Setting the Stage for Next Year
05/16/2018 11:57:48 AM
49 times in our congregation’s history we have gathered to discuss the business of Temple Sinai with the community as a whole. These meetings have been at times controversial – the meeting to approve the lot on Dupree Drive as our future home, the meeting to open our membership, and the meeting to allow the establishment of tasteful plaques and naming opportunities come immediately to mind – while at times these meetings have been celebratory – such as the meetings when we approve the hire of new clergy. And some have been in between, with important minutia dictating the agenda. While this latter category may not lead to heated and impassioned conversations on the ride home, these agenda items have helped to keep us on our course and enabled Temple Sinai to thrive for these last 50 years.
While there are many agenda items that capture my heart and my imagination each year, the highlight for me is the address offered by the synagogue president. We have been (and continue to be!) blessed with an incredible cadre of leadership in the top post and their comments have been thoughtful and reflective. Our presidents did not go to seminary and did not attain advanced degrees in Jewish education; but they do have degrees in yiddishkeit. They frame the year that has past, offering introspective commentary on our strengths and the challenges we have overcome, and they set the stage for the coming year, helping the community understand the collective agenda of our leadership.
Each address has been different, reflecting the personalities of the person holding that highest congregational office. But each has similarly been offered through the lens of humility.
This Sunday afternoon, after our incredible day of Torah learning and celebration, we will gather for our 49th Annual Meeting. We will be able to discuss the bylaws and we will hear reports from the different departments. We will hear the final address from our current congregational president, Marcia Nuffer, and we will learn the goals our incoming president, Cary Rodin, will set for the congregation. We will be informed; we will be inspired. And we will count ourselves blessed that these two individuals, and all others who have devoted their year (and those who will devote the year ahead) to congregational service, have chosen Temple Sinai as the beneficiary of their efforts.
I look forward to seeing you all day on Sunday, and I look forward to greeting you at the Annual Meeting at 5:00.
