Shalom, my friends. It is an honor to be standing here in
front of you today, and, to be honest, public speaking is not a strength of
mine. So, when I was reminded that I had to give a speech for Rosh Hashanah, I
decided I had better seek direction from some of the great historical leaders
of our people. I naturally thought about the story of Moses that I learned in
Hebrew school and two lessons immediately came to my mind. The first lesson
came from Midrash, which noted that as an infant Moses put a hot coal in his
mouth that caused him to have a lifelong speech impediment. Yet despite this,
with just a few simple words he was still persuasive to the pharaoh, who
eventually freed the Israelites. This was quite a powerful story which lead me
to my first lesson, and it is one that everyone here will appreciate, and that
lesson is that it is possible for someone of Jewish lineage to stand up in
front a group of people and give short speeches.
The second lesson came after Moses led the Israelites out
of Egypt. We all know that in their rush to leave they didn’t have time for
their bread to rise, but, what isn’t as well known, is that in that rush they
also forgot their map to the land of Canaan. Without that map, and….possibly a
few other mitigating factors, they had to wander in the desert for 40 years to
find their home. Can you imagine how different the story would have been if
they left with a roadmap explicitly directing them to where they were going? So
today, I am going to utilize these biblical lessons and give a talk about where
we, as a congregation, are beginning to head -- our first steps in our roadmap to
the future -- and I will try to keep it under 5 minutes.
As most are aware, the congregational make up has been
changing over the past decade. We have unfortunately had to say goodbye to
several of our friends but have also been fortunate to have new members join
our community. However, our reality is that the overall trend has been a
gradual decline in membership, participation, and revenue. Your synagogue board
has been proactive in questioning what we can do as a group to ensure that we
are meeting the short term and long term goals of our community and they have
established a roadmap for our future. This roadmap will focus on three priority
areas: (1) engagement of our members; (2) leadership options for after Nancy
retires; and (3) providing for our financial future. To reach our priority
areas we need to recognize that while a synagogue is a place of worship, it far
transcends that function. It also provides the foundation to maintain strong
community relationships; it brings friends and families together; and it allows
for the growth of future generations and the continuation of Judaism. If we
overlook these relationships, we are missing a major tie to our community; and we
are taking steps to ensure they aren’t being overlooked.
The first step in our plan implemented this fall was to
invest in our youth, which are our future, and who will ultimately be the
leaders of their generation. We wanted
to give them the desire, the skills, and the bonds so that they feel
comfortable continuing with a life of Judaism beyond their b’nai mitzvot. We
felt our best course was to reinstate Junior Congregation, which started a few
weeks ago under the new name of “Got Shabbat”. We succeeded in finding an
energetic and engaging teacher who is supplementing and enhancing their Jewish
education beyond what they are already learning in the Lincoln Jewish Community
School. This program is sure to be a success. To celebrate the significance of
our commitment to our youth there will be a special Kiddush luncheon next month
in honor of the children! Watch your Shavua Tov newsletter for upcoming
details.
Our second step was to provide a forum for our community to
connect with each other. Being Jews, this naturally involves food, so we are again
providing weekly Kiddush lunches after Shabbat services and we will soon be
bringing back the monthly birthday lunch celebrations, which were so well
received last year. We are also proud to announce that “the Food Doc” is going
to be working on a column addressing modernization of food practices in our
kitchen and we look forward to implementing his suggestions.
While these are just the beginning of the plan for our
future, we hope that the steps we are taking will make our shul attractive to
current and new members so that they are actively engaged, and will help us
when it is time to recruit a new spiritual leader.
Now we come to that portion of our service that most
congregants deplore hearing on high holidays. As one of that group, I almost
hesitate to do that which I, myself, do not like. However, the High Holidays
are one of the opportunities where your Board has the greatest ability to reach
the most people. By now, I am sure you have guessed, the area I am about to
address has to do with funding our community, our children, our programs and
our building. Unfortunately, nothing is truly free. We have mandatory expenses
we must meet. Electricity for our lights, gas to cook our food, and heating and
cooling so we can concentrate on our prayers are not free simply because we are
a religious institution. These items all carry a price tag. Our lovely building
needs maintenance. Items must be replaced when worn. We need to be able to
welcome all members of our community without regard to the members’ financial
abilities. Some of our members may need other assistance. We pride ourselves,
as Jews, on offering a helping hand. Accordingly, I need to ask all of you to
contribute to our shul. Not only for the immediate expenses, but also to our
foundation so that we have the funds in place to carry us into the future. When
you think about all that we accomplish as a small shul in the Midwest, because
of your dedication, we really have a lot to be proud of. So as we move forward
into the new year I ask that you remember the role Tifereth Israel plays in
your life, the lives of your families, your neighbors, and your friends, and to
ask yourselves what impact you can have on our roadmap into the next year.
Leshana tovah tikatevu
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