Happy Secular New Year!

One of the many benefits of being Jewish for me is that I get to make a fresh start twice each year.  We Jews all get to start a new year together in the fall on Rosh HaShanah.  Then I get to make another set of intentions for myself (often very similar ones) on the secular New Year, January 1.  How lucky to get a clean slate two times!

Sometimes hitting the reset button is exactly what we need to be motivated to become our best selves.  While we usually think of this in terms of individuals, I think that might be true for our community as well.  At the time of this writing, we are still in the midst of our voting process for our facilities decision.  By the time you are reading this, I am hoping that a course of action will have been chosen and we will be heading down that path.  For our community, in a lot of ways, making this choice (whichever choice it is) is a golden opportunity for us to make a set of intentions for ourselves and to hit the reset button.

During our first Town Hall Meeting we were asked to identify what we are most afraid of in this process.  A response that came up over and over again was a fear that the congregation would be split by this decision, become divided.  My sense is that this process has in fact made us a stronger, more connected congregation and that we have not become divided.

As we move forward as a congregation, I hope that whichever course of action we have chosen, we will continue to embrace the same openness, attentive listening, and respectful discourse we have had over the last several months.  For those whose first choice was not selected, I want us all to hear how we as a community can address any outstanding or residual concerns those folks have in proceeding down the selected path.  How can we reduce their qualms and make them more comfortable with the option selected?

Now that we have completed this phase of our facilities process, let’s be sure that we continue to be open minded and sensitive to everyone’s perspective, and strive to incorporate input from all of our members  as we implement the selected course of action.

L’shalom,

Melanie (she/her)

President