Annual Meeting Comments - 12/7/14

This morning I want to speak a few minutes about wisdom & inspiration.   The difference between wisdom and intelligence is experience.   After two years as your President, I certainly have more wisdom.

An example of wisdom that I gained is a greater understanding of the ritual - services, holidays, lifecycle events, and now I am a pro at opening and closing the Ark.  Another area of increased wisdom is how committed the Board is - they really are.  One final example is that is more challenging than I thought to have people change behavior,  even when it benefits Temple and themselves.  I am thankful for this increased wisdom.

After spending time with OZ, other congregational leaders around Vermont through Jewish Communities of Vermont, and across the country through URJ (Union of Reform Judaism), I  understand better how Temple Sinai relates  to other congregations around the country .  These conversations reinforced that we do have a wonderful, strong, caring community.  Other congregations would love to have the little debt that we do and over $200,000 in an endowment.  It cost more to be members of most other congregations.  Others would love to have the social and religious activities that we have (I have trouble keeping track of all that is going on).  Other congregations  would like to have the activities that we have for families with young children.  Most others would like to have the Board Leadership succession that we have.

 I ask each of you to continue to support the board under Joel's leadership.  I ask you to offer suggestions and offer to be involved.  I ask you to be proud of all that we do and focus on the good things that are part of our congregation.  I ask you to reflect on the message that we give to our children and the help that we provide to our members in need.

In closing, I say heartfelt Thank yous. Thank you for your support and encouragement.  Thank you for taking time to let me know when you feel things should change.  Thank you for the trust & confidence that you have placed in me. 

Now for  the inspiration.  Some of you have hears of Philippe Petit and his wire walking between the World Trade Center Twin towers.  You probably have not heard about his high wire walk in Jerusalem.   He was asked by the Teddy Kollek, the mayor of Jerusalem at the time, to open the Israel Festival.  With all the conflict in Jerusalem, Philippe decided to connect his wire between the Arab  & Jewish quarters over the Ben Hinnom Valley.  He thought, wouldn't it be cool to stop in the middle and to make the dove appear. 

Philippe stepped confidently off the building on the wire, walked to the middle and stopped.  He looked up to the sky, and released the dove with the most magnificent gesture.  AS Philippe describe it, "the bird goes flop, flop, flop and lands on his head.  People Scream.  He grabs the Dove and for the second time sends it in the air again.  The dove who obviously didn't go to flying school, goes flip, flip, flip and lands on the end his balancing pole.  He sits down immediately."  The Crowd goes crazy thinking that he is a professional who knows what he is doing.  So he takes a bow and then bangs his head on the end of the pole to get the dove off.  For the third time, the Dove flops and lands on the wire behind Philippe. 

Now he is exhausted and still 50 yard  from the end, so his steps are slow.  The crowd begins to clap in unison in time with his slow steps ... in applause of encouragement.  Philippe remarked that the crowd forgot their differences and became one pushing him to triumph.

On the Mayors desk is a picture of Philippe with the dove on his head.  Teddy told Philippe that when things get tough, he looks at the picture and says, if Philippe can do that, I can do this and he goes back to work.

Philippe ended his story saying "Inspiration!  By inspiring ourselves, we  inspire others.  Please glue feathers to your arms and look at the world from a different perspective.  And when you see mountains, remember that mountains can be moved."

It has been my honor to serve as your President.  I hope that I have inspired each of you.

Yom Kippur Speech 2014

Take a moment to look around the room.  We have a wonderful community.  Yes we could have more people, we could be in a different building, and we could have ... many things.  What we do have is over 300 men, women, & children who care about   celebrating Judaism in our community.  We have friends here.  We celebrate together.  We mourn our losses together.  We solve problems together.

We believe so strongly in this, that we pay dues so that we will have: our building, Rabbi, Educator, Teachers, Cantor, Pianist, Building Maintenance, & Administrator. This evening, I would like us to focus the education provided, under the leadership of our Temple Educator, Judy Alexander.

One of the basic tenants of Judaism is to study.  Without education, we will not grow.  This is where we learn about our history, our traditions, our rituals, and our reason for being.  This education helps us choose the direction of our life.  Sometimes we forget, some of the most basic questions.  The book, Kid's Prayers, reminds us of some of the questions we all had, as we were beginning to understand religion.

One child prays "Dear God: How did you know you were God?  Who told you?

