Shana Tovah!
These are exciting times for our Kehillah Kedoshah, our holy community. Challenging times, to be sure, but uplifting and reassuring times as well. On Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi spoke on this topic – how remembering our past and looking at our present can help us chart our path forward.
My goal over the next few minutes is to use that lens to outline why an investment in Beth-El – as we begin our 90th anniversary year – is so vital and, further, demonstrate the meaningful return on investment that you will realize by supporting this year’s High Holy Day Appeal.
There are two ways to answer this appeal: First, by increasing your involvement in our vibrant community and second, via your financial support (click here to donate) . I hope you will do both.
As with a house, ours starts with a strong foundation. This includes Health, Safety, and Security. Continued thanks to our Health & Safety committee, chaired by Adam Falik, M.D., for navigating us with a steady hand through the pandemic.
Our mission statement covers four main areas, which we can visualize as pillars of our house:
Pillar 1: Community
Top of mind is the work of our Caring Crews led by Cantor Rosenblatt, most notably our Phone Crew of volunteers who call congregants in need of a friendly voice. It is amazing to hear the stories of connection that rise from this initiative. I'm happy to welcome our member Tiffany Washington as our new Caring Crews volunteer coordinator and look forward to her plans to expand in new ways.
Our Havurah Project continues to be a cornerstone of our community and has expanded to include a Havdalah-based havurah and a religious school family havurah.
Recently we began piloting K’far TBE – a grassroots, member-driven initiative to bring us multi-generational events of interest to the community. We look forward to more this year!
We are doing so much to nurture our community: from Josephine’s Curbside Kiddush, now a “boxed lunch” kiddush, to Clergy visits and concerts at Beth Shalom, to our Purim extravaganza – to quote our host Robin Farzad “the most fun anyone has ever had on Zoom” – and much more. Thank you to our new Membership Vice President, Isaac Skromne, who has brought much energy and vision in this area. If you have other ideas for how we can strengthen our community, please be in touch.
Pillar 2: Worship & Spirituality
A year ago the pandemic forced us to hold all our services and minyanim online. We were amazed to see higher attendance than pre-covid.
More recently we challenged our clergy team and ritual committee to maintain the inclusivity of our online services while also inviting those who were comfortable to return in person. As usual, they made the challenge seem effortless.
I’m proud to report that the trend of higher attendance continues with this phase of expanding in-person worship! Not to mix pillars (but of course they do overlap), the feeling of community on Friday evening and Shabbat morning is really something. Please join!
A quick plug for our Zoom gabbais who help with the broadcasts. We need 2 or 3 additional volunteers. If you are interested, please reach out to the office or our coordinator, Nina Lankin.
Pillar 3: Education
Under the steady leadership of Ramona Brand and the School Committee, our religious school is top notch. Our teachers truly went above and beyond, often delivering crafts on their own time to students to create engaging and entertaining Zoom lessons each Sunday.
More and more families are participating in our monthly Tot Shabbat services, which have lately been held outdoors. By welcoming many new young families, our Tot Shabbat has been a significant source of our community’s growth this year.
In adult education we continued a full range of programming. Again demonstrating an overlap of pillars, our service regulars now include a dozen or so young professionals who found Beth-El – and each other, namely community – through adult education. B’rukhim ha-ba’im, welcome to our Beth-El family.
Pillar 4: Tikkun Olam
Last, but certainly not least, is our Tikkun Olam, or social action, pillar. After tripling its regular participants from 2019 to 2020, our active Social Action Tikkun Olam (SATO) participants tripled again last year! Kol hakavod to Kristin Gorin, Marc Rutman, and their team! If you have a passion for repairing the world, click here for details and contact information.
Roof
As we get to the roof of our house, imagine that it extends beyond the pillars to represent inclusion. While we work hard to build a fully inclusive community, as with many organizations, we can always do better. In that spirit, a group of congregants has been working since Elul of 2020 to identify ways to be a more welcoming space for Jews of all walks of life. In the coming months, we plan to bring an anti-racism policy statement and action plan to the Board for consideration.
Another effort this past year was called Resetting the Table – a structured way to bring people together with disparate views on some of the most important subjects of our time. The reports from our initial rounds were uniformly positive and I applaud Rabbi Knopf for bringing this initiative to Beth-El. In the coming year we hope to expand these discussions as a way to ensure everyone feels welcome and that their voice is valued.
Facilities
Our facilities are long in need of a renovation. A huge thank you to the tireless Frances Goldman and her campaign committee, and of course, to everyone who has already participated in the Building for our Next 90 Campaign. Launched in February, the campaign has been amazingly successful and stands today at over 80% of our target of $1.5 million. When paired with the $1.3m from the Parham sale, $625k from the pending sale of the Roseneath rental properties, Sisterhood’s generous grant of $125k, and a grant from FEMA that we anticipate receiving official notice of in the coming days, we are confident in making our overall target of $4MM. But we do need the help of everyone in the community to raise the final $250k. Please consider joining us or increasing your pledge today. Every donation counts, no matter the size! You can pledge online or email Damien Timms for assistance.
On the design side, we sent the first packages out for bid and submitted drawings to the City to obtain the necessary approvals. Benita Felmus and her team intend to bring a recommendation to the Board at its next meeting. If you haven’t had a chance to test drive some of the sample pews and chairs by the sanctuary side door (and there are more samples still on the way), please coordinate a time with the office to do so.
The nearly 80 families that participate in the Life & Legacy program truly live L’dor va dor, from generation to generation. A year ago I reported our endowment had just crossed the $4MM mark. Due largely to market performance, I am pleased to report it is now at $5MM! This includes a substantial gift of $100k by our long time congregant Carolyn Guertin z”l on whose behalf we have created the M. Herbert and Henrietta Weiss Fund (coming soon) which is designed to support the congregation’s operations for years to come. Thank you to Carolyn's family for this special gift. May her memory be a blessing for us all.
In the near term, however, dues, the endowment, and rental revenue provide approximately 75% of the income required to meet our annual budget, leaving us to fundraise nearly $250,000 each year.
Unanticipated expenses always arise, this year including: two hot water heater failures, plumbing erosion, sanctuary air conditioning, continued lease reductions to tenants challenged by the pandemic, and upgrading our sound to eliminate static on our wireless microphones. Even as we engage in our largest capital campaign in a generation, the Temple needs your support for operations as well.
Appeal
We ask that you give as generously as you can. Last year we raised nearly $68,000 in this campaign. Our target is to beat $70,000 this year and we are already over 25% of the way there!
I am grateful to our Board, which has pledged its unanimous support both for the renovation campaign and to supporting ongoing operations, and I encourage you to join us. Thank you for enhancing our Kehillah Kedosha through your active involvement in the coming year, and through your generous gift.
