Rosh Hashanah 5772/2011 Past, Present and Future or
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Last year I spoke about my dreams and passion for the
past, present and future of B’nai Jacob. Most of you know I
grew up here (literally) at the synagogue. Although I am a
“long timer”, I was not around for the first half of the
century… but it is with great excitement that I bring up our
Centennial! Congregation B’nai Jacob is kicking off an
entire year of celebration. We will turn 100 in November
2012. For 100 years, the B’nai Jacob community has united
families through the shared pursuit of Jewish education and
knowledge, religious observance, community service, and
friendship. You could say that our congregation has “kept us
centered for a century.” We are truly part of the historical
tapestry of Phoenixville. The Centennial Planning Committee
has organized a year-long festival of entertainment,
community service activities, educational programs, and
reunions, to mark this milestone.
Our first event, will be the Long Timers Dinner (notice I
said LONG, NOT OLD Timers ) on October 16th. Long
Timers are defined as families who have been members for
25 or more years. All families are cordially invited so that we
can both honor and thank our Long Timers for all they have
done to build and maintain our Jewish Community in
Phoenixville. As we say- Without “vat was”, “vat is”
would not be. We have 3 great speakers lined up-
representing the best of the past, present and future leaders
from our community. There are still reservations available,
so let us know as soon as possible to secure your spot.
Other great Centennial activities this year will include a
walking tour of Jewish Philly, a group trip to the National
Jewish History Museum, a sponsored Movie at the Colonial,
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a guided walking tour through historic Jewish Phoenixville,
and reunions for former preschool classes and religious
school students. The yearlong celebration will culminate in a
Centennial Gala weekend NOVEMBER 3rd & 4th, 2012.
Please pick up a Centennial brochure in the lobby for further
details.
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So it is easy to see why I feel passionate about our past-
What is it that makes me feel so strongly about being a part
of the community here in the present?
For me it started last fall with the development of a Mission
Statement. To me, a Mission statement is a clear signal that
an organization can define itself, knows where it wants to go
and has a standard by which it can measure all its
decisions. A committed group of board members worked
hard to capture the essence of B’nai Jacob in developing
ours. It reads:
"Our mission is to provide a place rooted in Jewish tradition
where all people feel welcome, supported and enriched.
We strive to foster connections to our past, to our future and
to the divine in an intimate, accepting community."
The tag line goes on to say-
Makom. Kehillah. Kesher.
Place. Community. Connection.
When I spoke last Rosh Hashanah I outlined areas where I
wanted to see changes for the upcoming year- I spoke about
being passionate about leadership development, improving
communication, jumpstarting fundraising, strengthening
our minyan, working on Keruv (outreach) and establishing a
Chesed committee. I think we’ve made substantial progress
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on these fronts and will continue to work on them for the
following year.
1 Our first task was leadership development and the
current board has worked hard together and moved into
more mentoring and visionary roles. Once a strong
cohesiveness on the board was developed, it became a
much easier task to develop our new mission statement.
2 Communicating that mission and vision then became
key. A task force of dedicated members and outside
professionals volunteering their time worked tirelessly to
develop and implement our new website, launched this
week. It is a fabulous new vehicle for communication both
internally and externally. It will serve to streamline office
procedures, a centralized information source and maximize
our technological presence. In addition, we started a
Facebook page, and have had increased visibility in the local
Press. Our communications have been improved greatly by
regular meetings with the Rabbi and the Executive Board.
3In order to fund these efforts we focused on our financial
health. Fundraising is a necessary evil in the non-profit
world. Without significant fundraising we cannot sustain the
congregation. And by sustain, I mean keep the lights on, pay
the Rabbi's salary, employ our Religious School teachers
and heat and cool the building. Please, remember, whether
you use our services a lot or a little, we are here when you
need us. There is value added to our larger community just
by having a synagogue present, whether or not you
personally enter the building daily weekly or yearly. We
cannot provide that without your generous financial support.
This year we held a spectacularly successful Art Auction
thanks to the hard work of many volunteers and raised close
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to $9000. In addition, we met out HH appeal goals. We
have established some additional streams of revenue with
our alternative energy provider options. We are in the
process of adding a revitalized Scrip program with many new
business options.
4 Chesed or acts of kindness is a core value at CBJ. Our
mission statement speaks to making all members feel
supported. This has historically been a strength at CBJ, but
due to increased needs and decreased volunteer time we
desperately need your help. Whether it is providing a meal
after a funeral, visiting the sick, providing transportation to
doctor's appointments or companionship, any amount of time
is appreciated.
