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ANNUAL
MEETING REMARKS & VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR AWARD PRESENTATION
MAY 18, 2006
Speech
given by President, 2005-07 Barbara Haworth at the 2006 Annual Meeting and Volunteer
of the Year Award Presentation
We have a very full year to look back on filled with accomplishment and momentum.
We have much to celebrate in the life of our congregation and much to be thankful
for in the work that has been done. As a volunteer organization, many have distinguished
themselves in ways too numerous to mention tonight. Everyone who has been a
part of this congregation has played some role. Tonight’s discussion is intended to highlight some individuals whose commitment, dedication, and frankly, hard work, is astounding.
No discussion of the last year can even begin without proper acknowledgment and appreciation for our staff. I would like to thank our dedicated clergy and senior staff: Rabbi Paul Citrin; Rabbi Sheila Goloboy; Cantor Arlene Bernstein; Stuart Simmons; Bonnie Graff; Dr. Harvey Raben; Tand Tammy Vener. On behalf of the entire congregation, we thank you for the blessings you literally bestow upon us by your talent, dedication and commitment. You set the bar by which the rest of measure ourselves.
I also want to acknowledge all of the rest of our staff whose dedication makes everything happen at temple. You are not behind the scenes to us—we do see what you do and we are so grateful. We are grateful for a smooth administrative and accounting effort. We are grateful for the personal touch our staff provides in managing and maintaining this beautiful facility. We are grateful for the countless cookies, sweets and multitudes of beautiful trays prepared and served here each week.
We are grateful for the beautiful music that frequently fills this place and for the amazing array of programming opportunities that we have to enjoy. We are grateful for the education of our children of all ages that occurs every day in this place. We are grateful for all the people it takes to make this place, whether they are on our paid staff or are volunteers.
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We have had a full year, indeed.
At this time last year we launched a new chapter in your leadership. Twelve of our twenty four board members were new—having less than a year of service. So in addition to the work that they have performed so well this year, they have spent some time in rigorous on the job training.
At our board/staff retreat last May, we spent some time preparing ourselves for the institutional introspection that was set to commence. We identified the issues that we felt needed to be addressed. To a person, the issues identified were the same, which showed not only surprising, but remarkable, insight into the congregation. Your board and staff began the year ready to examine ourselves from the inside out and the outside in.
We knew then and we have further confirmed: we are a remarkably strong institution and plan to continue to go from strength to strength.
Our long range planning effort which is well underway is about assessment. It is about vision. Our vision must translate into goals, plans and actions to make sure the congregation’s resources are aligned with the needs of its members.
It is in this context that this past year of congregational life must be viewed.
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We challenged ourselves to make some difficult decisions early in the year. Over what seemed like those quiet summer months, our Beth Israel Day School Task Force was diligently, carefully, and lovingly examining the history and the future of our congregational elementary school. This study was necessitated by the six previous very difficult years for the school. The Task Force examined five differing alternatives, ranging from leaving things as-is to spinning the school off as an independent school. After much pain, your board concluded that our beloved day school, having itself evolved greatly from its original purpose, no longer served the needs of this temple’s members and that the financial support that was directed to it served to limit the reach of the congregation into other, very necessary areas.
Thank G-d for happy endings. Two of our members, Diane and Buddy Voit, seized the moment to champion the founding of a new independent school to succeed our beloved BIDS. Kadima Independent Day School will open for business this fall in the same space. K.I.D.S. will look remarkably like B.I.D.S but will have the huge benefit of independence to recruit students and supporters alike. At this time I would like you to applaud the Voits for their outstanding vision and true leadership. And most of all, KIDS families and staff should know that this congregation wants you to succeed and will endeavor to help make that happen.
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Also early in the year, Rabbi Sheila Goloboy made the decision to spread her wings and seek new avenues of personal growth and opportunity. Sheila, this congregation owes you a debt of gratitude for six years of your efforts. I want to invite the congregation to attend a special Shabbat in your honor on June 16 as we formally wish you well and say a congregational l’hitraot.
