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Congratulations to Naomi Keren Black

December 30, 2008 by Nicky 

Naomi Keren Black celebrated her batmitzvah on Shabbat Mikketz and in honour of her batmitzvah and in keeping with our emphasis on Tikkun Olam as part of the batmitzvah study, she created her own website asking people to donate to the Nothing But Nets Campaign. Not only is it exciting that Naomi was the first person to actively help combat malaria, but has raised enough to buy over 200 nets so far - kol hakavod! If you want to be inspired by Naomi’s website - click here

Leo Baeck Centre announces 2009 education program…

December 30, 2008 by Steve 

 

HOUSE OF STUDY (BETH HAMIDRASH) COMMITTEE – 2009/10 PROGRAM (as @ 30-12-2008)

Events without dates  (yellow background) will have to have same confirmed

 

February	“SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES” – GREEN SHORTS Inc: “THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES”	Rabbi JK-B	Includes Havdallah
Friday 6th – Sunday 8th February –	TU BISHAVAT WEEKEND: Friday 6.00 pm – Kabbalat Shabbat and Havurah/Seder Saturday 9.00 am – Eco study group        “       10.00 am – Shabbat service        “       12.00 noon – kiddush        “     1.00-2.00 pm – Picnic Lunch & Walk –                            MARANOA GARDENS       “       7.30 pm – SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES – Eco films – shorts Sunday  10.00 am - Gardening	Rabbi JK-B  al	TU BISHAVAT WEEKEND
Saturday 14th February – 12.30 pm	“FINE WINE / FINE MUSIC” (with Havurah Lunch)	Yoram Regev
Sunday 22nd February – 3.00-5.00 pm	“IS GLOBAL WARMING REAL? - TOO HOT TO HANDLE”	Mannie Gross
Saturday 28th February - 9.00-9.50 pm	“Traditions”		STUDY GROUP
Saturday 21st March 7.30 pm	“SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES” – “THE MORTAL STORM”	Rabbi JK-B	Includes Havdallah
Saturday 21st March 10.00 am	Annual CIVIC SERVICE
Sunday 22nd March 7.30 pm	“WELCOME STRANGER? - THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NEW IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES IN ISRAEL”	Nicky Maor	LEO BAECK LECTURE Topic, travel arrangements from Sydney, and other details to be confirmed.
April	“SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES” – “WALTZ WITH BASHIR”	Rabbi JK-B	Includes Havdallah
Saturday 4th April – 11.00 am	Annual Visit to Ballarat Shul	Rabbi JK-B, Cantor John Burgess	Bring a plate – milkikh   Combined with visit to Werribee Sculpture Exhib.
Saturday 11th April – 12.30 pm	“FINE WINE / FINE MUSIC” (with Havurah Lunch)	Yoram Regev	Food to be Kosher le Pesach
Sunday 19th April – 10.00 am-12.00noon	“QUESTIONS YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO ASK ABOUT JUDAISM”	Rabbi JK-B	Questions to be submitted by 6th April
Sunday 26th April  – 3.00-5.00 pm	“EUTHANASIA AND JUDAISM”	Rabbi JK-B, Mark Rosedale, Dr Sian Hughes
