Dear JF&CS Friends and Family,

We wish you and your family a sweet new year. May you be inscribed in the book of life for the coming year. Isn’t that a daunting statement? Occasionally I remind my kids that I have prepared letters for each of them that I want them to read after I am gone. When I tell them this, they roll their eyes and tell me I am weird, morbid…

Yet in fact, we are taught to consider our mortality in a meaningful way every year during the high holidays. As we reflect on the prior year, offer prayers of repentance and ask for forgiveness we hope that we are inscribed. Are we “earning” the opportunity for another year?

What is the value of our inward annual journey? To reflect on the good we have done, and to think about how we can do more to help our community and those we love? To appreciate what we do have? To acknowledge those we have wronged, and pledge to be more careful with our words and deeds? To express gratitude and ask for forgiveness?

As I sit in Temple, I’ll offer prayers not to “earn another year,” but to honor the gift of being alive, the responsibility of being a Jew and for wisdom and blessings upon those I love. This year I have much to be grateful for- and much to learn. I have the blessing of being the new CEO at JF&CS. I have the privilege of dedicating my time to the mission of delivering best-in-class services to those in need, providing hope and opportunity. I work in partnership with extraordinary, talented and giving colleagues.

Thank you for welcoming my husband Matthew and I to your thriving, beautiful Atlanta Jewish community. Your warmth and generosity has sparked a new light in our lives. Your embrace has embraced not just Matthew and I, but our four children who live in DC, NY, LA and Seattle and their loved ones. They are lifted up by what they hear, and what they see in us. So, from our family to yours, we say thank you, and wish you blessings and sweetness in the coming year.

Shana Tova!

Terri Bonoff