Yom Kippur Speech

Have you ever played with Legos?  Most of us have at one time or another - either alone, with a friend, or with our child.  Do you remember putting the Lego pieces on the floor, then picking them up, putting them together, then pulling them apart to put them in a different configuration?  One of the best things about playing with Legos is that each time you get them out, you know you're going to build something cool.  Sure there are the one or two projects that are the coolest, but most of them are something you are proud of. 

Nobody gets excited about playing with one Lego.  You may say, "Look at the Lego I have", (hold up Lego) and when no one looks excited you drop it on the floor or put it in your pocket (drop or put in pocket).  You might be glad that you have that one little Lego with you, but you will not be building anything cool, and it certainly won't help you amass new friends.

Imagine right now - that you have a giant pile of Legos in front of you...all different sizes and colors.  Some of them have things drawn on the side. You have all different Lego shapes, people, flags, wheels...anything you can think of and it's in your pile. 

Our Temple Community is really like this giant pile of Legos - we have many people with very different talents and interests.  When we have the opportunity to learn about, and spend time with these other people, we begin building something really cool.  When we build something really cool, we are excited to build more really cool things. Just look at the really cool things we have built.  We are sitting in a wonderful building, listening to music and readings, looking out through beautiful stained glass windows-all of this from members.  We had an idea of a winter party that became Fun in the Sun.  We had eight musicians that rocked the house two weeks ago with Rock Shabbat (yes there will be an encore).  We have a scholarship fund for our children to go to Israel.  We have hundreds of pounds of food in the lobby going to the food shelf this week.  We have a Havarim Committee providing meals, company, and transportation for members in need.  We have classes and groups that study Torah and Jewish stories.  The list goes on, and on, and on.  We should be very proud of what we have built.  I asked Ari Diamond to build something really cool for us today.  He immediately said "I will have Jacob help so it is very special.  Look what cool thing they built this week!  (Ari hold up for congregation to see).  I could not have imagined this when he agreed to built is for me.  Thanks Ari.

My nine months as your President has reinforced my feeling that we have an engaged, caring, membership. That we are a vibrant and exciting community.  In almost every instance when I have asked one of you to step up and become involved - you said yes.  I am thankful for the stronger connections that I have with many of you.  As a result of this, my Presidency is easier and more rewarding.  For all of this I thank you.

My goal is that each of us in this room today will make more of the same connections in the New Year.  We hear about "Outreach" - letting the community outside Temple Sinai,  know what we have to offer them.  We need to continue to do this to remain an exciting, growing community.  I would offer that if we spend some energy on "In-reach", we will discover that we have more to offer ourselves, not in a selfish way, but in a way that makes us stronger, better, more interesting, and keeps us engaged.  Together, we can build some really cool things that are just kernels of ideas now.

I would like to start really simple.  Let's begin by sharing with others the stuff we individually know, that might interest others.  Wouldn't it be nice to hear

•          Dr. Lewis First share tips on raising our children - live and in-person;

•          Itai Hicken share with us what he learned on his trip to Israel. What does he think Israel will look like in the future?

•          Beth Damon could teach us Japanese flower arranging;

•          Louise Stoll tell us about working in President Clinton's Dept of Transportation+  or about VP/COO of National United Jewish Communities.

•          David Greenberg tell about the history of the Red Sox or Celtics.  Maybe we should have the Yankees and Knicks represented too;

•          Mark Leopold tell us about his journey as a Cantor - our Cantor;

•          The Greenblott's and Leopold's could share the history of Temple Sinai and tell us why they started it.

I could go on because we each have so much to offer, but I will let each of you decide if you are willing to share your passion with the rest of our community. At this time, please take a minute, turn to someone sitting next to you, and exchange an interesting fact about yourself.

  ...Allow a couple minutes... 

You see, these are the things that others may want to learn from you.  In the next couple electronic newsletter, you will see a link asking you to tell us what would be willing to share with others in our Temple Community.  Please look for this and take a couple minutes to compete this.  Who knows, we may have gatherings in people's homes, in Temple, on the top of Mount Philo, or by the lake.  We will let you know by the end of October the response we received.

Oh, one more thing, consider sitting next to other people next time you come to services. Learn a little about them and share a little of yourself.

In closing, I want to thank Ari Diamond for assisting me today. You were very thoughtful in putting our Lego structure together.  It will be on display in the social hall for the rest of the day.

I wish you an exciting and prosperous New Year.