May	“SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES” – “CONSPIRACY OF HEARTS”	Rabbi JK-B	Includes Havdallah
Sunday 10th May 10.00-12.00	“THE UNITARIANS IN MELBOURNE”	Albert Isaacs
EITHER Saturday 2nd May or Sunday 3rd May	Annual restaurant meal and talk		Central / Eastern European cuisine
Sunday 24th May – 10.00 am-12.00 noon	“42 SYNAGOGUES, 40 SHABBATOT, 6 STREAMS OF JUDAISM, 1 GOD”	Ittay Flescher
June	“SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES” – SHORT AND FUNNY – a selection inc. “Yes Minister – The Bishop’s Gambit”, etc.	Rabbi JK-B	Includes Havdallah
Sunday 7th June 3.00-5.00 pm	“THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON (ISLANDS)”	Nathan Moshinsky
Saturday 13th June – 12.30 pm	“FINE WINE / FINE MUSIC” (with Havurah Lunch)	Yoram Regev
July	“SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES” – “PRAYING WITH LIOR” ? Alternative = “AMAZING GRACE”	Rabbi JK-B	Includes Havdallah
Sunday 26th July 3.00-5.00 pm	“WHERE MASORTI DIFFERS”    AND “THE CHALLENGES FOR JEWISH-CHRISTIAN  RELATIONS AT AN INTERNATIONAL LEVEL”	Rabbi Ehud Bandel
August	“SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES” – “WONDROUS OBLIVION”	Rabbi JK-B	Includes Havdallah
Saturday 8th August – 12.30 pm	“FINE WINE / FINE MUSIC” (with Havurah Lunch)	Yoram Regev
Sunday 9th August - 10.00 am-12.00 noon	“JEWISH FUNERAL OPTIONS IN MELBOURNE”	Speakers from Bet Olam, Chevra Kadisha, etc.
September	“SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES” – “ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER” & “NORTHERN EXPOSURE” (Pilot & another ep.)	Rabbi JK-B	Includes Havdallah Followed by Slikhot
Saturday 5th September - 9.00-9.50 pm	“BLOW YOUR OWN TRUMPET”		STUDY GROUP
October	“SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES” – “LEMON TREE”	Rabbi JK-B	Includes Havdallah
Saturday 10th October – 12.30 pm	“FINE WINE / FINE MUSIC” (with Havurah Lunch)	Yoram Regev
Sunday 25th October   First Panel: 11.00 am-1.00 pm   Lunch: 1.00-2.00 pm   Second Panel: 2.00-4.00 pm	“CHANGING RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES & PRACTICES IN MELBOURNE OVER THE LAST 60 YEARS”   “ATTITUDES” – First Panel   “PRACTICES” – Second Panel	First Panel: Melanie Landau Fr Paul Duffy Barney Zwartz   Second Panel: Rabbi John Levi, Revd. Lorraine Parkinson, (Anglican – Bishop Mark Burton?). Chair – Rabbi JK-B	60th ANNIVERSARY EVENT   (Panels to be confirmed)   Lunch to be pre-booked.
Wednesdays 28th October,11th & 25th November	BOOK READING – “THE FAITH CLUUB”	Sue Keren-Black
November	“SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES” – “THE GREAT DICTATOR”  (Charlie Chaplin)	Rabbi JK-B	Includes Havdallah
December	“SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES” – “THE PRODUCERS”  (1965 Version)	Rabbi JK-B	Includes Havdallah
	“WAS THE DURBAN  CONFERENCE ANTISEMITIC?”
(Three consecutive Sundays)	“WRITERS’ WORKSHOP – PEOPLE OF BOOK”	Rena Lopata, Sandra Shotlander & Albert
	Interchange Visit

 

All events will be at LBC, unless otherwise noted                                                                          

 

 

 

 

Miketz - 27 December 2008, 30 Kislev 5769

December 27, 2008 by karyn 

Miketz

Genesis 41:1 – 44:17

The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pages 264 - 277

Revised Edition, pages 268 – 279

Haftarah First Shabbat in Chanukah

Zechariah 4:1 — 7

The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pages 1645

Revised Edition, pages 1448

Saturday 27 December 2008, Shabbat Kislev 30 5769

6^th Day of Chanukah

Shayndel Samuel, Jewish Life Convenor, the King David School, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

 

By the time we come to Parshat Miketz, we are in the throes of lighting of the Chanukah lights and most people are thinking of ponchkas and latkes, but I think of birthdays – my husband’s and brother’s specifically - because this is their bar mitzvah portion, and also summer holidays here in Melbourne as the schools have just broken up for the summer break.

The famous biblical story of Joseph and his jealous brothers who resented his extraordinary dreams are forever linked in my mind to hot summer days, heat waves and lazy summers under the Australian sun rather than the more wintry northern hemisphere associations where hot oily donuts and potato pancakes are appropriate fare to ward off the chill.

This week we read of Joseph’s famous dreams while in Egyptian captivity and how they lead to not only his eventual freedom and promotion to political heights, but also ensured the continuity of the imperiled line of Jacob. Miketz tells of Joseph’s first encounter with his brothers after they sold him into slavery. He rises in Pharaoh’s favor when Joseph interprets the king’s dreams about the seven fat, healthy cows being consumed by seven thin cows, and Pharaoh’s second dream about seven healthy stalks of corn being consumed by seven unhealthy, thin stalks, both dreams representing seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Joseph leverages the situation to his advantage by suggesting that Pharaoh needs to appoint a minister to manage the issue. Pharaoh appoints Joseph to take care of the grain during the expected famine. Thus it is as a powerful man that Joseph encounters his brothers who do not recognize him, although he knows who they are immediately. The gift of interpreting dreams was both a blessing and a curse to Joseph. The way Joseph deals with seeing his brothers again indicates his internal struggle. He wants to exact revenge for what they did to him and yet the Torah mentions on more than one occasion that Joseph has to leave the room to weep during his encounters with them.

The story of Chanukah and the story of Joseph in Miketz have themes in common. The story of Chanukah begins with terrible conflicts between Jews and the Greeks in the takeover of the Temple. There are also internal conflicts among the Jews. While many embraced Hellenistic culture, others followed the tradition faithfully like the Maccabees, who rose up against what they saw as the insidious tentacles of Hellenism in order to preserve Judaism.

On Chanukah we have come to commemorate this story by focusing on the miracle of the oil burning in the Temple after it was reclaimed. Like Joseph, the heroes of the story of Chanukah had to take what they were given and use it to their best advantage. Our eight days of celebration commemorate the miracle that God gave them in their victory, but it also reminds us of the struggle and hardship that preceded the miracle.

While Parshat Miketz reminds us of God’s divine providence in looking after the descendants of Israel, and Chanukah is a celebration of a Jewish victory in the Hellenist period, we are enhanced by the recognition in both stories of the Divine presence in everything that we do. Both Joseph in Miketz and the Chanukah story teach us about using whatever gifts we possess to interpret and positively influence our life choices, to look through the chaos of the present and focus on the future. During Chanukah, we have the opportunity to think about the decisions we make to influence our future and celebrate our successes, as individuals and as a part of a community.

UPJ Ex. Director & Federal Treasurer at Yachad dinner

December 18, 2008 by Steve 

Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan was the guest of honour at the dinner provided by the National Australia Bank to celebrate the Yachad Program of which they are the major sponsors.

Wayne Swan is a graduate of the program, which sends politicians, journalists and other prominent Australians to see Israel and gain a balanced perspective on issues and developments taking place there.

The function was the farewell public function for NAB CEO, John Stewart who resigns this week. He was a major supporter of the program which has now sent dozens of prominent Australians to Israel and who have returned as ambassadors for Israel.

Atid award presented at Emanuel School

December 18, 2008 by Steve 

Each year the Union for Progressive Judaism awards a student at the King David School and Emanuel School who demonstrates leadership and a commitment to the Jewish community.

At the Emanuel School Speech night on 16 December School Principal, Dr. Bruce Cater AM presented this year’s award to Amira Nathan

AJN interview with Shai Pinto, Head of Operations, WUPJ

December 18, 2008 by Steve 

shai-pinto-in-ajn-december-2008

Faith-based groups respond to Government’s carbon emission reduction levels

December 17, 2008 by Steve 

 A number of religious groups, including the UPJ, have combined to form the ARRCC - Australian Religious Response to Climate Change.  A number of them produced statements following the Government’s emission reduction targets.  To see all of those statements visit the ARRCC website at http://www.arrcc.org.

The UPJ is also printed here:  
 

GOVERNMENT STUMBLES AND MISSES EMISSION TARGET

 

The Union for Progressive Judaism has announced that, whilst recognizing the pressures from industry and the need to maintain a successful economy, it is “Very disappointed” in the Australian Government’s declaration of only a 5% reduction in emissions by 2020, with a cap of just 15% even if the rest of the world agrees higher figures.

