Rabbi Arnold RachlisRabbi Arnold Rachlis of University Synagoge in Irvine, California, was honored with an invitation to deliver the invocation at President Obama's appearance at the Orange County Fairgrounds on Wednesday, March 18, 2009.

Read Rabbi Rachlis’s invocation and connect to a CNN I-report interview that followed the meeting plus additional coverage.

Rabbi Jane Rachel LitmanRabbi Jane Rachel Litman has been hired to serve as the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation's Western Region Director. She is the first rabbi to hold the position since 1996. Rabbi Litman was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1989. During her student years, she was an intern in Los Angeles organizing Reconstructionist havurot in the San Fernando Valley. One of those havurot recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary. Since graduation, Rabbi Litman has served four California synagogues ranging in size from eighty to two thousand families. She also taught at California State University Northridge and Loyola Marymount.

Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia is scheduled to finish its remodeling project this month. The 7,000-square-foot addition on the left houses offices, meeting space and classrooms to better serve members of the congregation. (Steven M. Herppich/The Olympian)by Lisa Pemberton

This article originally appeared in The Olympian and is reprinted with permission.

Members of Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia have envisioned a new synagogue for about 15 years.

"At one time, the (new building) committee was called TBH 2000," said Beth Halpern of Olympia. "When we first started, it seemed realistic."  read more »

The dream soon will come to fruition as workers put the final touches on the 18,000-square-foot temple at Eighth Avenue and Washington Street, formerly the home of a Christian Science church.

Ozi, the son of Rabbi Seth Goldstein, dressed as a zombie from the dream scene in Fiddler on the Roof at the 2004 sing-along. What are your shul’s Christmas-day traditions? For the past few years, the members of Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia, Washington, have gathered for a fun-filled Christmas-day Jewish movie night. Their premiere event in 2004, which featured a showing of Fiddler on the Roof, included a sing-along, costume contest, and a potluck, as well as the now-traditional food and blanket drive benefitting the Olympia Food Bank and other local organizations that support the community.

Kehillat Israel in Pacific Palisades, CA, celebrated the end of its mortgage with a special weekend of celebrations in early October.

Mazel tov!

JRF WESTERN REGION PLANNERS TEAM

Marlene Bellamy, JRF Board Member-at-Large (Dor Hadash, San Diego, CA)

Mark Bregman, JRF Regional VP (University Synagogue, Irvine, CA)

Andy Gordon, President (Havurah Shalom, Portland, OR)

Ron Glickman, JRF Board Member-at-Large (University Synagogue, Irvine,CA)

Sandy Goldman, JRF Board Member-at-Large and JRF Executive Committee VP

Ros Goldstein, Past President (Dor Hadash, San Diego, CA)

George Greenberg, JRF Board Member-at-Large (Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue, Malibu, CA)

Barnett Kalikow, JRF Regional VP (Temple Beth Hatfiloh, Olympia, WA)

Rich Levine, JRF Board Member-at-Large (Beth Evergreen, Evergreen, CO)

Linda Schibel, JRF Board Member-at-Large (Kehillat Israel, Pacific Palisades, CA)

Myrna Sigman, JRF Board Member-at-Large (Vail, CO)

JRF REPS

OPEN, Beth Evergreen

Naomi Reshotko, B'nai Havurah

Liz Michelena, Chico Havurah

Dave Wertlieb, Congregation Dor Hadash

OPEN, Chavurah B'Yachad

Roz Witt, Havurat Olam

Sima Kahn, Kadima

Bob Zimmerman, Keddem Congregation

Marty Nislick, Kehillat Israel

Dan Ross, Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue

OPEN, Ner Shalom

OPEN, Or Zarua

Aaron Roland, Or Shalom

Joan Resnick, Sacramento Reconstructionist Havurah

Richard Levy, Temple Beth Israel

OPEN, Temple Shalom of the South Bay

Wenonoa Spivak, Temple Beth Sholom

Jim Gilbert, University Synagogue

OPEN, Valley Outreach Synagogue