July Board Meeting and Recap of Small Congregations Kallah

Shalom.  Before I tell you all about my experience at the Eastern District Small Congregations Kallah, I wanted to remind everyone that your Board of Trustees will be convening its monthly meeting at the usual time and place, next Tuesday, 7:00 PM at Temple.  I've come to notice over the years that we rarely have congregants attending these monthly board meetings.  I understand that we are all busy and also that, candidly, I can think of other activities that are more fun than the meetings (although I do my best to keep things entertaining if not interesting).  However, there are many great discussions that take place at the meetings and input from congregants as well as staff is always appreciated.  Please know that the door is always open and we'd love to have you there.  The agenda for next week's meeting can be found at the end of this post.

On Saturday, June 16th, I traveled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to attend the URJ's Eastern District Small Congregations Kallah.  This was a conference for small congregations (defined by the Union as congregations of 250 family units or less) in the Eastern District (essentially Maine to Virginia).  There were about 15 congregations represented at the Kallah.  I was the only attendee from New England; most were from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.  Our congregation was on the larger side with some having only 35 or 40 family units.

The meeting was wonderfully spiritual, enlightening and inspiring.  We began with a Shabbat service where I was given the honor of being the only one singled out for the honor of holding the torah.  This was my reward for having traveled the farthest to attend.  We then had a series of discussions related to the various challenges and benefits of being a small congregation.  To be certain, the issues that we face are not unique with the possible exception of our state being the "least affiliated" including all religions.  I learned that the size of our religious school as well as the size of our staff are proportionally consistent with many other small congregations.  I also was reminded that we need to examine our board structure, particularly in terms of size, given our membership numbers.

We exchanged a number of ideas and I believe that everyone benefitted from those discussions.  Other representatives were impressed by my description of our Fun in the Sun event and at least one president intends to adopt our style of board meetings.  I picked up some great materials including a glossary of terms that one congregation includes in its Shabbat service program.  This explains terms of that we likely take for granted (e.g., shabbat, adonai, etc.), but which are not understood by non-Jewish guests despite them being used repeatedly throughout the service.  I also learned of some great programs such as educational Shabbat services to which members of other religions are invited as well as a rockin' Shabbat featuring a rock band.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience and I thank all of you for providing the opportunity for me to attend (you provided the opportunity simply by electing me; this didn't cost the congregation any money).  I hope that we can implement some of the tested programs and, more importantly, that we can be proud of the example that we set among our fellow congregations.

I hope to see you at Temple soon.

Sincerely,

Howard

Temple Sinai Board Meeting

July 17, 2012

1.   Rabbi D’var Torah (I/D) – 7:00-7:10

2.    Approval of Consent Agenda (I/D/A) – 7:10-7:15

3.    Review of Financial Status and Forecast (I/D) – 7:15-7:25

a)    How are we tracking to budget?

b)    What, if anything, needs to be done differently?

4.    Update on Personnel (I) – 7:25-7:35

5.    Examination of Current Board Structure (D) – 7:35-7:55

6.    Other Business – 7:55-8:05

7.    Executive Session – 8:05-8:15

           

                  

                                                      A=Action

                                                      D=Discussion

                                                       I=Information