 

“It is very sad that this opportunity to show leadership to the rest of the world has been missed and that Australia is now one of the countries holding back the worldwide agreement that is needed to make a real difference to climate change,” said UPJ Executive Director, Steve Denenberg.

 

“The concern we have is that this inadequate response will have a terrible effect on the Great Barrier Reef and the Murray Darling river basin as well as other aspects of our environment.”

 

“Of equal or greater importance is the impact that it will have on the poorer, less developed, countries in the region.  More of the Pacific Islands will be swamped over coming years and there will be significant negative impact on many parts of the world, including Bangladesh, India and China.”

 

“We have to remind ourselves that, according to the Torah (Genesis 2:15), the world does not belong to us, but rather we are trusted with its stewardship for our time on earth,” said Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins, Chairman of the Australasian Council of Progressive Rabbis. “We owe it to ourselves and our future generations to protect the planet and to try and improve its health, not to destroy it through selfish concerns or apathy.”

 

“For thousands of years from the time of the Torah (Old Testament) through the received tradition, Judaism has taught that the Earth and its fullness are part of creation and that humans have a responsibility to care for it” said Rabbi Kamins “Each generation must ensure that while we use the Earth’s resources to sustain ourselves we must, at the same time, conserve the life around us and ensure that there are resources for the generations to come.”

 

Complimenting the Government on the introduction of the $500 million Renewable Energy Fund, the UPJ believes that much more should be done to invest in sustainable and alternative energy sources to help to reduce emissions worldwide.

 

“We do understand that this is a responsible Government that is trying to meet the varying demands of many interest groups” said Denenberg “but we believe that the ultimate responsibility of each of us is to carry out work of “Tikkun Olam” – seeking to improve the world – and, at the very least, not to allow it to move toward deterioration and human-initiated destruction.”

  

“We are pleased to be part of a broad coalition of faith-based organisations who are speaking up against a quite inadequate response to this most serious issue.  We join them, as well as many individuals including those in the business, investment and development industries, who believe that Australia can and should commit to a much higher target.”            

·        

Steve Denenberg can be contacted on 02 9328 7644 or at steve@upj.org.au

 

 

Patrilineal descent - what the Rabbis actually said

December 17, 2008 by Steve 

At a meeting held in Melbourne in October the Moetzah - the Council of Progressive Rabbis - reached an important decision and approved the following resolution:

Whereas, the constituents of the UPJ have requested guidance and clarity on issues regarding Jewish status, particularly in regard to questions of a child born to only one Jewish parent; and

Whereas, since the passing of a statement on patrilineality by the CCAR in 1983, the Moetzah has discussed this question on many occasions including in 1995, 2002 and as recently as 2007; and

Whereas, the individual members of the Moetzah hold a range of positions on this issue precluding total agreement on the issue but allowing consensus,

Therefore be it resolved that,

(1)   The rabbi/s of the congregation has/have the authority to determine the Jewish status of the individual;

(2)   An individual’s Jewish status is based upon his/her exclusive religious identification with Judaism;

(3)   All those individuals who have been accepted as members of a UPJ congregation before 31 December 2008 shall be accepted as Jews and may become members of any UPJ congregation;

(4)   All rabbis of the Moetzah accept the presumptive Jewish status of a child under the age of thirteen with one Jewish parent;

(5)   This presumptive Jewish status will be confirmed upon the timely celebration of bar or bat mitzvah in a synagogue setting under the supervision of a recognised rabbi of the Moetzah at which time a certificate of affirmation (including certificate of bar/bat mitzvah) will be issued;

(6)   Requirements leading to the timely celebration of bar or bat mitzvah in a synagogue setting may vary from congregation to congregation and may include but not be limited to: Jewish education, timely acts of Jewish identification, mikveh, circumcision, and hatafat dam brit; 

(7)   In the case of a patrilineal applicant for membership over the age of thirteen where the mother is not Jewish, who has not been a member of a UPJ congregation prior to 31 December 2008, the rabbi/s of the congregation, (or in the case of a congregation without a rabbi, the consulting rabbi), will determine/s the requirements for the acceptance of the member in accordance with the parameters established by the Moetzah from time to time, similar to the procedures listed above in (6). 

