Friday, August 7
17 Av 5769
Shabbat Shalom -
Thank you all so much for the e-mail and comments about this weekly message. The feedback has been so wonderful and I truly appreciate all of the kind words. It brings me great joy to share with you the deep meaning that I find in our work each week.
Before I get into the heart of what is on my mind today, I want to let you know about an interesting national opportunity to nominate a Jewish community hero. This is a national project and it is quite interesting. You will find the link at the bottom of this week's note.
The beginning of August marked the completion of my first 5 months in our community. For me it feels like I have been here 5 minutes. Over this time, I have had the pleasure of getting to know our community and its incredible Jewish leaders. The agencies, institutions and people here, as I suspected prior to my arrival, are a showcase of what this community is about. Certainly there are significant challenges, but those can be looked upon as opportunities for growth, change and realignment. There are Jewish sources that talk about one's responsibility to a new community.
The Bava Batra is the third of the three tractates in the Talmud in the order Nezikin; it deals with a person's responsibilities and rights as the owner of property. It is part of Judaism's oral law. A translation of section 8a of the Bava Batra states: If a person resides in town for thirty days, that person is responsible for continuing the soup kitchen; After three months, the charity box; After six months, the clothing fund; After nine months, the burial fund; And after 12 months, that person is responsible to the repair of the town walls.
I find this section most interesting. There is much specificity about one's responsibilities and if we can extrapolate to our work at Federation, by the time I have been here 12 months I should be paying attention to preparing the town walls. What are our modern day town walls? I believe these are the items that keep us safe, protect our children, and define our borders as a community. Within our town walls our agencies and institutions reside and I would say that repairing our town walls includes helping our organizations thrive.
As I reflect back on my short time here, I can definitely see where some walls need to be repaired - maybe even redefined or rebuilt - for the community and for Federation. We are preparing to begin a new fiscal year and campaign year as of October 1 and in partnership our staff and leadership will be solidifying our vision - who we are and where are we going. This is part of the process of repairing our own walls. These are our challenges and opportunities.
The three aspects of our work where I believe we need to spend some significant effort are in cultivating a much wider and broader volunteer base to work on and contribute to our annual campaign, to revitalize and invigorate our annual campaign efforts, and to strengthen leadership for the future through a Federation Young Leadership Division. This does not preclude our other work at all, but if I am to look at where our walls need some repair, those are the areas. The good news is that we have terrific leadership capable of this work and the infrastructure to support it. Because of the strength of the Jewish community in the Pioneer Valley, I firmly believe that we have the ability to reach new heights with a clear vision and purpose.
As summer winds down I will continue to meet with our leadership, professional and volunteer, to ensure that we are continuing to set a vision consistent with our Federation mission. It is an honor and a pleasure in my professional role to help shape this vision with our Board and our staff.
