Post by Rabbi Neil on Feb 9, 2018 22:20:17 GMT
The other day, I led the opening invocation at the Mayor’s 2018 State of the City address. Apparently, now is the time to do a State of the Nation or State of the City address. After last night’s Board meeting, I realized that now is the perfect time to give a State of the Synagogue Sermon, and I’m thinking that every Board Installation will be the opportunity for me to give that sermon from now on.
I came to this community three and a half years ago. My family was welcomed keenly and we were really bowled over by the generosity, support and friendship offered my members of the community. The community was already vibrant and exciting but it faced some immediate challenges. Arriving here from Bournemouth I realize I must have seemed like a deer caught in headlights for six months because the cultural and religious change was larger than I ever imagined. Another cause for that apparent shock was the crisis in the Preschool that had started only weeks before I arrived. Trying desperately to minimize the hemorrhage of students from the Preschool, as well as families from the Temple, was certainly a welcome to a community that I’ll never forget! Six months later, the crisis was over, but the Preschool was in serious trouble. Thankfully, Rabbi Jenny righted the ship as the new Director, returned the Preschool to a good reputation and, most importantly for some, profitability. When she left her post, Sarah Harrison was able to step in to build on the new momentum created by Rabbi Jenny. Now, despite the significant growth in free Pre-K education across Santa Fe, every class is in our Preschool is almost full and the financial health of the Preschool has returned to a level not seen in years.
The Religious School may not have as many kids in it as it did decades ago, but it is still clearly full of life, with over 80 students registered. The Hochberg Academy continues to bring in new students who previously would not have engaged in our community because of cost. The B’nei Mitzvah Program has just been revamped to ensure that students spend much more time studying with a Rabbi than before. The process starts earlier and is more carefully monitored to avoid a stressful rush near the end, and the process now continues after the ceremony itself. Students will be more present and more involved in services, starting in the 6th grade, a year earlier than before. This year’s B’nei Mitzvah class, an excellent class of brainy young adults, is going to be wonderful to watch.
Adult Education programs continue with an extraordinary weekend coming up with Siona Benjamin as a scholar in residence, as well as tomorrow evening’s you-do-not-want-to-miss presentation by Justin Ferate on Jewish Harlem.
The Youth Group and High School continue to thrive, with more students in the High School than since I’ve been here, and with exciting and fun trips for the Youth Group throughout the year.
The Ritual Forum ground to a halt, mainly because it seemed to exist to answer the core question – “How do we align our traditions with those of Rabbi Neil?” After three years, we seemed to have answered that question so the discussions dwindled! Instead, a new Ritual Renewal Committee has been created that will bring new life in some very exciting ways to our community’s ritual practice, starting with Pesach and moving on from there. And that reminds me that this year’s Purim spiel is also not to be missed.
We try to be as welcoming as possible to as many people as possible, but we also have to be realistic that having such an open door does bring certain security risks today. A Security Committee has now been established to help maintain our welcoming atmosphere while minimizing the risks to the members of our community.
A Young Adults Committee has also been set up. Young Adults in particular are the missing generation of Temple members all around the world. Feeling like they don’t need a synagogue until they get married or have kids, Temples historically have waited for them to return but now we are going to be reaching out to them, meeting them where they are and then bringing them in. Part of that outreach will include more appropriate means of communication for the 21st century, and that will be the focus of our new Communications Committee, which will analyze internal and external communications in order to suggest better ways for TBS to communicate.
Our Programming has taken off in ways we could not have imagined a few years ago. Thanks to a generous donation from a congregant, we are flying in speakers from around the world for our Israel at 70 series of programs, including one a week tomorrow with Ido Aharoni. The first speaker, comedian Joel Chasnoff, was a resounding success and we expect Ido Aharoni will be, too. A year of programs around one theme is very exciting, culminating in the extraordinary historian Simon Schama coming to talk to our community.
In terms of outreach, the Rally Against Racism on the plaza last summer brought 1500 people together after the events of Charlottesville, and that in turn brought new members into our community, seeing how concerned we are with social justice. Even though Rebecca Baran-Rees stepped down as our Social Justice Director, we shall have a new Director in place by the end of this month and I am confidant that he will be developing our social justice work in ways that motivate and inspire more members than ever before. Our social justice work also included speaking out against the new science curriculum, and the protests our members brought against that intellectual abhorrence no doubt contributed to it being changed.