Our year took us on a “rabbinic search for tomorrow” which was successfully, in every aspect of the word, concluded at the beginning of April with the hiring of Rabbi Glenn Ettman who is here this evening. Glenn you are joining an amazing team and we are so happy that you are bringing your many talents and gifts to this congregation. We welcome you with open arms and can’t wait for you to take your place in our temple family. I would like to thank Emily Jennewein who led the search effort while also acting as webmaster of our award winning Web site.
Your board concluded last year that we needed to serve the youth of this congregation with more focus and investment. To that end, we have a newly created position of Youth Director and are so grateful to have Michelle Berkowitz on board with us in that role. We are confident that with Michelle and Glenn running our teen and youth efforts that the 500 or so young people in our membership will find reason and meaning to be a part of their synagogue’s life and better, to have Judaism and their synagogue be a part of their life.
Your leadership concluded some time ago that our congregation needed to organize and systemize our fundraising and development efforts. Our feelings were further confirmed by a fundraising task force convened last fall. I am pleased to report to you that we have hired Lesley Mills as our Development Director and she will be joining our staff on July first. Lesley is coming to us from the Seattle area where she has vast non profit experience, not the least of which is her thirteen years as Chief Operating Officer of Seattle’s Jewish Family Services.
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The development director search effort was led by Amy Corton, Vice President of Development, while she simultaneously led a very successful planned giving campaign. You will hear more about our ELI efforts later in this meeting so I won’t mention them now but suffice it to say that your congregation needs your support long after you are here to physically provide it. Our future will always be in your hands. May all our congregants have the vision to lead us with their bequests.
Our congregation was buoyed by the annual financial appeal to its members. Our Miracle Of Mitzvah fundraiser was led by Marge Kattleman and Suzanne Emge. Could both of you please stand and accept a round of applause and thanks from your fellow congregants.
I would like to speak to the board members themselves for a moment. You are an amazing group of people and I draw much strength from each of you. It is by design that this is a working board—each person is expected to lead some form of our collective effort—and many, as you will notice from my comments, lead more than one major undertaking at a time. I would like to ask each board member to stand now and accept thanks from your fellow congregants. All of you should know that this is a board that is not afraid to invest in the future and that is a sometimes rare trait among non profit board members.
Our committees are tireless groups of individuals who spend an inordinate amount of hours--to produce minutes! And also to produce an incredible amount of work to fuel the efforts of the congregation. If you are a member of a committee or a member of our Women of Beth Israel or our Men’s Club, please stand now so your fellow congregants can give you a round of applause and thanks.
And finally if you are related to someone who has fueled the efforts of this congregation by volunteering and leading, please stand and be thanked as well. Without our families’ support, none of us would be able to spend this time to work on behalf of the congregation.
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At this point I must say something that all presidents before me have said—and I admit that I never really got it until this year. Like them, I must thank my incredibly supportive spouse and children and say, “I really had no idea it would be this consuming”. Thank you Gordon, Graham and Amanda for standing with me, steadfast in your support with few complaints and for your understanding. You have each made personal sacrifices for the well being of this congregation and I want you to be acknowledged for that.
At this time in the cycle of our congregation, we elect new board members. As exciting as that is, we also must say goodbye to a member whose term has expired. I emphasize term because that is the only part of Debbie Skomer’s volunteer description that could ever be described as having an end point. Debbie please come up and accept a small token to you as appreciation for your thousands and thousands of hours of effort on our behalf. And, Debbie, the only thing that you are relieved of is coming to board meetings! Other than that please don’t change anything else!
I would also like to thank David Eisenberg and Sue Geller who finished their board service earlier in the year and made a significant contribution during their respective terms.