Another prayed "Dear God: I bet it's hard for you, to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in my family, and I can never do it.

We have celebrated 100's of B’nai Mitzvahs in our congregation. We have a never ending stream of adults learning about Judaism, and how we can live more cooperatively, within our faith.  We learn in the classroom, and from our actions.  Stop to think what we modeled for our children and community, by sharing our building with the College Street Congregational Church for six months this year, while theirs was being rebuilt.  Another prayer from the book, Kid's Prayers, is: "How come you did all those miracles in the old days and don't do any now?"  I bet the people of the Congregational church saw this as a mini-miracle, when they had no place to worship.

The tradition of most Temples including ours is that adults attend educational classes at little or no cost and parents pay for their children to go to religious school.  In our temple, parents paid about $500 per child per year.  I ask you tonight, Why is this right?  Why should education be based on the parent’s ability to pay?

Your board asked these questions.  We spent hours debating this, and decided to ask all members of Temple Sinai, to pay for our Religious education. As your leaders, we try to make decisions that are in the best interest of our community. We decided to change the "tradition" of many congregations, including ours, by spreading the cost or our education, among all members. 

Each of you received a letter from me this summer asking for contributions to our Education Fund, to pay for our religious school.  We have received almost $11,000 of our $22,000 goal.  We need $22,000 a year to continue this approach.  If every member contributed $200, we would have over $30,000 for our Education programs.  Benjamin Franklin said it best, "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." I want to show you how your investment in our students paid off, by asking Drew Coel to join me up here.

 I asked Drew to read the poem that she wrote in Dana Rachlin’s Chai School class last year. She was one of eight students in Dana's class. Dana's mission was to "develop a superb program, that established core areas and philosophy we could bring to Jewish teens in our community" and "To help High School students learn about their heritage and religion, in order to bridge the gap of knowledge, between Religious school and adulthood". 

(Drew’s poem will be included in my next blog.)

Thank you Drew for reading your poem today. I liked it as much the second time as I did the first.

I ask each of you sitting here today to decide whether sharing the cost of religious school all members is what you want.  Please go online, send a check, or call our Temple Administrator Stacie Gabert with your payment or commitment.  Thank you to the 27 members and one non-member that have made contributions. 

I have some final thoughts to share, as this is my last speech from the Bema as your President.  As with any job I take on, there are times when I say "why did I do this" and times when I say "I am glad that I am doing this."  I am truly glad that I am serving as President. I will miss my time on the Bema for lifecycle events. I will miss challenging the board, staff, & members, about how we have done things and asking, "Is there another way?"  I will miss having ideas not work, because I know we tried and I always learned something new. I will miss the relationships with other temple Presidents around the country and the ideas that we have shared.  Thank you to all who have been involved during my term.  It's been an honor and a privilege to stand before you as your president and stand beside you in leadership.  Your ideas, questions, and actions are an inspiration to me.  We are a great community and it is because of each of you.

Shabbat Shalom

Tim HH Speech Rosh Hashanah 2014

Happy New Year.  This morning, I will speak about my Jewish Journey and what I learned as Temple President.

Like some of you, I was brought up in a family of mixed religions.  My father was raised in the Mennonite church.  His Mennonite experience was not good, so while he was very pious man, keeping the Mennonite tradition was not on his list. I always thought my grandmother’s little white cap, grey dress, & black shoes were pretty cool even though I didn’t always understand why she wore them.  As I got older, I admired her for following the Mennonite tradition of not watching TV, and never making me feel bad when I did. 

My mother’s father was a Methodist Minister and we were raised as Methodist.  I have good memories of these years.  I remember trying to stay quiet during service with my friends, the 25 African American church members from NYC that visited for a weekend, and my time in our youth group.  Some of my favorite youth group activities were visiting the Jewish Congregation in town, selling Christmas trees, and just spending time together; much like our youth group does here.

My journey here has been interesting and sometimes challenging.  When Paula & I began talking about getting married, we discussed the importance of supporting each other's religious traditions. For me it became important to share the same religious traditions. I also knew that whether I was born into a Christian, Jewish, Quaker, or some other faith, I would be the same person.  I still would be an impulsive youngster (some would say as an adult also), need to hire someone to fix my faucet, care deeply about others, have awareness about people in other parts of the globe that I’ve never met, and believe that I have a responsibility to try to make our world better.  In that sense, my faith was a part of me, but it didn’t define me.

