This year’s annual meeting on May 3rd, led by current Board President Theresa Myers, was packed full of news, announcements, votes, bylaw amendments, and awards galore. We reviewed our 2026-2027 budget, were updated on the Temple Shalom Endowment, and were invited to tour the new Early Childhood Center. It was wonderful to reminisce about our 60th Anniversary year and recognize those who spent time and energy to bring the celebration to life.
Justice Garden Volunteer of the Year, Peggy Heller, presented by Gretchen Reynolds
Peggy Heller is awarded the Justice Garden Volunteer of the Year in recognition of her exceptional dedication, leadership, and expertise.
Peggy has been one of the most consistent and devoted volunteers in the garden, contributing her time twice every week on Tuesdays and Sundays for several years. She is often the first to arrive and the last to leave, setting the tone for each workday with her commitment, positivity, and steady leadership.
As a Dallas County Master Gardener, Peggy brings deep horticultural knowledge and skill to the garden. She has particular expertise in native plants, pollinator gardens, and thoughtful horticultural care. Whether she is tending beds, identifying the right approach to weeding, or sharing insights about plant health and habitat, Peggy’s knowledge helps the entire team learn and succeed.
Peggy also serves as a trained team leader and leads the Orchards Stewards team with care and enthusiasm. She has invested in extra training in orchard management and fruit tree care, including new training on installing and maintaining grape vines and grape production. Peggy’s leadership ensures that this important part of the garden continues to thrive. In addition, she generously shares her knowledge with others by leading tours and guiding visitors, helping people understand the garden’s mission and the beauty and ecological importance of the work being done.
Beyond her skill and leadership, Peggy’s sunny personality, great sense of humor, dedication, and generosity of spirit make her an extraordinary volunteer. She shows up week after week, supports fellow volunteers, and helps create a welcoming and productive environment for everyone involved.
Peggy’s long-standing commitment, expertise, and leadership make her an invaluable part of the garden community and a truly deserving recipient of Garden Volunteer of the Year.
Jewish Family Service Community Partner of the Year - Temple Shalom, announced by Gretchen Reynolds
Good morning everyone,
I’m here to share exciting news. We have permission to announce this to you ahead of the public release on Monday, May 4. Please refrain from taking photos of this slide or posting this news on social media. Today, it’s just for us.
I’m proud to share with each of you that Temple Shalom has been named Jewish Family Service of Dallas’s Community Partner of the Year. This award is given in recognition of Temple Shalom’s meaningful collaboration and impact, advanced by the Justice Garden weekly harvest donations to the JFS Food Pantry.
In combination with the many ways that Brotherhood, Sisterhood, Tikkun Olam, Next Dor, and Religious School all support JFS, the Justice Garden has been donating fresh vegetables to JFS since 2024. Under the harvest distribution guidance of Karen Stock and the weekly driving & delivery by Betsy Friedman, Temple Shalom has delivered 50 to 90 pounds of fresh produce to the JFS food pantry 2 to 3 times each month since September 2024. This has strengthened the longstanding volunteer relationship between our organizations, and has resulted in almost 2,500 pounds of fresh vegetables on the dinner tables of so many neighbors in need.
This deepened partnership grows naturally from the support of Rabbi Paley and our temple leadership, and from our temple-wide commitment to community service. It has become a powerful example of what collaboration can achieve. We are truly honored by this recognition, and we remain inspired by the knowledge that, together as a congregation and in partnership with JFS, we are helping to cultivate compassion, dignity, and hope while expanding Temple Shalom’s impact as a community.
Please turn to your neighbor to congratulate one another on our shared congregational accomplishment, and let’s celebrate this award and our volunteers together.
Thank you.
Lifelong Learning Adult Education Award Recipients - Barry Bell and Bob Landers, presented by Rabbi Paley
Rabbi Paley presented the Lifelong Learning Adult Education awards to Barry Bell and Bob Landers, emphasizing their years of dedication to both learning and teaching at Temple Shalom. It was a beautiful tribute to their decades of achievement.
