What follows is an abridged version of Rabbi Fred?s remarks at last month's Annual Meeting:
. . . Before turning to the future, let me amplify one theme from the past year, our first full year in this glorious new communal home. How'd we do?
On the building itself, we've done brilliantly. Thanks to the good folks from the Land & Building and Building Use committees, we've settled in nicely. The structure has become a true focal point for our community. Yet the bigger picture is a bit more mixed:
In our new home we've had more programs than ever before, including every Sunday of the program year -- Yet our attendance at some of those programs is down. Are we feeling like "it's happening anyway so I'm not needed?" Or is there just too much going on for us to connect with? We've moved into the stunning edifice -- But how do we pay for it? The Capital Campaign and its leadership have taken us far; new and old members alike must now continue and expand our support. We're privileged to have our own space -- How do we now repay that privilege by being good members of the larger community, and not letting ourselves become too sated and insular? And perhaps above all: How do we not take this fabulous showpiece and focal point of our community for granted?
We must continually work at filling our building with meaningful, transformative, ethical, and spiritual activity. The basics seem covered -- We already have a full complement of services, youth and adult education, committee activities, major programs, and so on. We can always do these better, and perhaps add to them as well. But our next steps must be to fill in the gaps behind-the-scenes, to rethink how can we best support these obviously holy tasks. As I see it, we need to sacralize, or re-sacralize, all the work we do to make our vision real:
1. Money: As JRF says, we must learn and follow the "Torah of Money" -- in which raising and spending money in a setting like ours is in fact holy work. It must be done ethically; it must be done fairly, with each person giving according to their ability; it must be treated as a means rather than an end. But it must be done, well and in sacredness, for our community to thrive.
2. Building: As the Psalmist reminds us, "unless God builds the house, the laborers toil in vain." We must bring reverence into how we relate to the building, and what we do with it and in it. How we design the landscape, or set priorities for programs in it, or set our own calendars for visiting it, or treat its custodians (or each other), all deserve holiness.
3. Avodah: Labor, or service, or prayer -- the word itself already implies a holy approach to volunteerism and involvement. We have long prided ourselves on taking this value seriously, and on actualizing it in our communal life. New members must understand (as most do!) the participatory spirit that drives us; old members must be continually reminded. A good thing has been established here -- Let us not forsake it!
4. Openness: Acculturation must be a two-way process. Just as new members learn what's vital about our culture, so must those already here be open to new ideas, new ways of doing things. In organizational development charts, the phase alongside "plateau", just before "decline", is often noted as "nostalgia". The old days were what they were, and even if we wanted to, we could not replicate them. To paraphrase Rav Kook, the best of the old must be made new, while the new must be made holy.
5. Finally, planfulness: Under Allen Perper's dedicated leadership, our community is about to begin a long-range planning process. This is truly a sacred endeavor. It is "Torah writ large", to study where we've come from, where we're going, what the prevailing forces and trends are, and how we can prepare most thoughtfully for the future we desire. The process itself -- involving as many voices and perspectives as possible -- is holy. And the outcomes it may point us toward might not be easy, but they will be essential ... and they, too, will be sacred. Please plan to participate fully and to support this central endeavor in the year ahead.
Let's do it right! Let's find the holy in all that we do, and make sure that all we do is holy. I look forward to what lies ahead, and continue to offer thanks for the privilege of serving such a thoughtful, planful, vital community. See you in 5763 and beyond!
Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb