Today is April 23, 2024 /
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This past weekend, I was warmed to see our TBS Religious School children lead us through a Shabbat morning service. I was amazed at their proficiency reading Torah. This is no easy feat and they did it with ease! Our dedicated teachers have built a community that embraces our children and their families, readying them for their B’nai Mitzvot and beyond. Kadima and USY are also there to enhance their community with some fun social time.
At TBS, we’ve created a spiritual, learning community in the midst of our otherwise busy lives. When you enter TBS, you enter that community.
During the winter months, it often feels good to come home, make dinner, and relax quietly but when it’s Shabbat, why not come out of the house and meet other members of TBS?
This has been a challenging month and so we are even more welcoming of Chanukah, our “festival of lights.” Just like you, I’ve always loved the story about how the small band of faithful Jews led by Judah HaMaccabee defeated a mighty army and was able to rededicate the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. We Jews are still a small band of faithful people and while we have our own synagogue to pray in, we find ourselves looking for new ways to (re)dedicate ourselves or engage with our Judaism. We have so many things going on at TBS, and yet we continue to look for new touch points, new ways in which we can provide meaningful Jewish experiences to our community.
I trust everyone had a great summer. As you know, TBS doesn’t shut down during the summer and we have been as busy as ever!
After receiving news of Rabbi Bazer’s departure, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of assistance I received from various Temple committees as well as individuals (congregants and NON-congregants) to assist us in the search for a new rabbi. As I’ve stated before, when there’s a great cause, our community knows how to come together and get things done.
Within one week, we were already reviewing candidates and setting up interviews for an interim rabbi. The process went VERY smoothly and I am so proud to announce that we have a signed contract with Rabbi Leonard Gordon of Newton.
As I enter into what should be my last month as president, I’d like to take a look back at our accomplishments over the last 2 years.
We started the term by ensuring Rabbi Bazer’s 3-year contract so that we can continue our great stability that we’ve had over the past decade plus. The Rabbi’s and my relationship has grown and I can safely assume we will continue to be in constant contact; bouncing ideas off of each other to improve our spiritual offerings.
Most recently, I’m glad to announce that in May I signed a 2-year lease agreement with the MetroWest Jewish Day School.
Even though there are plenty of things going on at Temple Beth Sholom, there’s not much to report from the President’s side of things. Our fiscal year is coming to a close in less than 2 months. So far, even with this large amount of snow and downed trees, we are showing an ever slight surplus. The Board of Trustees will be looking at the FY2018-2019 Budget at the May and June meetings and we will present this budget at the congregational meeting on the 21st of June.
I would like to comment on the recent activities that the Temple has been a part of.
As Passover is in full swing, I’m hoping the difficulties with the snow are behind us. I cannot remember a time when we had to cancel both our Friday evening and Shabbat morning services ever before. As a result, we had to postpone our Weekend of Learning with Dr. Michael Satlow. The new dates are May 11th-12th.
If you’ve been to the Temple since the storm you can see the many large trees that have fallen on the property. Amazingly, they all fell towards the middle versus the parking lot. The blizzard certainly depleted any surplus we were hoping to have in our snow plowing budget.
Can Spring really be just around the corner? This Winter was certainly tough on our parking lot and the Garden of Meditation. I had a chance to walk around the outside perimeter and was excited to start planning for a big clean-up so we can begin using more of our outdoor space. We will start filling in pot holes and clearing away dead branches as soon as weather permits. The rain has also washed away a lot of soil and we will plan to refill some bare spots.
Spring is also budget season. The budget committee will be diligently putting together a budget that will be brought to the Board at the April and May meetings.
Happy New Year! 2018. When I first saw those digits, one of the things I realized was that my 2016-2018 term will soon be coming to an end. It reminded me of a story Rabbi Harold Kushner relayed in When All You’ve Wanted Isn’t Enough. He analogized life to a canister of coffee grounds. In the beginning, one takes big generous scoops not being careful if a few grounds are spilt, then, as in life, when the grounds are almost finished, you take ever more care not to spill any and cherish what’s left. So as in my presidential term; as it comes to completion I want to be careful to keep an eye on what I’d like to accomplish before June.
I came across a Wall Street Journal article that seems pertinent to us as we wind down our Strength-to-Strength campaign. Its title was “How to Suppress Your Inner Scrooge – If giving makes us happier, why are we so quick to dodge chances at charity?” by Raymond Fishman and Michael Luca.
The article showed the dichotomy of the “lengths to which people go to avoid being asked for donations” and the research[1] that shows giving actually brings people happiness.
To prove the point, a study was done where 48 people were given money. One group was told to spend the money on themselves.
When I think about what to write for my monthly Ruchenu article, I sometimes reflect on the prior month’s Board of Trustees meeting. The November meeting was of particular note since the Board voted on the 2017-2018 Nominating Committee members. This committee will consist of 7 congregants that will not only nominate some new Board of Trustees members but also will nominate the next Executive Board! Is it truly possible that we’re getting ready for the next Executive Board? I checked my calendar and see that only 6 months remain in my presidency: I better start getting those campaign promises done!