 

Notwithstanding the above, we the rabbis of the Moetzah recognise that our determinations of Jewish status may not be recognised in all Jewish communities around the world.

Jews pay tribute to righteous Aboriginal elder

December 12, 2008 by Steve 

Rabbi Lenny Thal’s “Insights into leadership”

December 11, 2008 by Steve 

Eighteen Insights for Lay Leaders To Consider

Rabbi Lennard R. Thal

 

 

 

 

This is an important time of transition for the UPJ – after four years of superb leadership from Phyllis Dorey, we have every expectation that David Robinson will also provide exemplary leadership as well. Is it a coincidence – maybe not – that with the completion of this week’s Torah portion, we also mark a notable transition, from the universal themes of Creation, Garden of Eden, Cain & Abel, Noah and the Flood and the Tower of Babel into the specifically Jewish history of the patriarchs and matriarchs. Indeed, as we move into that period, we mark any number of transitions from one patriarch to the next, from each matriarch to her successor.

 

As others have pointed out over the years, there is a touch of irony in the name of one such Torah portion, Chaye Sarah, “the life of Sarah,” which we will read in a few weeks. Why ironic? Because the opening verses describe not the life of Sarah, other than noting the number of years she had lived, but, rather, focus on her death and the “hoops” through which Abraham had to jump in order to secure an appropriate burial place for her.

 

A somewhat less well-known oddity – or more precisely, an apparent oddity – is the focus of the last few verses of the prior Torah portion when they are juxtaposed with the opening verses of Chaye Sarah. At the end of the prior portion we learn of the birth of ebekah…prompting the question, why might the Torah tell us about the birth of Rebekah, fated to become the wife of Sarah’s son, Isaac, BEFORE it speaks of Sarah’s death?

 

In fact, the Rabbis of two thousand years ago asked the same question and answered it in a somewhat mystifying manner: “The sun also rises and the sun sets.” No, they had not read Ernest Hemingway, but they HAD read Kohelet, the biblical book we know in English as Ecclesiastes, a book that includes that unusual passage. As Rabbi Abba put it so many years ago, “Do we then not know that the sun rises and the sun sets? But the meaning, he continued, is that before the Holy Blessing One causes the sun of one righteous person to set, God causes the sun of another tzaddik to rise.”

 

In other words, as Rabbi Bradley Artson points out, “before allowing the righteous Sarah to die, God had already assured the rise of another righteous Matriarch…Knowing that the health of the Jewish community could not continue without a loving embodiment of its warmth and wisdom, God made sure that a new Matriarch was ready before allowing the old one to journey on.”

 

What we have here is an ancient observation, no less relevant today than it was then, about not only the continuity of leadership but also, even if less explicitly stated, about the quality of leadership…and maybe on the qualities of leadership as well.

 

In that regard, some months ago, a friend, aware that I was approaching retirement after 26 years with the Union for Reform Judaism, and also aware that I have a particular interest in the role of lay leadership in Jewish life, was contemplating an invitation to become president of his congregation. He asked me what I perceived to be the recipe for a satisfying tenure in such a position. Great question. I think I helped him in his decision to move ahead and I think this is an appropriate occasion to share with all of you a somewhat more elaborate version of my response.

 

Since one might reasonably claim that effective leadership is the “lifeblood” of a successful temple, permit me to identify “chai,” or eighteen, insights, some in just a sentence or two, insights I have gleaned from more than a quarter century of working with the congregational arm of our North American Movement. At the outset I would acknowledge that this list is designed primarily for those serving as presidents — or likely to  in the near future — but I invite other lay leaders and synagogue professionals to “listen in.” I also acknowledge that these 18 insights are not necessarily in order of importance and that they are not necessarily applicable to all congregational settings.

