Share the Best Kept Secret in Town! (June KOL)
May 31, 2013
Our secret is out! At the CCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbis) conference in California, this past March, the new president cited TBS as the leading example of creating the rabbinic leadership of the future. Just us; no one else. The new director of admissions for HUC-JIR (Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion), our Reform worldwide seminary, with four campuses, is calling the new recruitment initiative “the Perlin Plan” in meetings with the Reform community. I was invited to be an advisor to the Youth initiative for the URJ (Union for Reform Judaism), the arm of our Reform Movement that connects all of the congregations, the way the CCAR connects all of the rabbis, because of our congregation’s nationally-recognized success with youth. Yes, our secret is out everywhere, except perhaps here in Northern Virginia. We have THE BEST religious school and youth program in town, and arguably one of the best in the nation, if not the world.
Our young people want to be here. So often we hear stories of children crying about not being able to come to Hebrew or Sunday school when they are sick. Teens fill the building on Sunday mornings as religious school teaching aides and as they continue on with their Jewish educations to Confirmation and Post-Confirmation. Our youth groupers are consistently one of the largest groups at regional and national events. We must be doing something right, as year after year our young people go off to be leaders of Judaism in colleges and beyond.
We strive, as I said at Confirmation, for the highest common denominator not the lowest, in educating, retaining, and inspiring our youth. I love seeing how many of our college students come home and rush to services to continue to be connected here. Scores of 20- and 30-somethings are still members of our temple, and I hear from many of them, as they share their continuing contributions to Judaism in their professional and volunteer efforts. And it is a joy to see the children of those who grew up here in our hallways on Sunday morning. L’dor vador, from generation to generation, we are enriching the Jewish people with quality and meaning.
We don’t have a pre-school, but we have the best religious school to offer families with children from PreKindergarten to 12th grade. Our family education programs are free, offering families meals and activities to connect Jewishly with their children in age-appropriate ways. We have heard our young families, and so in the coming year will be offering Saturday morning, as well as Friday night, Tot Shabbats for our very youngest Jews. There is excitement and joy in and out of our classrooms, as our students engage in a Torah-driven, values-centered education, designed to help them be excited about their Jewish identity today, even as we work to build their Jewish characters and involvement for the future.
So, why aren’t we oversubscribed? Why isn’t every class bursting at the seams? Because, we aren’t sharing our secret with our neighbors, relatives, friends, and anyone and everyone who will listen. You can be our best marketers and you are not letting the world know, from the rooftops, what a gem we have here tucked into the woods of Fairfax Station, Virginia.
Grandparents need to gift memberships to their children and grandchildren who might not be affiliated, and openly encourage young neighbors to check us out. Parents need to share the wonders of TBS long before the lifechanging B’nai Mitzvah that make family and friends want to be Jewish and belong here. We all need to do a better job sharing the wonderful benefits of belonging to TBS with everyone and anyone we meet.
If one-quarter of you brought us one new member, we would not have to raise dues next year! We have room for more young people. We have so much to offer. Help us market the best-kept secret in Northern Virginia. Help us secure the Jewish future right here, right now.
