We — like our forefathers of old — must "rebuild the Temple." Long have we thought about it. The day for action has come! KODIMOH means FORWARD! When Kodimoh was built only a generation ago, the founders chose her name well. It represented their Faith, their Vision, their Loyalty to a long tradition of three thousand years. These founders were our grandfathers, our fathers — ourselves! They believed they were building for many years. But progress, growth and change have swept over the world, and over our beloved country, like a mighty tide. KODIMOH can no longer contain all her sons and daughters. It cannot welcome “the stranger within our gates.”What shall we do? — We have decided! We shall again, in this year 5718, prove ourselves worthy of our great heritage, as the founders of our Congregation did in 5684. To strengthen that heritage we shall build a new and greater Synagogue — worthy of ourselves, of our great and growing community, of our centuries of unbroken Jewish tradition, of our eternal Torah.We shall make it a true “Mishkan” or Tabernacle where our growing families — and families yet unreached — shall gather together as one great Kodimoh family, to work, to study Torah, and to “worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness.”In a world torn by doubts and fears, we shall prove ourselves worthy of our firm Orthodox tradition — by building on that firm foundation a noble House of God that shall daily be witness to our faith in the Creator and Father of us all.The Founding of A CongregationOne of our KODIMOH families lives in what is believed to be the oldest house in one section of Forest Park — and it is only 45 years old! So, our founders of 34 years ago were pioneers. A small, but dedicated, group of Orthodox Jews who had early settled in this section of Springfield gathered together and decided that they should have their own Synagogue. Already there were relatively large groups of Jews in other parts of the city — but that was not enough. They wished to …

You probably will want to have a prayer recited for the patient in the synagogue. First, remember that the patient should pray for himself or herself, if at all possible. Relatives and friends may mention the patient in their prayers during the weekday Amidah, in the appropriate blessing for health. The other way of offering a prayer for the sick is by reciting the Mi-She’berakh during the reading of the Torah. However, here we must reckon with a countervailing principle – that of tirḥa de-tzibbura, the inconveniencing of the congregation. Hence, if there is an inordinately long list of people for whom the Mi-She’berakh must be recited, it disrupts the service and incites the congregation to impatience. In order to satisfy both the desire to pray for the sick and respect for the convenience of the community, we suggest the following guidelines: request a Mi-She’berakh only for a patient who is seriously ill – a mere indisposition is not enough to warrant a public prayer of this sort. If a patient is in the hospital or is critically ill at home, then you may request that the prayer be recited. Except in cases of emergency which occur on Friday night or Saturday morning, please make sure that you have given the necessary information about the patient to Rabbi Wermuth by Friday morning at the latest. He will include the name in the collective prayer for all the ill. Please do cooperate in this matter. And may the Almighty grant that all of us be blessed with full health and happiness.Ask ChatGPT

We published this article earlier this year, and feel that it is worth repeating it now that the summer months are beginning. Propriety requires us to dress in different ways for different occasions. If we are careless, we may find that we over-dressed for certain events, under-dressed at others, and frequently simply wrongly attired. A synagogue, as a makom kadosh (holy place), has its own norms and proprieties. While the great majority of our people observe them properly, either by training or intuitively, it sometimes happens that there is a flagrant violation of this etiquette. We therefore offer the following suggestions. Ladies should not appear in shul in sleeveless dress, or with very short sleeves, whether in winter or summer. Married women should have their heads covered (come with hat or scarf; a varmulke is ludicrous.) Under no circumstances should slacks be worn to services. Men should wear ties to services on Shabbat and Holidays. Sandals or mocassins are inappropriate. We trust that these regulations will be observed by all our people and that visitors who violate them will be delicately and sensitively instructed to abide by these rules the next time they visit the Center.

A timely reminder to congregants and visitors: please do not take off your tallit until after the conclusion of Adon Olam. Premature removal of the tallit is disrespectful – a symbol that one cannot wait until prayers are over and done with. The ideal should be davenen, not updavenen...