 

In addition, I also am aware that some folks in Australia and New Zealand may be a bit skeptical about grafting the North American experience onto this part of the world – so feel free to adapt and extrapolate from the following “insights” as you see fit.

 

1. There are two questions you may be asked occasionally. You should always feel comfortable with the answers and confident that others would find those answers appropriately modest yet fully credible. The two questions are: “Why do you think you were invited to become temple president?” and “Why did you accept?”
2. Effective presidents are effective partners – and partnership in a synagogue context means “brit kodesh” or sacred covenant. In that regard, if you have not availed yourself of the “Brit Kodesh” materials from the Union for Reform Judaism, you are missing something very valuable in your leadership repertoire and I suggest that you to on the URJ website and download them.
3. Many, most notably Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, have written about adopting the mystical concept of tzimtzum, or contraction, as an essential component of their leadership style. I concur. As Dr. Borowitz put it, “[in this model], the leader withholds presence and power so that the followers may have a place in which to be.” While this model can be very effective, it is not necessarily easy to accomplish since it requires its practitioner to know when to withhold and when to act; to do one without the other is NOT to engage in tzimtzum authentically. But that difficulty, that challenge and the concomitant fear of error does not mean that we ought to discard the model since when it works it is leadership at its best.

And, a corollary to “tzimtzum” – here are the exact words once uttered to me by a woman “of a certain age” who assumed her temple’s presidency with precious little advance preparation. “It has taken me six months to realize this, Rabbi Thal, but I now recognize that when I became president I should have parked my ego in a blind trust.”