Barry has been attending adult education classes at Temple Shalom for more than 30 years. In addition to being a lifelong learner, he is also a lifelong teacher. He has taught teens in the Next D’or program as well as adults in the Jewish Literature and Comparative Religion class. For the past several years, Barry has imagined new classes for Passover U, with many repeat students. And lucky for the class, he often fills in for the Rabbi in Torah study. Barry is so very accomplished, and we are proud to recognize his commitment to education.
Bob was recognized for his successful work in facilitating the Great Decisions class series for the last several years, an important component of our Adult Education programming. Harriet Bell, co-chair of Adult Education, provided insight after the award was presented: Taking over from Ken Portnoy, of blessed memory, Bob has brought together participants from Temple Shalom, other congregations, as well as learners from across the city, many of them not even Jewish, to participate in meaningful conversations about the world’s most pressing global issues. Great Decisions is an 8-week course focused on world events and uses the Foreign Policy Association guidebook. He spends countless hours reading, researching, and preparing for the discussions, managing the 30+ attendees and the technology to present both in-person as well as on Zoom. He has creates and sustained a vibrant learning community whose members come back year after year.
Ken Glaser z’l Volunteers of the Year Award – Mike Hirsh and Cristie Schlosser, presented by Theresa Myers
President Theresa Myers presented the Ken Glaser (z’l) Volunteer of the Year Award to two very deserving temple volunteers, Mike Hirsh and Crisite Schlosser.
Mike was recognized for his leadership in steering the Endowment Committee, alongside co-chairs Rodney Schlosser and Raelaine Radnitz, to a highly successful campaign that has increased Temple’s endowment from approximately $4.1 million to $7.15 million through cash donations, pledges and testamentary commitments. Earlier in his committee’s work, he was responsible for overseeing the creation of endowment materials produced and shared with the community in-person, and most recently on our website and in social media. In the past year, Mike has met with countless potential donors, setting up meetings and phone calls that turned questions into commitments. He worked with an anonymous donor to secure our exciting matching challenge, and is combining efforts with Rabbi Paley to host several parlor meetings that will offer a meaningful update on the progress of our endowment fundraising efforts and the steps ahead. Both behind the scenes and in-person, Mike’s dedication to our endowment and to Temple Shalom is awe-inspiring.
Cristie Schlosser was recognized for her extraordinary design and renovation work in transforming the Religious School wing into a beautiful Early Childhood Education Center – from collaborating closely with the architects, to interior space planning, furniture, fixtures, and overall design execution. Her renovation work on the Brownstein-Munn Memorial Room honored the room’s purpose while refreshing its presence, updating the lighting, furniture and ambiance. Theresa also recognized Cristie’s contributions to the kitchen renovation and sanctuary updates during 2019–2020. While husband Rodney publicly acknowledged her work during his presidency, she was not formally honored beyond that. Cristie’s creative vision can be seen throughout Temple Shalom, and for that we are all appreciative.
Tracy Fisher Memorial Scholarship Award winner, Allie Gerber, presented by Debbie Neiderman
I met Allie when she was in 7th grade and asked if she could participate in our then, online only, Next Dor program. Since the fall of 2020 she has been among our most committed participants. In fact, this makes her the only teen so far who has been in Next Dor for 6 years!
If you don’t know Allie, you should! And one thing you should know is that her joy and laughter are contagious. One of my favorite things about having Allie as a leader in our teen community is how much she has helped us all laugh together!
Allie served a variety of roles as an Ozer and this year has served as our K teacher. Can you get a big wave and shout out from Allie’s class?
Allie is so far the first and only youth member of our Lifelong Learning Council. Never one to shy away from giving an honest and thoughtful opinion, even in a room full of adults.
Outside of Temple Shalom Allie has served on the Editorial board of J-girls magazine, an online community and magazine written by and for self-identifying Jewish girls, young women, and nonbinary teens ages 13-19 across all backgrounds. This platform enables teens to share their voices with the world and each other… jGirls+ creates long-term change and addresses underlying causes of inequity by boosting the capabilities, self-image, and status of young Jewish feminists. In this way, they cultivate the next generation of empowered, committed Jewish feminist community and institutional leaders. This year she is the head of the art and fiction departments
At Hockaday she is a member of the Jewish Student Union and involved clubs, sports and academics.
