Our focus tonight will be on the future of Temple Beth Sholom. Our vision was shared with the board at our last meeting and it was received with overwhelming support and enthusiasm. Before we go into that vision I know you have questions about the One Community Initiative and our decision to take a different path.
First, I must thank all the people who put their time and hard work into this initiative. These volunteers represented a diverse cross-section of our membership, and served on committees for Governance, Ritual, Schools, Adult Education, and Steering, as well as those who generously contributed their knowledge and expertise whenever asked. Please forgive me if I forget anyone – there were so many! Many thanks to Brian Smith, Susan Marquith, Steve Klein, Lauren Schimko, Lance Gilden, Aimee Pollack, Debra Stein, Jason Bernstein, Ken Bernstein, Ivan Seidenberg, Judi Marcus, Phil Teplitsky, Ellen Levinger, Jessica Fetterman, Alan Feldstein, David Scheichet and Sean Bleifer. Please know that you have my heartfelt thanks, as well as the gratitude of our entire congregation.
There is one more person I must thank, and that’s Rabbi Leiken. Rabbi has invested countless hours on this collaboration and has put his heart and soul into creating a vision for vibrant and relevant synagogue life, with the goal of securing the future of progressive Judaism in Rockland County. Rabbi, we’re so grateful for all your efforts.
Secondly I want you to know that through the process of working on the collaboration, we learned a lot about our community. Please don’t think our work over the last 3 years was a waste of time or energy. We have been able to reach this vision of our future because of our journey.
Why the change in plans?
- The collaboration was a huge undertaking.. We had to take a look at the similarities and differences between our Reform and Conservative philosophies of Judaism, find common ground, and work out our differences. We had to do intensive financial analyses to determine whether a collaboration made sense. Initially we were optimistic that this collaboration would work, but over the course of this lengthy process, it became more and more apparent that a partnership between TBS and NCJC would not work.
- What became clear to us the longer time went on was that the financial benefits of coming together with NCJC were not what we hoped, and moving into NCJC’s building would be putting our financial problems on “pause” and passing those problems – ones that so many temples across the country are having – on to the next generation.
- We also began to feel that we would be unable to create our own feeling of “home” at NCJC, and we would be treated more like tenants than equal partners there. Also, it became clear that Rabbi Leiken’s and Cantor Anna’s role in the collaboration and the schools would be diminished. Feeling the way we do about our clergy, this of course would be unacceptable to us, and would not be in the best interests of our TBS community. We want our clergy to feel empowered and excited to take on the challenge of creating and implementing a vision for progressive Judaism that has meaning and relevance now and in the future.
Temple Beth Sholom can be more dynamic, innovative and forward-thinking on our own. We know who we are as a congregation and we want to embrace that. We have creative, inspiring, and dedicated clergy, and vibrant and inclusive congregants who are looking to the future and re-imagining what meaningful synagogue affiliation can mean. We know we can build an exciting and relevant model of synagogue life for this generation and beyond.
Why are we still selling our building if we’re not moving to NCJC?
The short answer is that if we don’t sell our building, TBS won’t have much of a future. The truth is that if we don’t sell our building, our finances are such that we would not be able to keep our doors open for more than a few years. But if we go ahead with the plan to sell, then instead of just barely sustaining ourselves, we will have the freedom and resources to imagine and shape a vision for meaningful synagogue affiliation for our generation and beyond. We will have the opportunity to lead from strength and secure a future for progressive Judaism in Rockland County. And remember, in order to sell the building, we still need to get approval from the NYS Attorney General’s office, and we need approval from you, our congregants.
Where will we go?
We are hoping to lease space at the JCC. Even with any renovations that may need to be done to make the JCC feel like “home”, those costs will be far less than the amounts NCJC wanted us to commit to investing in their infrastructure. The JCC will offer us the opportunity to be part of a larger Jewish community. They have programming for every age group from preschoolers to seniors. Not to mention a great gym and pickleball! Time will tell if this next move will be the final one for Temple Beth Sholom, but it will certainly be an important step in our journey. At the JCC, we will be able to re-imagine ourselves and use our assets to invest in enhancing and enriching our congregants’ lives – financially, spiritually, and socially. Hopefully we will be able to lower our dues and increase services to our membership, making more unaffiliated members of the progressive Jewish community want to join us.
What about the schools?
NCJC unilaterally made the decision to continue to run the Nursery School on their own. A joint decision was made to run separate Religious Schools. We are working with our Education Director, Shanna Straut, to create a dynamic Religious School program that will exemplify our culture and identity. We are committed to creating a vibrant and engaging program for our students and their families. We will be holding meetings for our parents in the very near future to get their thoughts and to share information.
You’ve heard the reasons, you’ve heard the vision, the board is behind this and now we need you, the congregation. Please remember the clergy and the board are here for you; we will be having small house meetings to reach out to as many of you as possible. In the meantime, I can’t stress enough to please reach out to us with any questions, misinformation or concerns; get the facts, forget the rumors.
