PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

(A lightly edited version of my Rosh Hashanah remarks.)

Have you ever experienced that phenomenon where you know someone for long enough that you can anticipate what they are going to say? It’s like you are on the same mental wavelength? I am pleased to share that after only a little more than two years, Rabbi Neal and I are at that point! We don’t discuss our bulletin articles with each other beforehand but, if you have noticed, we have miraculously had similar messages. For example, in the last bulletin we both highlighted the fact that you – the TBJ congregation – can get involved and even plan your own activities. The message in both our articles was to let us know what you want and do it!

Happily, we discovered a few weeks ago that we had the same themes in mind for our Rosh Hashanah remarks – emphasizing again to let us know and do it while adding how important your involvement is in your congregation. It is reassuring that it didn’t take long for Rabbi Neal and me to reach this point. Clearly that means we made the right choice in rabbi!

Despite being equal members of a community, people can feel they don’t have permission to do what they want. They may assume someone else will have the same thought and do it; or they think they are not knowledgeable or connected or tenured enough to raise an idea. Let me reassure you that neither of those are true, and we all need to forget these misconceptions to thrive as a community. If you are reading this right now, your voice matters. Make yourself heard. It’s not only about committees but doing things. Don’t wait or expect that someone else will speak up or volunteer. As a member of our community, you have a license to shape TBJ as you want to see it grow. If you have an idea to try, a suggestion to make, a solution to offer, please approach a board member or staff member. It doesn’t need to be something you want us to do; it can be something you want to make happen, which we will support even more enthusiastically. And this is not just about new things but to continue things we are already doing. Feel confident that you – every one of you – has agency, power and autonomy because this is your community. You have a duty to speak up because this congregation needs your time, talent, and treasure in order to succeed.If you didn’t hear Rabbi Neal’s sermon on Erev Rosh Hashanah, I encourage you to go back and listen to it. He stated that the only way we will be here in the next 150 years is if we have the financial resources to provide stability that is not dependent on circumstance. A healthy endowment is key to our future not simply as a safety net, but as a responsible and wise approach to Temple finances. It’s not merely about surviving but thriving.

While asking people for money is my day job, I am very much not making an ask at this time. What I am doing, as the President of the Temple’s Board of Directors, is being transparent to you – our members. We are in a tough spot. We consistently run just enough in the red that if we keep it up, the amount of red will get bigger each year because there will be less to draw on from the endowment. The good news is that thanks to the incredible work of our treasurer Brad Goldman and our Executive Director David Muenchrath, we have a better understanding of our finances than ever before. That is essential both for the sake of transparency and planning, enabling us to use the money that we do have in the most fiscally prudent way and accurately predicting our future needs.

So, while this isn’t an ask, this is an invitation to begin thinking about how you will participate in building our legacy for the next 150 years. Soon, you will hear more about how you can ensure future generations can enjoy all this congregation has to offer just like we do now. To repeat a theme I have used since becoming president: All the Temple does Jewishly and socially and educationally relies on the time, talent, and treasure of the people who make up this incredible congregational community. Well, actually, it takes treasure to make something of the time and talent. And there are a lot of talented people here who are willing to give their time – some we know about and others we don’t (call back to let us know and do it). It is our turn to answer the call both to give and to build a legacy that will carry Temple B’nai Jeshurun into the next 150 years and beyond.

Emily Kruse