I have been re-elected the President of the Interfaith Leadership Alliance for a third term, and this year we are expecting to finally be able to bring the Catholic Church into interfaith work in a way not seen before in Santa Fe. We have also just started laying the groundwork for a binding interfaith environmental agreement for Santa Fe, which will not only help commit our community to become more sustainable, but will also increase the amount of interfaith work we engage in.
Increasing the pastoral support in our community has been one of my areas of focus this year, and will continue to be particularly next year. This is because we’ll be setting up The Shalom Squad, a group of people from the Mitzvah Corps and our new group, Chaverim. Where the Mitzvah Corps will continue to support members in immediate need, members of Chaverim will visit lonely and isolated congregants on a regular basis. The Shalom Squad will also include members of the League of Extraordinary Past Presidents, who often hear of concerns or needs of congregants way before I do.
When I started here three and a half years ago, I asked what the top priorities were in the community that the Board wanted me to address. I was given three – to get the community to talk about Israel, to balance the books, and to increase the membership. Not small tasks. We held the Israel Dialogues for our members and are currently engaging in our Israel at 70 program, and that’s just the start. After this year of programs revealing the cultural side of Israel that people so often forget, we’re going to hold more dialogues and discuss our Temple’s response to current events in Israel.
In terms of balancing the books, we’re looking like we’re going to achieve that for the second year in a row, if current trends continue, particularly bolstered by the huge turnaround in fortunes of the Preschool.
And the third priority? I’m pleased to say that for the first time in my Rabbinic career, I’m the Rabbi of a Temple that increased its membership. That’s a big thing, and it also doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. That kind of success comes about through the hard work and dedication of all the staff, all the members of the Board and all the volunteers in the community. I thought it would be good to share that news on the Shabbat when we’re celebrating our Board. Forming a vision through a consultation process like Kulanu and then implementing it through the staff, Board and volunteers is exactly how a community like ours changes a membership decline into an increase. The challenge for this new Board, and it’s a challenge I think that they are definitely up for, is whether or not we can achieve an increase two years in a row! I think we can.
So, the state of our synagogue is strong. May it continue to be strong for many years into the future, and let us say, Amen.
I came to this community three and a half years ago. My family was welcomed keenly and we were really bowled over by the generosity, support and friendship offered my members of the community. The community was already vibrant and exciting but it faced some immediate challenges. Arriving here from Bournemouth I realize I must have seemed like a deer caught in headlights for six months because the cultural and religious change was larger than I ever imagined. Another cause for that apparent shock was the crisis in the Preschool that had started only weeks before I arrived. Trying desperately to minimize the hemorrhage of students from the Preschool, as well as families from the Temple, was certainly a welcome to a community that I’ll never forget! Six months later, the crisis was over, but the Preschool was in serious trouble. Thankfully, Rabbi Jenny righted the ship as the new Director, returned the Preschool to a good reputation and, most importantly for some, profitability. When she left her post, Sarah Harrison was able to step in to build on the new momentum created by Rabbi Jenny. Now, despite the significant growth in free Pre-K education across Santa Fe, every class is in our Preschool is almost full and the financial health of the Preschool has returned to a level not seen in years.
The Religious School may not have as many kids in it as it did decades ago, but it is still clearly full of life, with over 80 students registered. The Hochberg Academy continues to bring in new students who previously would not have engaged in our community because of cost. The B’nei Mitzvah Program has just been revamped to ensure that students spend much more time studying with a Rabbi than before. The process starts earlier and is more carefully monitored to avoid a stressful rush near the end, and the process now continues after the ceremony itself. Students will be more present and more involved in services, starting in the 6th grade, a year earlier than before. This year’s B’nei Mitzvah class, an excellent class of brainy young adults, is going to be wonderful to watch.
Adult Education programs continue with an extraordinary weekend coming up with Siona Benjamin as a scholar in residence, as well as tomorrow evening’s you-do-not-want-to-miss presentation by Justin Ferate on Jewish Harlem.
The Youth Group and High School continue to thrive, with more students in the High School than since I’ve been here, and with exciting and fun trips for the Youth Group throughout the year.