Prior to meeting me, Paula had spent time figuring out her religious beliefs.  During this exploration, she realized that her Jewish identity and faith were very important to her.  Thank you Paula for never pressuring me to choose in our 30 years together.  When Collin was age six and Evan & Lindsey were two, I asked Paula to stop celebrating Christmas which she had done to honor my religious roots.  At that time we were living a Jewish life and raising our children Jewishly. We belonged to Temple, lit Hanukkah candles and ate Gelt, volunteered in Religious School, broke Fast and had Seder with others in Temple Sinai.  I liked, and still appreciate,  the focus on the positive that is so much a part of being Jewish - mitzvahs, the time of joy and reflection during High Holidays, the tradition of the Seder  (I still think Paula makes the best matzo ball soup & pot roast), the B'nai mitzvah celebrations, and even the tradition of sitting Shiva.

Seventeen years after we got married, I decided that I wanted to convert to Judaism.  There wasn’t a single event that triggered it, it just felt right.  Paula and our children agreed to support and help me, I met with Rabbi Glazier, & I went through the process with Nancy Nadel.  Nancy and I researched and answered Rabbi’s 99 questions together over many months and converted the same day.  Conversion was not a road to becoming more Jewish.  It was the recognition of me being Jewish. 

I also knew that I wanted to President of our Temple someday, but had a rule that I would not hold volunteer positions with evening meetings while our children were in school.  So, when they headed off to college, I knew that it was time to "step up" into the leadership role.  It was still, a very busy time in my life, and I didn't know where the time would come from.  I knew that the leaders are often very busy people and manage to fit it in. What is clear to me is that we all find the time for things that are important to us and this was very important to me. Being Jewish is still a journey, not a destination.

I would like to take a few minutes to reflect on my two years as 1st Vice President and 20 months as President.  From a selfish side, I have made friends that I will have for the rest of my life.  In the string of Presidents, I worked so closely with Steve Greenfield, Howard Kalfus, & current 1^st Vice President Joel Goldberg.  We have had early morning and late night (late night is 9:00 pm for me) discussions.  We have faced challenges and celebrated successes together.  I won't list the board members that I have spent hours with, but am thankful to all of those that I served with.  I am much closer to each of you and know that we will always have the bond of leading together.    Rabbi, I am thankful for getting to know you better.  I learned why being Rabbi is important to you, your hopes and dreams for our Temple, and I have a better understanding about how you think about things. 

I truly appreciate the robust discussions we have on the board and the willingness everyone has to support the decisions we made.  One thing I did know when I became President was that challenging board meetings and contentious decisions meant we were leading.  The different perspective of the board members has changed my view of Temple.  It has deepened my religious belief and broadened my appreciation for different style of worshipping.  The willingness to lead that many of you non-board members have shown has been inspirational.  Most of you said yes when you were asked you to help and those that said no, followed it with "call me back next year."   This continually reminds me that we all care about our Temple and each other.

I learned that people have often one experience that often determines their action in Temple.  One member told me that she joined our congregation because we helped her so much when she was injured.  On the other side, I have had conversations with people who left because of something someone said to them.  It made me realize that every interaction we have with people has a greater impact on the person than we think.

This time in my life has challenged my beliefs about God, the Torah, our Shabbat services, and our family traditions.  When leading others, I need to be clear about what I believe.  I am thankful for this time of reflection.

On a very personal side, I was reminded how important my family’s support is.  Thank you Paula for listening, your ideas, and your support.  Thanks to Collin, Evan, & Lindsey, who asked many times how it is going and never missed an opportunity to encourage me.

In closing, I am certain that my grandparents and parents never dreamed that I would be speaking to my Jewish congregation on the High Holidays.  I do hope that if they were still with us, that they would take time to understand why this has become my religious home, why it is important to me, that they would see the similarities rather than focus on the differences.  I fully recognize that the "Traditions" are different.  I also recognize that the "Vision" is the same.  One God, treating others respectfully, & a united family is our shared vision.  I am thankful that I found this Jewish community, made wonderful friends, and provided a wonderful foundation for Paula, our three children, and me to grow.

La Shanah Tovah

Congregation Meeting July 2014

Congregation Meeting July 2014

Meeting Comment Cards

Summary of the Responses

What is Going Well?