Once, when she asked her dad what he liked about being Jewish, he told her, it’s what it stands for. It’s the deep history of liberal intellectualism, seeking justice, and freely speaking one’s mind. It’s Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Albert Einstein, Howard Stern, Sarah Silverman, Peter Segal, Gloria Steinem, and Jon Stewart. It’s an honor to be among them.
And at Temple Shalom, it’s an honor to count Allie among us!
President Theresa Myers’ Final Thank Yous
I just want to take a few minutes to say thank you.
Ironically, now that my term is coming to a close, I can say I am finally totally relaxed standing up here talking to you. My first Rosh Hashanah speech… my knees and hands were shaking! In the middle, I remember thinking –just keep going. The only other option is to walk out mid-speech!
These past two years have been such a meaningful experience for me—not just serving Temple Shalom, but getting to know so many of you. Many of you I didn’t know well before… and now I’m so grateful to call you friends. Those friendships are something I’ll carry with me long after my presidency ends. And I look forward to getting to know even more of you in the years ahead.
I’ll also say… I have learned more about bylaws, policies, and governance than I ever imagined possible. I may not be your person to rewrite a constitution–but if you need to know exactly where something is in our bylaws, I can find it and read it to you in about five seconds. I have even dreamed about the bylaw amendments!
But truly –I have never done this job alone.
To my Executive Committee… thank you for being my sounding board, my advisors, and honestly, my sanity check more times than I can count.
Stephanie: my rock, my partner, my amazing EVP. You took so much off my plate so I could focus on strategy and execution… and you just ran with it. Your leadership of Blueprint 2030, your work on the ECC renovation, staffing, and planning–it’s been extraordinary. I truly could not have done this without you.
Gail, Adam, and Garrett: thank you for elevating our financial and accounting practices. You’ve helped us get to a place where we can confidently say we are… almost audit ready. It’s not that Temple Shalom isn’t audit ready–we just want our first official audit to be a near-perfect score!
Funny enough, when Rodney (Schlosser) first called me after I joined the Board, he told me there were a couple of committees that needed help–the Finance Committee and Mitzvah Afternoons. I told him, I’m not formally trained in accounting and finance, but I know my way around a balance sheet and P&L. He said… I think I’ll put you over Mitzvah Afternoons. Apparently, he saw something in my personality that aligned better with gathering people and projects. And here I am now, all these years later, finally getting to serve on the Finance Committee!
Dennis (Eichelbaum) is not here today, he and Julie are in New York, but I do want to publicly acknowledge his guidance when I was EVP. He brought me into conversations early, helped prepare me for this role, and then stayed right there when I needed advice, especially those 7:00 a.m. “on my way to the office” calls. I don’t know what that says about either of us, but I’m grateful he never once sent me to voicemail.
Bill Siegel is also traveling today, but I want to acknowledge his partnership, legal expertise, and his work with Governance. Stephen Enda and the entire Governance Committee –you’ve done the hard work of putting structure, policies, and good governance in place so this Temple can move forward in a strong and thoughtful way. It’s pretty amazing that we had a full committee of Jewish lawyers (plus Rabbi and David) and they actually agreed!
Rabbi Paley, thank you for grounding all of this in what matters most. For reminding us that we are a holy community, centered in God, Torah, Israel, and each other.
David (Lamden), thank you for being my partner in all things operational. You’ve been a constant sounding board, and I’m so grateful for your leadership.
I also want to thank our entire Temple Shalom staff. This has been a year of going above and beyond, and I have truly loved working with all of you. You are incredibly dedicated, accommodating, and supportive, and we are so lucky to have the best team imaginable supporting this community every day. Debbie (Niederman) and David, in particular, took on the enormous responsibility of planning for the Early Childhood Center –Debbie often doing so on her own time. Emmaline’s (Rosenthal) leadership is already shaping what this school will become.
Barry Brown, our volunteer General Counsel, thank you for helping guide so many important decisions. I’m pretty sure you saved us from at least a few situations that could have gotten… well, interesting.