The Ritual Forum ground to a halt, mainly because it seemed to exist to answer the core question – “How do we align our traditions with those of Rabbi Neil?” After three years, we seemed to have answered that question so the discussions dwindled! Instead, a new Ritual Renewal Committee has been created that will bring new life in some very exciting ways to our community’s ritual practice, starting with Pesach and moving on from there. And that reminds me that this year’s Purim spiel is also not to be missed.
We try to be as welcoming as possible to as many people as possible, but we also have to be realistic that having such an open door does bring certain security risks today. A Security Committee has now been established to help maintain our welcoming atmosphere while minimizing the risks to the members of our community.
A Young Adults Committee has also been set up. Young Adults in particular are the missing generation of Temple members all around the world. Feeling like they don’t need a synagogue until they get married or have kids, Temples historically have waited for them to return but now we are going to be reaching out to them, meeting them where they are and then bringing them in. Part of that outreach will include more appropriate means of communication for the 21st century, and that will be the focus of our new Communications Committee, which will analyze internal and external communications in order to suggest better ways for TBS to communicate.
Our Programming has taken off in ways we could not have imagined a few years ago. Thanks to a generous donation from a congregant, we are flying in speakers from around the world for our Israel at 70 series of programs, including one a week tomorrow with Ido Aharoni. The first speaker, comedian Joel Chasnoff, was a resounding success and we expect Ido Aharoni will be, too. A year of programs around one theme is very exciting, culminating in the extraordinary historian Simon Schama coming to talk to our community.
In terms of outreach, the Rally Against Racism on the plaza last summer brought 1500 people together after the events of Charlottesville, and that in turn brought new members into our community, seeing how concerned we are with social justice. Even though Rebecca Baran-Rees stepped down as our Social Justice Director, we shall have a new Director in place by the end of this month and I am confidant that he will be developing our social justice work in ways that motivate and inspire more members than ever before. Our social justice work also included speaking out against the new science curriculum, and the protests our members brought against that intellectual abhorrence no doubt contributed to it being changed.
I have been re-elected the President of the Interfaith Leadership Alliance for a third term, and this year we are expecting to finally be able to bring the Catholic Church into interfaith work in a way not seen before in Santa Fe. We have also just started laying the groundwork for a binding interfaith environmental agreement for Santa Fe, which will not only help commit our community to become more sustainable, but will also increase the amount of interfaith work we engage in.
Increasing the pastoral support in our community has been one of my areas of focus this year, and will continue to be particularly next year. This is because we’ll be setting up The Shalom Squad, a group of people from the Mitzvah Corps and our new group, Chaverim. Where the Mitzvah Corps will continue to support members in immediate need, members of Chaverim will visit lonely and isolated congregants on a regular basis. The Shalom Squad will also include members of the League of Extraordinary Past Presidents, who often hear of concerns or needs of congregants way before I do.
When I started here three and a half years ago, I asked what the top priorities were in the community that the Board wanted me to address. I was given three – to get the community to talk about Israel, to balance the books, and to increase the membership. Not small tasks. We held the Israel Dialogues for our members and are currently engaging in our Israel at 70 program, and that’s just the start. After this year of programs revealing the cultural side of Israel that people so often forget, we’re going to hold more dialogues and discuss our Temple’s response to current events in Israel.
In terms of balancing the books, we’re looking like we’re going to achieve that for the second year in a row, if current trends continue, particularly bolstered by the huge turnaround in fortunes of the Preschool.
And the third priority? I’m pleased to say that for the first time in my Rabbinic career, I’m the Rabbi of a Temple that increased its membership. That’s a big thing, and it also doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. That kind of success comes about through the hard work and dedication of all the staff, all the members of the Board and all the volunteers in the community. I thought it would be good to share that news on the Shabbat when we’re celebrating our Board. Forming a vision through a consultation process like Kulanu and then implementing it through the staff, Board and volunteers is exactly how a community like ours changes a membership decline into an increase. The challenge for this new Board, and it’s a challenge I think that they are definitely up for, is whether or not we can achieve an increase two years in a row! I think we can.
So, the state of our synagogue is strong. May it continue to be strong for many years into the future, and let us say, Amen.