Our Nominating Committee is composed of seven individuals, and three have reached the end of their terms on it as well. I would like to thank Mary Ann Scher, Susan Sincoff and last but not least, the tireless chair, Jerry Goldberg as well. It is difficult to articulate an appropriate thank you to Mary Ann and Jerry as you continue to provide leadership and vision to this congregation long after your presidency ended and your willingness to lend support to me and this board does not go unnoticed. In that same vein I must also publicly express my thanks and deep affection for my immediate predecessor Jeff Silberman. Jeff, thanks for keeping your promise to stay as involved as ever and for lending a hand wherever needed.
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There is a person in our midst who we must acknowledge at this point. Her contributions to this congregation are so incredibly beyond the norm and span over twenty years of sustained devotion that we have actually adopted a phrase to describe her efforts and her leadership. In Hebrew, maht mid means constant. It is from the same root as the word tamid as in ner tamid, or eternal light. There is not one single committee, endeavor, effort or undertaking that Liz Levine has not served on or, more often, led for this institution. Others clamor to have her on board with them and all acknowledge her smarts, her wisdom and her absolute unwavering diligence.
She is a true and constant exemplar of Jewish values. While leading the effort and authoring the Day School Task Force report, she never ever conveyed her own personal feelings so that others would ask their own questions and arrive at their own conclusions. Few of us could even attempt such objectivity.
Liz has chaired and served on several search committees while also acting as Vice President of Education. Moreover,
while doing everything else, she also managed to direct the efforts toward fulfilling our dream of a youth program. We maintain that if it weren’t for the constant efforts, dedication, competency and sheer love that Liz brings to this congregation, it would truly be a different place. So Liz, we give you the highest form of respect and admiration for your constant service to all of us. Please come forward and receive a specially designed Congregation Beth Israel mezuzah for you to enjoy at your home. May it serve as a constant reminder to you and your family how much your hard work and dedication has been appreciated by all of us.
In my High Holy Day remarks last fall I said that the long range planning effort was an enormous undertaking. That was quite the understatement of the year. This initiative in all honesty has proven to be much, much more than any of us anticipated. We are well underway in our study and have divided the work into five areas of discovery: Membership; Programs and Services; Education; Worship; and Financial Stability. We spent a great deal of time organizing the effort and are now underway in the actual work. Over seventy members have signed up to work on this process and we need everyone’s participation.
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We are looking at other organizations and benchmarking best practices. Much of our effort will be directed toward asking you what you think. We have developed a stratified sampling of the congregation and those interviews are underway at this time. If you are one of the 10% of our members who have been specially selected to do this, please do participate. We will have two congregational forums in early June where everyone can come and have their voices heard. Please plan to attend one of these. During the summer you will see a survey which we hope you will each take the time to complete. And finally, in the summer months we will also try to complete some additional interviews of specific sample groups.
We need to hear your voice. Please help shape your congregation by being a part of this important work. As the rabbis of the Talmud said, it is not our job to finish the work of creation but neither are we free to desist from doing our part.
We hope to complete the work in time to make recommendations to the board in September. This colossal effort frankly rivals the dedication and leadership that went into the efforts to campaign for and build this fabulous facility.
I would like to recognize the leadership of the Long Range Planning effort and ask that you come up when I call your name:
Ron Fox and Herb Hafter, Co-Chairs of Long Range Planning
Liz Levine, Chair of the Education Sub-Committee
Heidi Gantwerk, Chair of the Membership Sub-Committee
Amy Corton, Chair of the Financial Stability Sub-Committee
Kate Kassar and Gladie Jaffe, Co-Chairs of the Programs and
Services Sub-Committee
Sandy Feldman and Jerry Goldberg, Co-Chairs of the Worship Sub-Committee
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We have for each of you a silver Havdalah set. Why Havdalah? At Havdalah,
we relinquish the extra soul we receive on Shabbat, but hope that the sweetness
and holiness of the day will remain with us during the week. We take a cup of
wine, a box of spices, and a braided Havdalah candle, and we sing or recite
blessings. These blessings talk about distinctions between the holy and the
everyday, between light and darkness, between the people Israel and the other
peoples of the earth, and between the seventh day of rest and the six days of
work.