And to our Board of Trustees, truly the best Board. You showed up, you engaged, you asked hard questions, you leaned into difficult conversations, and you helped move Temple Shalom forward in meaningful ways. Because it wasn’t all easy.
Very early on, we were faced with losing over $270,000 in annual income when both of our tenants broke their leases, which is not exactly the kind of news you want to get early in your presidency. We had a choice — find new tenants… or think differently. Together, we chose to be bold. Instead of filling space, we chose to build something. We leaned into early childhood, into families, into growth, and today, we are seeing that come to life. Our Religious School is thriving under Debbie Niederman’s leadership. Programs are expanding, young families are engaging…
And to our Religious School teachers and Ozrim, you inspire our children every single week, and your dedication does not go unnoticed. Soon, our new ECC wing will open, because of the vision and generosity of our Blueprint 2030 donors, who are helping bring this to life. Behind the scenes, an incredible ECC design team has been meeting week after week to make this happen: Adam Mandel, Roberta Bergman, Cristie Schlosser, Mike Hochman, and Marshal Funk. Our Preschool Advisory Committee: Sadie Funk, Roberta Bergman, and Noel Rigley are helping guide what comes next. Along the way… what a couple of years it’s been.
This year, the 60th Anniversary brought our community together in so many meaningful ways—Founders Shabbat, the Mystery Dinner, the Golf Tournament, Family Mitzvah Day, the Shalom Award, Woman of Valor… and many more. There were so many meaningful events. Thank you again to our 60th Vice Chairs, Kathryn Frish, Diane Laner, and Mollie Schick, and to the many event chairs and volunteers who made it all happen. Family Mitzvah Day was one of the special highlights led by the Eichelbaum, Darling, and Borjedo families. Special thanks to our golf chairs, and to Debbie Jordan and Robin Klein for leading our closing celebration. Paddy and Barry Epstein, thank you for your support of Temple Shalom’s priorities and so many meaningful moments, including the very fun Mystery Dinner kickoff celebration this year. Shalom Spectacular is still ahead –we’re not done yet!
We’ve seen the garden continue to thrive; thank you to Gretchen (Reynolds), Stuart (Marcus), and Karen (Stock) for your leadership there. Our Tikkun Olam and Caring Congregation teams have touched so many families in meaningful ways.
We’ve also built community through adult learning, missions, and programs led by so many dedicated leaders, including Harriet Bell and Kathryn Frish.
Brotherhood and Sisterhood continue to be pillars of this community, thank you for your continued programming and financial support of Temple Shalom. Our Friday night Shabbat receptions (thank you, Laney (Arndt)!) and our ushers, Paul, Bill, Jason, and others, create such a warm and welcoming experience each week.
Behind the scenes, Joel Guskin, thank you for your leadership in keeping our community safe.financially, we’ve made real progress as well. Jason Gadsby, thank you for your leadership of the Endowment Board. Our Endowment Committee: Mike Hirsh, Raelaine Radnitz, and Rodney Schlosser has driven incredible growth. And yes… stay tuned, because there is more exciting news coming very soon. The long-awaited fence is finally up… which honestly feels like a bigger milestone than it probably should, but here we are. And yes, we’re still waiting on Homeland Security to reopen FEMA, and the Environmental Preservation Commission… so if anyone has a connection, come find me after.
To all of our committee chairs, volunteers, and leaders, there are simply too many to name without risking leaving someone out, and then I would obsess over it for days! –so, please know how deeply grateful I am for everything you do.
A special thank you to Hadar Greenberg and Diane Laner for the incredible work in shaping our communications and helping tell our story so beautifully. And to Ilene (Zidow), Batel (Zimmerman), and Lisa (Rothberg) whose photography captures so many of the moments that matter.
This community is strong because of all of you. So as I close, I just want to say thank you –for your trust, your partnership, your support, and your friendship. It has truly been an honor to serve as your President. This role stretched me, challenged me… and meant more to me than I ever expected. I’m excited for what comes next, because Temple Shalom’s future is bright! Thank you.
