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“An educated consumer is our best customer”

Are you one of those people who buys a smartphone and follows directions to
learn about all of its useful features, or do you just take it out of the box and
use the basic, obvious features, leaving the user manual in the box?
Personally, I like to ask my children to give me a tutorial on all the uses of the
phone and the most critical apps that I “must” have, so I don’t miss any “cool
stuff.” Afterwards, I tend to go online and look at the other uses specific to my
new phone, or apps that my children may not have thought important for me.
But don’t tell my children that; they don’t know that I can actually go online
and do my due diligence.

One such app is Yidkit,which gives me a package that includes a siddur, where
to find a minyan, some key zmanim, and various data points. Another app
gives me the exact time, including seconds, so I can make sure that davening
starts on time, including at my work minyan and the one in Grand Central
Terminal (between tracks 41 and 42) when the gabbai is not there.

Our Beit Knesset is akin to the smartphone and apps we download. Most people know about the basics “without reading the directions,” which means they know about the daily and Shabbat minyanim, the various daily/weekly chaburahs and shiurim, youth groups on Shabbat morning, and the kiddushim prepared by the Men’s Club, etc.
Our version of the “user manual” consists of our weekly announcements and the monthly Kol Beth Aaron. In addition, if one delves down deeper into the “user manual,” you will learn about all of the various committees that will help members gain the most from their Beth Aaron experience. These committees encompass chesed opportunities, a gemach, notification of yahrzeits, teen information, etc.
For some time, the KBA has included pages (in this issue, pages 11 and 12) that list these committees. Unless you are “following the directions,” you probably have flipped over this page monthly without noticing it. To help provide you with even clearer “directions,” we have added a column that explains what each committee does and when to contact them. I hope this will be useful for you. As a large shul, we are able to provide our members with the amenities that smaller shuls might not be able to offer. I like to think of Beth Aaron as having all the benefits of a big shul, with a small shul
feel. Whether you are a person who uses directions or one who likes to figure things out on your own, I encourage you to take advantage of the many opportunities that Beth Aaron makes available to you. Most recall the clothing store Syms, whose commercials always ended with the line “an educated consumer is our best customer.” Similarly, the more you know about Beth Aaron, the more you can get
out of Beth Aaron. By the way, Congregation Beth Aaron has its very own app that is quite good. It allows you to view the calendar, get the zmanim, and see the membership directory and your personal account. Have you downloaded it yet?