The nine of you represent distinction. You did not sign up for an every day endeavor. You signed up to shape the future and indeed we hope that the sweetness and holiness of your work will continue long after it is finished. Just as we hope to carry the sweet spice of Shabbat into the week from Havdalah, we will carry the fruits of your extreme labors into the future of this congregation. We give you our deepest thanks for what you are doing.
We are so fortunate that we have members who just jump in without being asked. People who do without thinking, without waiting for an invitation. The kind of people who assess for themselves what needs to be done and how to accomplish it. We happily recognize two of them tonight as our volunteers of the year. Note that I say “two of them” and I do so as a way of emphasizing what may be obvious but bears repeating. To be “volunteer of the year” in a volunteer organization is frankly a super-distinction. It means that you have distinguished yourself above others who are generous in their service and steadfast in their commitment. That is a big deal!
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I would first like to recognize Judy Fisher. When Judy’s name is mentioned at Congregation Beth Israel, two major areas of her interest come to mind, social action and education. Judy has set the tone for and shaped our social action efforts as chair of the Social Action Committee for the last three years. She brings such drive, passion and commitment to all that she does. She expanded the congregation’s social action offerings so substantially that each month allowed for many different options for our members. She built a vibrant committee and led with much admiration from her fellow members. If not for Judy, the Hunger Project would not have had an orderly and planned transition when Joan Kutner needed to be relieved of the work for health reasons. She brought the issues to our attention and in the most professional way, sought solution and followed everything diligently until it was satisfactorily completed. And believe me, she did not let any of us rest without resolution of every single item. Watching you Judy made me think of a joke that is applicable to your devotion to your job. “What’s the difference between Judy Fisher on assignment and a rottweiler? Eventually the rottweiler will let go!”
Judy’s work in the social action arena is by no means the only area of her CBI focus. In addition to teaching her widely sought after Hebrew classes, she is an active board member and parent in our school. She also is involved on the Education Subcommittee of the long range planning effort. Judy and her husband Tom and their three children are integral members of our temple family. Judy, please come up and accept this plaque and the thanks of your congregation for your incredible commitment.
Next I would like to recognize Gary Hirschfeld. Gary you have quite the reputation around Beth Israel. You are known as the guy who “can’t say no” and it is meant as quite the complement! We see him around often—ushering, working at registration, selling raffle tickets, running out to pick up something, or even sitting at a cabaret table with a mannequin throughout the Cantor’s cabaret night. And what we don’t see him actually doing is even more than what we do. Gary is an integral member of the CBI Web team. Several nights a week, Gary is hard at work at his computer updating the site. He taught himself how to do the work and became a mainstay of the team.
Gary is the epitome of the “go-to” guy and go to him we do. Our staff has noted that not only has he never said no to anything he has been asked to do, “he always does it with a joyful heart, a twinkle in his eye and a sense of wanting to make a difference for the Jewish people.” Gary and his wife Traci and two children are also integral parts of our synagogue. Gary please come up and accept your plaque and the appreciation of your fellow congregants.
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Our congregation is privileged to be one of twelve organizations and synagogues chosen to participate in the Jewish Community Foundation’s Endowment Leadership Institute. We have just completed the second year of the three year program. To honor this milestone, I would like to ask Amy Corton, our Vice President of Development and Endowment to come forward and I also invite forward the representatives of the Jewish Community Foundation—Marjory Kaplan, Gail Littman, and Jane Scher who are here to make a presentation to us.
I would like to thank you all for coming to this Annual Meeting. We look forward to seeing all of you often over the next year, especially in view of the important long range planning work underway.
In the coming year, may G-d bless all of us with health, happiness and peace and may our congregation continue to go from strength to strength.
We are now adjourned.
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