This volunteerism has created a unique congregation and a special community – forged by discussion (even argument), differing needs and histories, yet bound by shared goals and common effort. As a community of volunteers, our efforts not only create links between ourselves, but create a communal vision for the future. To each one of you I extend my personal thanks as well as appreciation from the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community.
During the past several years, Congregation Shir HeHarim has transitioned from a part-time existence, mostly in rental space at West Village Meeting House to a permanent synagogue in West Brattleboro, open to the needs of the Jewish community in our region. It has been a difficult process – both conceptually and in execution. It has required our best thinking as to who we are and what we want to be as a community. We not only bought physical space and made it into sacred space – but we renewed, rediscovered, and rededicated ourselves. Looking back today, it seems impossible to remember that this change was neither for-ordained nor compelled. The results are visible. We are becoming the Jewish center for Southeast Vermont – where people can come to sing, to learn, to grieve and to celebrate, to meet with friends, to pray, and to feel a part of a larger whole. We have accomplished much. And, most importantly, we have managed to move forward in a collegial way.
Much credit goes to our Board of Trustees. Its monthly meetings are just the most visible part of what the Board does. Our Board members chair committees, and belong to others. They plan, host and participate in the wide variety of BAJC activities. They wrestle not only with the “vision thing”, but also with the practical and the mundane. When something needs to get done, usually it is someone from the Board who steps forward to assure that it will be. We are similarly well served by our Spiritual Leader, our Administrator and our school staff.
I wish to make special note at this time of our renewed and strengthened bond with our national organization – the Union for Reform Judaism. As we see our Congregation as a little less formal and a little less bound by tradition than most, the Regional Council for the Northeast appears to see itself in a similar vein. The Northeast Council has initiated a rethinking of how best to move Reform Judaism forward, how best to connect synagogues divided by distance and size, by tradition and practice. These efforts have already increased the connections between the disparate small congregations in Northern New England, as leadership in Vermont and New Hampshire and Maine, together with Northern Massachusetts and New York get together for informal meals and sharing. BAJC is a small congregation in a rural area – we can be so isolated that at times it seems as if all of our efforts and vision are directed inward. I see our growing involvement with regional synagogues and with the URJ as something that will greatly enrich BAJC in the years to come, the full measure of which can now only be dimly seen.
Yet – as we know – there is always a price for success. When we conquer a challenge, we see the next one just beyond. We need to address now the twin challenges of space and money.
To accomplish what we want to do – what our members want us to do requires more space. We have already reached the physical limits of what we can do in our present space. We want to hold larger life cycle events here at our synagogue, but cannot. Our Hebrew School cannot expand, as we have reached the occupancy limit of our Shul. We have no space for a library. We have no space for offices for our Spiritual Leader and for a school director. We have no space for larger or combined activities. Sooner or later – and I believe it must be sooner– we must plan and finance an expansion (what we call Phase II) where the present barns now stand. One barn is a clear and immanent danger to people present at BAJC, and will be removed as soon as permitting and other arrangements are made. We will need to start a Capital Campaign and make it work. To do so, we must first create a vision and a plan of what our enlarged space will look like and how it will address our needs. This is a large undertaking for a small community. It will only be successful to the extent that every member of the BAJC community contributes in some manner to its success.
Speaking of finances, we have also come to the realization that there is only so much money that BAJC can realistically raise from dues. Our dues structure is sliding-scale and no one who cannot pay is turned away from services. For the first time that I can recall, we are not funding some programs this coming year, because we cannot afford to do so. For example, we need to fund a paid school administrator, whose primary focus will to supervise, lead, coordinate and nurture our education efforts at all levels. I suppose it is better that our dreams are larger than our pockets than the other way around, but it is painful to defer or deny projects because the money to fund them is not there. We need to increase our ability to take advantage of grants; to fully subscribe to fundraisers such as our second Israeli Film Festival later this summer; and to successfully conduct a Capital Campaign.
The needs for space and money are not discouraging. They are the price of our growth, our commitment to our children and future generations, and are in honor of our parents and the generations of the past. As the Talmud says, “Where people truly wish to go, their feet will manage to take them”.
For all of the kindnesses and support sent my way over the past three years, I am truly grateful. You are all in my heart. Thank you for allowing me this special and rare opportunity. I leave this post with a touch of sadness.
I want to take a break from past practice and make a special note of thanks to three friends. To Jim – you have been a constant reminder to me that the nuts and bolts and planning and organization and policy-making are a means to the end and not the end itself. To Andi – who, by your example, has helped me sing rather than think through a issues during of the past few years; and to Faith – whom I love – you are the Johnny Appleseed of Tikkun Olam – everywhere you go, within our community and without, you make the world a little bit better every day.
And Sharon – I know that running a synagogue was not part of our deal – and your support, wisdom and help made it possible.
Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote: “I did not ask for success. I asked for wonder. And you gave it to me” Well, that has been true for me. I asked for wonder – and the community that is BAJC gave it to me – over and over again. Thank you.
L'shalom,
Paul
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