As you know these messages are written three weeks before you get them. In many communities that would not make much of a difference. In our dynamic community, I find that the messages often lag behind events. In this month that is certainly the case. By the time you receive this message we will have participated in the wonderful events of the Dedication Weekend. It was suggested that I make a speech during the Sunday celebration. I thought it over but declined for two reasons. One: we wanted to keep the program short, which entailed a lot of difficult choices in terms of speakers. Two: I knew that I could not fully express my gratitude and my vision for Adat Shalom in the brief time allotted. So instead of a speech I thought I would use this newsletter column to express my thoughts on the dedication of our beautiful new building.
My fundamental emotion is a mix of amazement and joy. I am amazed that we did it. Not that I ever doubted that we could, but it is still amazing that we did. With approximately three hundred households, we had the energy, the creativity, and the financial committment to build our own home. As for the joy — It’s not hard to explain because when I go services or events like last month’s incredible Music Shabbat, I feel not only my own joy, but the joy of all of you. I am particularly imbued with that feeling right now as I am writing this on the Sunday after the Music Shabbat. The fact that we had our own building made Cantor Rachel’s brilliant program not only more feasible, but more meaningful.
I also feel gratitude for the gift that you all have given me by electing me president for the past three years. What a three years it has been! I will attempt to them sum up in my final President’s Message next month. But for now, let me just say that it has been a profound experience to be the President of Adat Shalom while we were building our home. We can all think back to the time when we first saw the site with the little house. For all who were involved in the construction of the building it was a little like seeing a child grow from conception to birth to adulthood.
As we all know, while the building is beautiful, what matters is what we do in the building. With Rabbi Fred and Cantor Rachel we are truly blessed with inspired, creative clergy. We are a congregation as talented, creative, and dedicated as one could find. We are also incredibly fortunate that our Founding Rabbi Sid Schwarz continues to be actively involved in our congregation. And, we are the envy of all Reconstructionists for having as a member one of the great founders of the movement — Rabbi Ira Eisenstein, who is an invaluable source of inspiration and wisdom.
With all our incredible resources, I believe that now that Adat Shalom has its own home, we could become a major national center of Reconstructionism. We are already on our way. Our services and our governance are used as models for other congregations. And under the creative leadership of Mary Myerson, our Torah School is becoming known as a model for Reconstructionist Torah Schools. Now that we have our own building we can host regional programming. We started already with the regional Shabbaton in February. Innovative Friday night services would be another way to reach out to the broader community.
We could also become a major center for Reconstructionism and public policy with lectures, forums, and discussion groups. We might even think about an Adat Shalom public policy publication which could include edited transcripts of public policy events as well as commissioned papers. Our location in the metropolitan area of Washington D.C. lends itself to the creation of programs which link Reconstructionist Judaism with public policy. We are fortunate that our Rabbi has a major interest in public policy, and is a nationally known expert in the field of Jewish environmentalism. In addition, our Founding Rabbi Sid Schwarz created and leads a nationally acclaimed institute, the Washington Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, dedicated to applying Jewish values to public policy issues.
We have accomplished more than we could have hoped for in the last thirteen years. Now it is time to take advantage of our new building to move to the next stage in our history. With all our talents and our own home, we now have the opportunity for Adat Shalom to become one of the great intellectual, spiritual and cultural centers of Reconstuctionist Judaism.
Happy Passover. Hag sameah.
B'shalom
Stan Newman
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