• Variety of Shabbat Services
• Rabbi’s Sermons
• Shabbat’s time for service
• “Special” onegs
• Good all-around range of programs: dinners, social events, classes, speakers, films, etc.
• Wide participation on committees, boards, and other positions of responsibility, this willingness to get involved and to step up when needed
• Aleinu series – bring it back!
• Events like this – FUN and brings people together
• Rock Shabbat – it rocks
• Linda is doing a very creative job as Oneg Coordinator
• Great group of people
• I love all of the cool events that are being held: Rock Shabbat, Chinese, etc. FUN
• Folk Service
• Rock Shabbat – what about a Jazz or Blues Shabbat?

What Would You Like to See More Of?

• Rabbi’s blog updated
• Congregants should wear nametags
• Continue the idea of gatherings at people’s home (in various parts of time)
• Concerned that fundraising is being done by one person with no committee – needs more manpower
• Activities and get-togethers
• Disagree with tuition free but hope it works out
• More music in all services
• More congregational involvement in interfaith affairs as well as with other Jewish organizations, but not sure how effectively it is working at this point
• Occasional guest speakers at regular Shabbat services would be welcome
• Trips to other Jewish houses of worship from time to time might be of interest
• Spirituality – effort in the liturgy
• Board calling members at High Holidays to wish them a Happy New Year or to call them to remind them of a meeting – such as tonight
• The library has been neglected and needs attention – either a volunteer or staffing
• Continue asking for input and reaching out. It is wonderful. Thanks for all the hard work
• Want themed services – at least try it
• Social Action, worship attendance, social media

In an upcoming blog, I will list action taken on each of the "What would you like to see more of" category.

Tim’s State of Temple Sinai Comments – July 11, 2014

Welcome.  I assume that you are here this evening for service, my mid-term report, and Chinese Food … but realize it may be the service, Chinese food, and my Mid-Term Report.    You may be wondering why we are holding this meeting on the Sabbath.  Rabbi will take a few minutes to explain why this is appropriate.  This evening I will report on many areas of Temple life.  Since it is Shabbat, we aren't able to debate issues tonight. Please follow-up with me next week if there is other discussion that you would like to have.  The Board and I are very excited to share where our Temple is mid-year. We have wrestled with some difficult issues this year.  While we don’t agree on everything, we are proud of the discussion and open process that we follow.  I have a huge thank you to:  the Board, the committee leadership, & the staff for all their hard work this year.  I also thank those of you that have given the board and me your praise, comments, and suggestions.

You will find two items on your table.  Each table has some cards written by the children of the College Street Congregational Church thanking us for the use of our building after their fire.  You will also see blank cards and pens for you to write on.  We request and welcome your thoughts.  Please drop the cards in the Box by the door.  We will include a summary of the responses in an upcoming newsletter.  The questions that we would like you to answer on these cards are “What is going well?”  and “What would you like to see more of?”

We currently have 174 members (individuals & families), consisting of paying and non-paying (employees & under age 30). We have seven new members this year – 3 under 30 and 4 over 30.  Our religious school experienced growth. Two years ago we had 46 students Kindergarten through Chai School. This past school year after projecting no increase, we had 55 students.  Our youth programming includes Tot Shabbat for ages infant to 5; Story Hour for ages 2-6; & Youth Service for ages 6-12.

Much of our time has been spent on financial issues.  In addition to monitoring our budget, we now also reconcile our restricted and non-restricted fund commitments.  By way of explanation, our budget tracks the money we receive and the money we spend – our cash flow.  Our funds track the money we have in reserve for committed expenses – kind of like your personal retirement or vacation account.

Our dues projection of $278,000, the majority of our income, is right on.  Non-Dues income is the other portion of our income and includes everything else i.e. fundraising events, lifecycle, etc.  Our non-dues projection is $100,000.  We received $40,000, leaving $60,000 to meet our budget. The remaining $60,000 is very attainable. We have raised $15,000 - $20,000 from the Chai Society in each of the past 2 years.  We budgeted $20,000 for the education appeal to fund religious school and adult education for members. We want to net $20,000 on our annual  fundraiser in December.  I just found out yesterday this will be Saturday December 6^th, the night before our Annual Meeting.  The dinner will be a roast of me; they tell me that there is a lot of fodder to work with so everyone should plan to come and get your shots in. 

In addition to that, we will have income from Hannaford, Scrip, and our annual Appeal at the end of the year.  There are other ideas brewing, not ready for public consumption.

