Bat Yam Temple of the Islands
Welcome to
Bat Yam Temple of the Islands
A Jewish congregation serving residents and guests
of Sanibel, Captiva, Fort Myers, and surrounding areas,
providing a place of worship in the Reform tradition and creating
a warm, caring, enriching, and welcoming Jewish community.
Rabbi Fuchs’ High Holy Day Sermon Titles
Rosh Hashanah Eve - The Year That Was
Rosh Hashanah Morning - Why We Read the Binding of Isaac
Yom Kippur Eve - Stripping Away All Pretense
Yom Kippur Morning - To Worship in a Time of Pandemic
Yizkor Memorial Service - The Hole in Our Hearts
Congregants' Hour Monday, September 29
A Rabbi Stephen Fuchs tradition following the Yom Kippur Morning Service
Featuring reflections by:
FRANCESCA BLOCK – Frannie is a fourth-generation member of Bat Yam. She is a junior at Princeton University, where she is majoring in public and international affairs and minoring in Chinese and journalism. Prior to attending college, Frannie spent a year living in Kunming, China, studying Mandarin and working for a social enterprise that helps women out of sex trafficking. She also spent a summer living and attending school in Okinawa Japan, where she was awarded an Okinawa Peace Scholarship by the Japanese government. Frannie is currently the president of the Princeton University Figure Skating Team, a peer buddy for Best Buddies International, and a writer for both The Daily Princeto-
nian and our local Times of the Islands magazine. Frannie will talk about "Stepping Out of Comfort Valley."
MICHAEL SAMET – Mike was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Brooklyn College; did graduate work in mathematics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; and later earned an MS in operations research (mathematics) from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He spent the majority of his career in the advertising business, with a short stint on Wall Street as an options trader and marketmaker in the mid-1980s. Mike and his wife, Elissa, have two children. They moved to
Sanibel in 2011 and have been members of Bat Yam since then. Mike serves as the webmaster for www.batyam.org and chairs the Bat Yam Technology Committee. In his spare time, he studies Aikido, plays tennis, and writes computer software. Mike's talk is entitled "Why Didn't You Come Back?"
GARRY WEISS – Garry became a full-time Sanibel resident four years ago, after he retired as a senior business systems analyst working in government and as a government contractor in the DC/Baltimore area. He is a Trustee of Bat Yam and co-chair of the Social Action Committee, which is focused on racial justice and immigrant rights, among other causes. He also serves as chair of the Progressive Club of the Islands (PCI), as a data administrator for Lee County Democrats Field Operations, and as part of the leadership team for the Lee County Blue Wave
Coalition. Garry and his wife, Beth, an artist, have children who live in Maryland and Cape Coral and a five-year-old granddaughter who lives in Cape Coral. The title of Garry's talk is "So What Are We Gonna Do About It?"