1. In a somewhat related vein, several thousand years ago, Jethro sternly lectured Moses, his son-in-law, about the critical importance of delegating responsibility to others (take a look at that “leadership primer” we call Exodus, chapter 18, verses 13-23). Guess what…that concept is as important today as it was then, especially if we want to erase the term “burn-out” from our vocabulary.
2.  And speaking of Exodus, we would do well to recall the famous midrashic passage associated with Nachshon as the Israelites were being pursued by the Egyptians: “[As the Israelites hesitated and began arguing amongst themselves], this one said ‘I’m not going into the water!’ And that one said, ‘I won’t go in until you will!’ While they were arguing, Nachshon, son of Aminadav, jumped in first.” And while we would do well to remember THAT passage, we would do even better if we also recalled the opening verses of the Book of Numbers, when the leading representative of each tribe is identified. Eleven of the twelve have one of the names for God incorporated into their own names, e.g., “Eli Tsur” or “Elishama” – and yet none of those eleven play any meaningful role anywhere else in Torah. Who is the twelfth? That same Nachshon – no fancy name with theological significance for him! What do we infer from this? That neither the office one holds nor the title one might have confer REAL authority and influence. Real authority and influence emerge from and reflect one’s actions and one’s level of menschlichkeit.
3. And speaking of Torah, you may wish to memorize two verses from Deuteronomy 31…and know when to be guided by one and when by the other. Deut. 31:7 has Moses saying to Joshua, “Be strong and resolute, for it is you who shall GO WITH this people into the [promised] land” while 31:23 has God telling Joshua “Be strong and resolute, for you shall BRING the Israelites into the land which I promised them.”
4. Understand that most conflicts that develop in Rabbinic-Lay relationships, if not addressed early on, ultimately deteriorate into that dreaded category I call “whose shul is it, anyway?” However, most such conflicts have modest origins emerging more often than not simply from incongruent expectations. Here’s the lesson: meet as often as necessary with your rabbi to assess where your expectations match and where they diverge and, together, establish a strategy to minimize the impact of the latter.
5. Congruence or incongruence of expectations to one side, never overlook the importance of the care and feeding of your professional staff. Remain open and receptive to their gifts, their expertise and their vision and be not overly bothered by the quirkiness that sometimes accompanies them! When that quirkiness appears to deteriorate into unreasonableness or arrogance, then speak up loud and clear.
6. Get in touch with what the writer Parker Palmer calls “functional atheism” – the belief, as he puts it, “that ultimate responsibility for everything rests with me.” This is symptomatic of those lay leaders too prone to “micro-managing” or to being “hands-on” where they should pull back, unconsciously driven by the notion that “if anything decent is going to happen here, I am the one who needs to make it happen.”
7. Parker Palmer also reminds us that some leaders have been too much affected by our culture’s denial of death – in institutions, as elsewhere, we just don’t like to acknowledge that some things need to end. As he once put it, “Projects and programs that should have been [buried] … years ago are still on a life-support system even though they’ve been in a coma for decades.” Of course, the corollary is that allowing something to die just might enable something more valuable, more relevant, and more stimulating to come to life.
8. Avoid measuring success only in terms of numbers. Counting the house, comparing the number of new members this year to a year ago, crowing (or complaining) about the size of the budget – all may be important but you know and I know that there are better criteria by which to measure congregational success or failure.
9. Decide and then occasionally re-evaluate how much credence to give to certain cultural phenomena disproportionately found in temple life. For example (a) parking lot meetings – which occur before or, more typically, after regularly scheduled board meetings, (b) the trustee who sidles up to you and begins speaking with the expression “People are saying…” which can be accurately translated either as “One person said…” or “I’m too cowardly to own this comment myself but…” and, finally, (c) undifferentiated kvetching. [As I have noted in the past, I realized that  Descartes was Jewish as soon as I read his famous statement, “I kvetch therefore I am.”]
10. Minimize the use of the first person singular pronoun, especially the possessive form of that pronoun. Hearing a temple president refer to “My board, my officers, or my professional staff” is equivalent to hearing fingernails being scraped along a blackboard. Indeed, it suggests that the president’s ego certainly has NOT been parked in a blind trust!
11. In the words of a former temple president in Las Cruces, NM, you can probably never make “too many phone calls” – there is always a trustee who needs a little more information or support, another who could use recognition for a job well done, and yet another who would thrive on having his opinion requested…you get the picture. Time consuming? Perhaps so. Rewarding? Without question. Use email? Perhaps, but it’s not as effective.
12. Identify ways, perhaps even unusual ways, to make the presidency enjoyable so that, after the fact, you will remember your tenure as satisfying and growthful. Here’s an example: ask your rabbi if, as president, you could have an hour a month with him or her for a one-on-one tutorial on the parashah of the week. No temple business – just studying Torah together. [In some instances perhaps you ought to have the para-medics standing by before you pop the question.] And remember this…if YOU find the presidency satisfying, others will recognize that fact and it will be far easier for the nominating committee to recruit a worthy successor. [The point is that you don’t want to be the temple president who is heard to say, “the presidency of a temple may be likened to the ownership of a boat – the two best days are the day you get the boat and the day you dump the boat!]
13.  Think about what you convey, intentionally or not, to the other trustees on the temple board about a leader’s responsibility to be a Jewish role model for rank and file congregants. Example: the president of a 250-member congregation in Southern California, toward the end of her term, gave a copy of Heschel’s “The Sabbath” to each trustee with whom she had served. Imagine the reaction and think about the underlying message.
14. Two related – and serious – comments about humor.  First, those who are “humor-challenged” probably ought never serve as temple presidents and, second, I remain convinced that, more often than not, humor is indeed “the shortest distance between two people.”
15. Finally, a shameless commercial. In all likelihood THE best preparation the World Union provides someone on the eve of assuming a temple presidency is the annual program in Jerusalem we call the Beutel Seminar (named after its benefactor).  If you want more information, talk to Steve Denenberg or Shai Pinto (here from Jerusalem).

 

And a brief coda to these remarks. “The sun also rises – and the sun sets.” Another way to understand that phrase from Ecclesiastes is that our time on this earth, and the time set aside for any specific task is limited, as Phyllis and David nicely reminded me when they invited me to speak this evening. So I choose to heed words of advice Rabbi Harold Saperstein, of blessed memory, once gave his son Rabbi David Saperstein: If you want to be seen, stand up tall; if you want to be heard, speak up nice and loud; and if you wish to be liked, be quiet and sit down.” And, to that, we all say, “Amen!”

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