THE LAST ONE …

Well, folks, this is it, my last Sinai News column as President. After the next annual meeting, I will end my four years as President and move into the role of "Immediate Past-President". It has been an honor and, for the most part, a pleasure to serve the congregation in this role and I look forward to serving in other roles in the future. My mentors and predecessors, Lillian Shulman, Howard Weintraub, Harry Shulman, Michael Blau, Arlene Weintraub, and Marc Cooper have all shown us, in different ways, that the work just changes when you step down as president.

I am delighted that Harvey Cotton will be the next president. Harvey brings a great set of talents to this task and he brings the unique perspective of someone who grew up in this congregation. We are fortunate that he is willing to offer his skills and time to Temple Sinai.

I am writing this column in the week that we finish the book of Leviticus in the annual sequence of Torah readings. If you are the bar or bat mitzvah kid, Leviticus can be heavy going: Lots of descriptions of lots of different rituals for lots of different Temple offerings. For us, the era of animal sacrifice may be over, but those long stretches of Leviticus retain meaning if we take them as reminders that the Temple still needs our offerings and that there are many forms that those offerings can take. On my way out the door, let me ask you to help my successor and our Temple by making any of these four types of offering.

The Offering of Presence: Simply being present is a gift to the Temple. In the congregational conversation that is going on as I write this, we hear that a deep desire for community is an important reason for being part of Temple Sinai. When we are present at services and events, we make that community.

The Offering of Participation: A significant part of my work as president has involved matching willing people to the work that needs to be done. Find ways to say "yes" when Harvey asks you if you will undertake some labor for the congregation. No one needs to say "yes" all of the time but I could not have survived my term if it had not been for the many, many people who said "yes" enough of the time.

The Offering of Sustenance: It costs a lot of money to keep a congregation going. You know that our annual Free Will campaign is a vital component of our financial health. Indeed, we have not met our needs for this year. What you may not know is that we received a substantial, quiet gift every spring. Often it was just what we needed to turn a deficit into a balanced budget. Sadly, this particular sustainer of the Temple died last year. Different people make different offerings and there are some people reading this column who are in a position to step into this place that has been made vacant. In Pirke Avot, Rabbi Tarfon tells us "It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task. Yet, you are not free to desist from it." (2:21) and Rabbi Hillel asks "And if not now, when?"

The Offering of Vision: Temple Sinai is a good temple. It should never be a complacent temple. When we strive to become a great temple, we move beyond the language of participation and sustenance to the language of transformation. Transformational offerings might be intellectual. They might be financial. They might be offerings of time. They are the offerings that take courage to offer and courage for a temple to accept. We are told that the transformation of the Red Sea occurred only when one Nahshon, of the tribe of Judah, waded in up to his nostrils. Then the barrier was removed.

Presence, participation, sustenance, and vision have kept the light burning on our altar. Change in the leadership is a good time to remind ourselves that we can't assume that the folks who brought those offerings last year, will bring them next year. Now it is up to us.

I can't thank all of the people who made it possible for me to serve as president. The list is too long and the danger of sins of omission far too great. Please know that I am very grateful to all. That said, I do need to acknowledge that the congregation is blessed with an exceptional set of professionals. Far too few people know the amazing work of our administrator, Linda Katz, but I can assure you that you would notice if she ever stopped.

My heart falters just thinking about it. Many more members have a chance to recognize the labors of our educator, Heidi Smith Hyde. Our children are our future and we have placed our future in good hands. Transition has been our great work during my term as president. As a result, it has been my good fortune to work both with Mark Kagan and his group of consummate musicians and, now, to work with our new Cantor, Rosalie Toubes.

Finally, I have been privileged to work with Rabbis Waldorf and Vogel. They have been and remain my valued teachers in very deep and broad ways. My relationships with each of them have transformed my relationship to my Judaism. I thank them and this congregation for the last four years. Harvey, I hope you enjoy this job at least as much as I have.

P.S. For many years, Jenny Wagner has edited the Sinai News, badgering us to write more or less on time and saving us from the excesses of our prose. Now she is taking a great new job in New Jersey. We are thrilled, heartbroken, and very grateful….and don't you dare edit this out, Jenny!