  A second cause was created for people to donate to Temple Beth Or through FaceBook.    

            A note of appreciation to our Rabbi for her continued work in growing Temple Beth Or.  She teaches much in our Temple and in the community.  She has taught Kabbalah, A Taste of Jewish Mysticism for some years now, along with a weekly Talmud class, J101 (a course on Judaism), and Hebrew school for the young ones.  Rabbi Beyer is an active member of the local Interfaith community.  She promotes unity of the Jewish community and social justice.  She is part of the Chevra Kadisha (Holy Society which prepares the dead for Jewish burial according to tradition, upon request of the family).  She continues her work in bioethics as a member of the Northern Nevada Bioethics Committee.  In addition she regularly counsels congregants, visits the sick and does all of the many things rabbis do - while technically "part-time."  The list is larger than what space permits for all work she has done in 2010.

Leaving Mitzrayim:  A Journey of a Lifetime
Rabbi ElizaBeth Beyer

        Parshat Bo is one of the most important of the weekly Torah portions because this section tells about  G-d actually delivering the Israelites from Mitzrayim.  We are commanded with an "eternal decree" to celebrate Passover.  Also, we are told to see ourselves as leaving Mitzrayim.  As it says in the Talmud, "In each and every generation one is to regard oneself as though he came out of Mitzrayim."  Pesachim 116b.  Indeed, if we do so gladly, we have a share in the Next World.  "Every person who joyfully tells about the Exodus from Mitzrayim is destined to rejoice with the Shechinah in the World to Come."  Zohar HaKadosh, Ra'aya Mehemna, Sec. 2, 40b.     So, what exactly is  מצרים  Mitzrayim?  Is it literally Egypt?  Yes and no.  What is known today geographically as Egypt is called Mitzrayim in Hebrew, as it was in the days of Moses, but it's so much more. In looking at the root of the word,  מצר(letters mem-tzadi-resh) pronounced meitzar, means narrow pass, boundaries or distress.  Another root of Mitzrayim is צרר(letters tzadi-resh-resh), pronounced tzarar. As a verb, it means to bind or tie up, or to be restricted.  As a noun or adjective, it means distress, narrow or tight.  Since there are no vowels in the actual Torah, we can sometimes read the word in more than one way, giving it more than one meaning.  For example, depending upon which vowels are used, it can be מ+צר   "from our enemy" or "from our narrow place" or even "from  our distress."    
        During our Passover seders, we celebrate leaving that tight, narrow, uncomfortable place.  Does that mean that we have taken our passport and hopped a plane ride out of Egypt?  We often look at it as a metaphor for the narrow places in life we leave behind.  Thus, we see ourselves leaving those tight and narrow places of discomfort where we are a slave to our own concerns.  We move away from "the enemy."  It's a yearly opportunity to look at the lives we've created and leave behind that which is no longer of service to G-d.  However, it's more than a big Spring cleaning.  
        As a Jew, part of our work is to evolve our self:  to keep growing and learning, especially Torah.  The Sages tell us how important this work is that we do here in this world, noting that this world is like an entrance hall before the World to Come.  They say, "Prepare yourself in the lobby (this world), that you may enter into the Palace (the World to Come)."  Pirkey Avot 4:21. Ultimately, leaving Mitzrayim means doing the work in this lifetime which is a prerequisite to entering the Palace.   

        The commandment to tell the story of the Exodus is required annually at our seders, however, it is also required that we mention it daily in our prayers.  How could one story be so powerful?  Rabbi Nachum of Rishyn asked his students, "Do you know the rules of the game of checkers?...The first is that one must not make two moves at once. The second is that one may only move forward and not backward. And the third is that when one has reached the last row, one may move wherever one likes." Martin Buber's, "The Way Of Man." p.24.  Growing in the paths of Torah, we move forward.  Once we make it to the last row, we are crowned by our life's work and, G-d willing, achieve Exodus from Egypt.