Our restricted funds track donations made for specific long-term purposes.  These include our Cemetery Fund, Mark Leopold Gift Fund, two adult/continuing education funds, & our endowment.  At the December Annual meeting we committed to reconcile the restricted accounts.  The Finance Committee determined that we had $345,600 with restricted fund commitments.  Our cash was $293,000, leaving a shortfall of $52,000. This shortfall has been accumulated over many years.  The board has taken three steps to address this shortfall.  Please understand that it will not be solved in one year.  First, we transferred $27,600 from our operating account to our cemetery fund.  Second, we secured a line of credit with $75,000, $50,000 which is dedicated to meeting these obligations if the need if needed.  Finally, we are adding a line item to our next budget to building the funds to fully fund our obligation.  I can’t emphasize enough that we were never in jeopardy of not meeting these obligations.  We own our building and have an endowment of over $200,000 and do not have any debt.  It is very unlikely that we will ever need all of this money at one time.  With that said we recognize that best financial practice is to have cash equal to our short and long term obligations.  One other note, our line of credit also includes up to $25,000 if needed to cover operating expenses.

I also want to mention that we want to be sure that our dues-based revenue model is serving the needs of our members and the Congregation, so Linda Retchin is convening a group to explore options for our dues system.

We continue to explore ways to enrich our spiritual connection.  For example, will be deciding this summer about streaming our services for those that are not able to attend.

Jennifer Hyman continues to arrange for meals, rides, and other assistance as needed for those in our congregation in need.

Before I close by letting you know how you can help, I am excited to share how our building is helping our community.  I mentioned earlier about allowing the church to use our place of worship.  Our building is now the home of weekday AA meetings, weekly ALANON meetings, & weekly CSA pick-up. 

What you can do.

1. Please use Scrip and Hannaford Cards.  We have 20 members buying groceries at Hannaford with cards from Temple with 5% of every dollar they spend going to temple.  If we have 75 families using Hannaford cards, we will raise over $10,000 annually – with no additional cost to the member.  When we use Scrip, Temple receives 2-18%.

2.       Please make a commitment to the education appeal that I mailed last month.

3.       Please volunteer to help with something – this is how we build community.  It is amazing what a difference an hour of your time will make.

4.       Save the date December 6^th for dinner and our roast.  Now is the time to get your shots in.

5.       Continue sending your praise, criticism, & suggestions to me and the other Board Members.

Thank you for the confidence that you have placed in me and our Board.   Thank you for stepping up when asked.  Thank you for your commitment to Reform Judaism and Temple Sinai.

College Graduation!

Our son Evan graduated this past weekend from Colombia College of Chicago.  It seems like just yesterday (maybe longer) he stood on the Bema for his Bar Mitzvah, was part of our youth group, spent a Gap year working and attended a NOLS program, and then headed off to College. I tell you this because it has been interesting, in a good way, to watch his Jewish identity develop through these stages.   It has been scary and exciting to be part of his growing up.

Today he seems very clear about his Jewish beliefs and identity.  As we move through our years in life, our perspective and beliefs are challenged and either become stronger and change.  I am sure that Evan’s Jewish identity will continue to evolve.

From my perspective, the most important part of his Jewish journey is that it continues to be a journey, that he continues to question and challenge himself in his beliefs.  I will be happy whatever path his religious journey takes him, as long as he is committed and actively involved in his choices. We want our children to adopt our religious and moral beliefs, but it is important to support them in whatever path they take as long as it doesn’t hurt themselves or others.

In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson “Life is a journey, not a destination.”

In the words of Tim Cope "Celebrate the stages of the journey and the destination will take care of itself"

Another B'Nai Mitzvah!

We are fortunate in our congregation to have so many members celebrate their Bat and Bar Mitzvah's in our Synagogue. Our Teachers, Morah Judy, Rabbi Glazier, Cantor Mark Leopold, and their parents are to be thanked for their education, encouragement, and support over their years of study.

All members of Temple Sinai have the opportunity - some would say responsibility, to celebrate this coming of age with the Bar/Bat Mitzvah and their family. As you hopefully know, all members of our community are invited to the service. If you are not able to or decide not to attend the service, consider sending a handwritten note, email, text, or phone call to the child and their family. Since it is all of our responsibility to educate the children in our Temple, it is important to support them with recognition for their achievements.

We have a wonderful community and sharing our excitement and pride makes it stronger.

Mazel Tov to all of this year's Bar and Bat Mitzvah's