Temple B’nai Shalom Annual Meeting Address 2014/5774 (June 22, 2014)
This is my 28th Annual Meeting address to the congregation. In Hebrew, the number 28 is represented by the Hebrew letters Chaf and Chet – j & f,both of which make the “ch” sound, so this could be the year we clear our throats. But, I think not. The letters Chaf and Chet – j & f,together form the word “koach,” which means “strength.” As I reflect on the past year, as required by our by-laws, I am happy to say that “strength” is a word that definitely characterizes Temple B’nai Shalom of 2014, not just internally, but nationally and internationally. We are a strong congregation – strong Jewishly, strong in the way we live our values, strong financially, and strong spiritually, not just in the way we care for our members, but spiritually in terms of knowing our strength comes from having God in our lives.
At a time when we are struggling as a people and faith to discover the next paradigm of Jewish survival, at TBS, we know who we are, what we believe, what we stand for, and where we belong. And I am so very proud to report that we are receiving recognition nationally, and in Israel, for being the premier example of the strength that can be realized in a smaller, non-mega congregation, when leadership has a vision, a brand, a purpose, and a mission.
For the past 28 years, I have been honored to serve beside each of my presidents, and thank Scott Bauer for taking on another two years to complete his vision for our congregation. I thank Peg for being right beside him, every step of the way. We are blessed to have a president and a hard-working Board with such a clear vision of who we are as a synagogue today and what we need to become to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
A synagogue is nothing without its members. Thank you for belonging, and supporting, and volunteering, and sustaining not only our temple, but the Jewish people, in this day and age when affiliation is on the decline as so many Jews are not making Jewish life and the obligation to sustain it a personal, financial, or religious imperative.
In 1995, we were nine years old, and just about to move into this temple building at the annual meeting at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church. At that time, 68 of our founding families of 1986 were still members of the temple. I listed all of them in my annual meeting address. Of those 68 families, 31 families are still members 28 years after our founding. And of the 31 founding families, 23 of the adult children are members in their own right.
(In fact, we had a first last weekend, when I officiated at Jenny Gurman’s wedding, having officiated at her parents’ wedding 31 years, to the week, before. She is the first baby I named, whose wedding I officiated at, whose parents’s wedding I officiated at. That makes me old, but blessed!)
Today, I want to acknowledge those 31 founding families and if you are here, will you please stand:
Arons, Botelho, Courtney, Egber, Fidelman, Frankel, Franko, Gurman, Hersh, Jacob, Kleinman, Lubar, Ann and John Miller, Steve and Anniell Miller, Panzer, Paulson, Peikin, Perlin, Pressman, Rachlis, Rathe, Schneider, Shoap, Shumaker, Sirdofsky, Sprung, Wallack, Warshaw, Weissman, Mark and Pam Wiener, and Wise. Thank you for staying members. Those who stay sustain our faith and secure our future.
Throughout the past few years we have honored many categories of membership: 10 and 13 year members, 18 year members, 25 year members, and today I honor all of our newest members who have take time to be at this annual meeting. Without all of you, each and every one of you, we would not have the strong school, strong services, and strong caring community we have all come to rely on. It is an honor to serve you each and every day.
Since last year’s annual meeting we have had 17 B’nai Mitzvah, 25 Confirmands, and 18 Post-Confirmand graduates, as my classroom often had 40+ 11th and 12th grade students on a given Sunday night. To me the indicator of the strength of our religious school and Hebrew program was the fact that we offered free Hebrew classes for the month of June and almost every child CHOSE to attend. That is unheard of anywhere in the Jewish world, and such a tribute to the parents of our students who fight traffic and rush to get here each Tuesday night. Just listen to our young people as they flock to be here and are they are so sad when we have snow days, of which we had a record number this year.
We also have adults studying for their B’nai Mitzvah in the fall of 2015, and I had a group who took a crash course in Hebrew reading with me this fall. If Learning is LIFE, as we have renamed our Adult Education programming, then LIFE is strong here at TBS. We had so many opportunities to study Torah and Judaism this year, from Brunch and Learns at our home, to Minyan Makers, Women’s Torah, and even Torah through the eyes of our artist-in-residence, Mordecai Rosenstein. Take a moment to see the Tree of Life piece Mordecai created for TBS, which he made while he was here, opposite the sanctuary. Learning is the heart of Jewish life, and LIFE is strong at TBS.
It is easy to be strong when everything goes according to plan, but the true test of one’s strength is what happens in the face of adversity or change. Our temple’s resilience has been off the charts since the unexpected departure of Rabbi Cameron, thanks to the wonderful volunteers and staff who stepped in and have done an exceptional job — not just keeping things going, but actually taking us beyond my hopes or expectations for the first part of 2014. I truly believe we are better than ever right now. My deepest thanks to my exceptional office team: my Executive Assistant, Ellen Wolynec who keeps me organized and runs my life, our religious school secretary, Nicky Polis, who truly has kept the school running without missing a beat, our interim religious school administrator, Donna Courtney, who stepped in to deal with all the details that needed to get attention, and our religious school committee, who devotes themselves to our students and their families from dinners to seders to a host of behind the scenes activities. I thank them all for all they have done to make this a phenomenal year for our students.
And how very blessed we are to have brought Sharon Kaufman onboard as our Youth Director and Assistant Educator. I thank God for her every day! Sharon has stepped in as our Interim Educator and is doing an unbelievable job building our youth and school programs back into the top notch examples of the very best in youth engagement. Thank you, Sharon.
And the person who is the strength of TBS behind the scenes is our Director of Member Services, Lynn Richmond. Lynn’s devotion to our mission and vision for every member and potential member has strengthened our congregation immeasurably. She is a talented and treasured member of our leadership team, who is tireless in her efforts to keep TBS a strong, vibrant, and caring community. I cannot imagine TBS without her dynamism and devotion. She is here very early every single day making sure TBS is the caring and well run temple we want it to be. Please join me in thanking Lynn for her professionalism and commitment to making TBS a members first congregation.
And I am very grateful to our Student Rabbi Bess Wohlner, who will return from Israel tomorrow, so that I can have a vacation with my family this summer. Bess served as our Youth Director and Assistant Educator for three years before going off to HUC to become a rabbi. It is so good to have her home for the summer. She will be here in a rabbinic role, but having just received her Masters in Jewish Education, she will return to her role in writing and revising curriculum this summer ably assisted by Donna, Sharon, and all of our faculty members who have signed on for a major overhaul of curriculum and texts. Bess constantly calls TBS “the happiest place on earth.” If the Washington Post had wanted to include “best workplaces in small size synagogues” in today’s paper, I know TBS would have been #1.
Week after week, our services are full, and our calendar is overflowing with Brotherhood, Sisterhood, Support Groups, and more. We will welcome our first student cantor from HUC in August, Malka Rappaport, originally from Hawaii, who will be with us for High Holy days this year and once a month after that, as the brilliant and talented musician and student rabbi, Hannah Spiro, concludes her two years with us and goes off to Israel as part of her rabbinic training. As a healthy congregation, we are sought after to train the future leaders of our movement. And I am eternally grateful to Rob and Rachel for anchoring the music here at TBS with the professionalism and dedication of time and talent unheard of in volunteers today. And they have graciously welcomed a growing number of our teens, who we are showcasing and encouraging as we grow the Jewish future here on our bimah.
We moved into this building in 1995. The burning of the mortgage seemed a lifetime away. But, we stood in this room and burned the mortgage in April, and with all the pipes fixed, fire inspections passed, and new carpet, we show this house of God its respect as we all do our part in keeping it strong, secure, and stable. I thank all the volunteers who secure our building under Steve Miller’s wonderful leadership and hope more of you will volunteer for TBS Security in the future.
Without the synagogue, there is no place to gather, no place to house our Torahs and no place to turn to in crisis, emergency, illness, or death. It is the synagogue that sustains a living Judaism l’dor vador. It is an honor to report that this synagogue is strong. And with your help, we can insure that we are financially, spiritually, and religiously strong for many years to come.
I am excited every day by the possibilities for our future. I know that demographics and societal changes will be challenges to face in the future. But, with your continued devotion and your help in finding and recruiting new members, as you share the strengths of this incredible congregation, we can continue to be a light in the Reform Jewish eternal light, and a beacon of welcome and acceptance for all who seek community and connection.
I thank my beloved husband, Gary, for sustaining me every day, as my partner in this sacred work. May we go from strength to strength. Thank you.