5We have worked hard at strengthening our Minyan this
year with our 10 for 10 program, where each adult member
in a household is asked to pledge10 days a year to attend
minyan and fulfill this mitzvah. We have a proud tradition of
providing a daily minyan for prayer including a place to recite
the kaddish and in fact are the only conservative
congregation in Chester County to do so. This again speaks
to our mission statement- we are a place rooted in tradition
connected to the divine. Sadly, there are many days we do
not have the 10 persons needed to make a minyan. We
have seen several new leaders step forward to lead
services.
6 The last goal I want to discuss is the concept of welcoming
the intermarried family into Judaism or Keruv. This is a
crucial reality for our congregation today. Keruv translated
means "bring together or closer" We, as an arm of the
Conservative movement, need to make efforts to be more
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welcoming and inclusive of interfaith families and offer
programming that actively engages the entire family in our
building. . I would argue that we should act more strongly
and shift from keruv to edud which loosely translates to
passionate encouragement or compassionate urging and
embracing support. I would like to start a series of
discussions in the “town hall meeting” style this year to
explore the sentiment surrounding these issues in our
community and start moving from a meaningful dialogue to a
plan of action that we can all feel comfortable with.
So centered by the past, secure in our present, what does
the future hold for us?
I am reminded of the song by Bob Dylan entitled The Times
They Are A-Changin' written in 1964, the lyrics go like this:
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit
that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that
soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is
worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink
like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
Change in and of itself may or may not be difficult, but fear of
what that change may bring is often difficult for many.
However, out of change many great things can happen.
It’s not just us. The face of modern Conservative Judaism is
changing. The face of B’nai Jacob is changing. It is no longer
a matter of whether or not we decide to change. Change is
inevitable. Rather, how we manage that change is what will
make or break us as a congregation.
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Charles Darwin said: "It is not the strongest of the species
that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most
responsive to change."
I asked myself- how can we take these dreams for our future
and start planning for change.
What does the Torah say about change?
In Deuteronomy verse17:line 9 we read:
“And you shall come to the priests the Levites, and to the
judge who shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall
declare to you the sentence of judgement.” What does
“…and to the judge who shall be in those days” mean- Rashi
has interpreted this to mean that even if he isn’t like the
other judges who came before you are obligated to listen to
him. You have no other judges than the judge who is in your
time. So even the torah realized that what worked in the
past might not always be what works best in the future and
that we need to take from the tradition of the past and
interpret it through the eyes of today.
Here at CBJ I see new traditions that have recently come out
of change.
Committee work is often divided into discreet tasks or
projects rather than committees, attracting more busy people
who have less free time.
Much of our communication has become electronic,
including HAKOL. Soon we will be able to collect payments
on line through our website, sign up for minyan or Chesed
opportunities.
The Rabbi’s upcoming maternity leave provides us not only
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with an opportunity to celebrate our newest member, but
also the opportunity to train new people to read torah, lead
services and give divrai torah. Learners classes will be
started this fall.
We sought and received a highly competitive Catalyst grant
from the agency formerly known as ACAJE-JOPP now
Jewish Learning Venture and initiated The Shabbat Table, a
program to build community, enhance our web site and
facilitate team building, now in it’s second year.
The Community picnic, our Pre-school holiday programs are
bringing more new faces in the building. Our generous
Sisterhood began renovations of our sanctuary and Social
Hall as well as contributing to our ongoing drive for a revised
edition of the HH prayer books.
In the words of John F. Kennedy-
Change is the law of life,
and those who look only
to the
past or present are
certain to miss the future."
As we move forward we look for new and innovative models
for funding our mission, such as fair share dues.
We hope to restart a Jewish preschool.
In addition to the issues of interfaith families I mentioned
before, It is vital that we think of new and creative ways to
reach out to those not yet affiliated in our communities to
help us build our dreams for the future. This in turn builds
our membership base, and assures a financial sustainability
for a continued Jewish presence in our community and the
future of Conservative Judaism in general.
I still have a dream- a dream that the CBJ community and
all of you will come together and connect in this place, and
be a part of the change, to provide a place rooted in Jewish
tradition where all people feel welcome, supported and
enriched. We strive to foster connections to our past, to our
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future and to the divine in an intimate, accepting community."
Let us hope that our Congregation continues to keep us
centered for the century to come.
From our family to all of yours- leshanah tovah u'metukah, a
good "writing and sealing" for a happy and sweet new year,
that's healthy and fulfilling; bursting with joy and overflowing
with blessings as numerous as pomegranate seeds.
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