Message from the President
Lief D. Rosenblatt
We can hit the re-set button on our lives.
Welcome back! The New Year is upon us as is the period of the High Holy Days. As we come back from the beaches and the mountains, or from our other summer adventures, we return to the more regular, if more harried, patterns of everyday city life. The notion of returning, of coming home to our usual routines, provides a nice metaphor for what is required of us as Jews at this special time on the Jewish calendar. From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur we are meant to engage in reflection and introspection, to return to our true selves, our core values, and to assess our behavior in light of that to which we should and do aspire. One of the wonderful things about Judaism is that every year we have the opportunity to begin all over again afresh. So if we took time off from our best behavior, now we can return, make amends, and change our patterns back to acting in ways we know we should.
We can hit the re-set button on our lives. But this is not something to be taken lightly, and the stakes are high. We must examine our lives, our actions, our deeds with a kind of self honesty, objectivity, and depth that most often eludes us. If we have harmed others, even unintentionally, we must try to make things right. If we have not lived up to our potential, we must resolve and then act with new found purposefulness. Each of us has a chance of another year and a better life if only we peer into ourselves to the very core and assess, atone, change, and improve. The process may prove uncomfortable, even painful, but the opportunity for self betterment is unbounded.
We know that the challenges and opportunities that the New Year provides to us as individuals, we face communally also. Organizations as well as individuals can benefit from intense introspection, assessment and modification. And so at Temple Israel, we must as a community and as an institution look at ourselves anew, determine where we have erred or failed to live up to rightfully lofty expectations, and make appropriate changes and adjustments going forward. Our goals remain clear: to promote greater and broader Jewish knowledge and literacy among our congregants, and most especially our youth; to encourage a greater sense of religious purposefulness and appreciation for all aspects of religious observance both at home and at synagogue; to heighten our awareness and belief in Jewish peoplehood and our sense of sharing a common bond and destiny with Jews around the world ; and to foster a caring and just community that is there to help each of us and others throughout our lives, in good times and bad. But whether we are acting optimally to meet those goals is always, and most especially at this time of year, open to question. Under the leadership of our clergy, teachers, administrative staff, and board we continue to raise the bar, to try to do a better job.
In education, our Early Childhood and Religious Schools, Torah Study, and adult educational programs are improving and reaching ever greater numbers of congregants. But we need to do more. We have to find better ways to encourage our post Bar and Bat Mitzvah students to stay engaged in Jewish and synagogue life. (In that regard, we are heartened by the hire of a talented and energetic Youth Director, Danielle Black, who will be starting at Temple Israel in the New Year.) Also, we need to find even better ways to help transition our ECLC families into the Religious School and broader Temple involvement as their children grow. In worship, we continue to seek new ways to encourage greater comfort , more participation and deeper literacy. The musical talent of our cantors is on display in abundance at services, and you can expect some surprises and renewed excitement in our ShabbatLIVE! this year. But we must try to do better still. Our slate of projects and programs is full to bursting with the Temple’s upcoming 140th anniversary celebrations providing the framework for all kinds of innovative activities in this New Year. A fully subscribed congregational trip to Cuba, and recent ones to Israel strengthen our ties to Jews elsewhere, and deepen our understanding of our own global and diverse heritage. But we need to do even more. The opportunities for all of us to become more involved in the swirl of events at Temple Israel abound. We urge anyone who is interested to participate in our membership, social action, development, and special event activities. Temple Israel gives us a prime venue for engagement that can enhance the quality of our lives both as individuals and as a community.
Temple Israel is a home for all of us; it is truly a big tent. So whether you have young children or not, whether you are single or married, whether you are a longtime city resident or new to town, whether you are less observant or more so, whether you are Jewish by choice or by birth, please know that you are welcome at Temple Israel. It is your home, and our home.
As we move forward into the New Year let us reflect on how we can improve our own lives and how we can change our communal Jewish experience for the better. Life is about self improvement, growth, and strengthening our institutions to serve us and others more effectively. So as we return to life in the city, together we can return to our most inspirational values, and make the changes necessary to improve ourselves, help others, grow and repair the world.
L’shanah tovah!
A sweet, happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to all!
Lief D. Rosenblatt
