I find it hard to believe that a full year has gone by since I had the honour of being elected President of the congregation. Preparing my report to the congregation, which was delivered at the annual meeting, gave me cause to reflect on the richness and diversity of the programs offered to our members and the excellence and dedication of our clergy and staff, as well as our many volunteers. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of our membership attends the annual meeting. Those who didn’t will have to wait until next year to read about the accomplishments of last year. However, I would encourage you not to wait, but come out to a service or synagogue event so you can experience first hand what I am talking about!

 

I continue to be buoyed by the many members who speak to me in glowing terms about a particular service or event, or a series of positive experiences. Our goal, of course, is to make all of you feel that way. The reality is that you do not all feel that way for a variety of reasons, some of which do get shared with the leadership and some which don’t. However, we do want to engage our members in a process of visioning for the future so that we all have an opportunity to build a vision of what role the shul should have in our lives, and what role we all need to play to ensure that we have a strong synagogue as we move further into the 21^st century. I have said before, but I believe it bears repeating, that it is critical that we do indeed have a strong synagogue if we are going to have a strong, or any, Jewish community in the future.

 

I just returned from a beautiful family wedding in Toronto. The bride is the youngest granddaughter of the late Rabbi Solomon and Elsie Frank. Some of you may remember Rabbi Frank, who was Rabbi at Shaarey Zedek many years ago, before moving his family to Montreal. Elsie was a Brook, a cousin of my late father-in-law Myer Shapiro, and the family has remained close. Besides being a really wonderful reunion of the Shapiro and Brook families, who are spread all over North America, there were a couple of aspects of the wedding which were particularly meaningful and moving. The bride’s sister just graduated as a Cantor and presided at the wedding. How proud her late grandfather would have been, and how special we all felt to witness this particularly beautiful service, so filled with sisterly emotion and love. Another aspect of the wedding which struck me as special was the clear message in the various speeches delivered throughout the evening of the importance to the couple and their families of strong Jewish values. The groom spoke of the importance to the young couple of having a kosher wedding. I had smiled when reviewing the bridal registry at the number of sets of dishes the couple had registered for. I must admit that I have not attended a lot of Jewish weddings, and while I would like to think they are all like that, I suspect that this was exceptional. Having said that, it certainly would enhance the chances of maintaining a strong Jewish community if more of our young people shared those values.

 

I am always so encouraged by our remarkable young people as they lead services, read Torah and chant Haftarah so beautifully at their b’nai mitzvahs. They deliver amazing speeches which invariably include their commitment to take their place in the Jewish community and fulfill many of the mitzvot. Sadly, for most of them, their ongoing commitment to the synagogue often translates to nothing more than the possible attendance during the High Holidays. Why is it that this happens? So much ability seems to be going to waste. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if these young people actually came to services regularly and shared their talents with the congregation? Why wouldn’t they and their families share the same feelings of pride and accomplishment that is so evident on that one special day? Wouldn’t a regular commitment to the synagogue of our post-b’nai mitzvah children and their families lead to a stronger synagogue and a stronger Jewish community? I certainly think it would!

 

How do we help make these things happen? Perhaps we will find some answers as we proceed with our visioning process. I certainly hope so. But we need your participation in the visioning process, whether to share your wisdom as an elder or your possible feeling of alienation as a teenager or young adult. So please watch for details. We expect to hold our first congregational visioning session in late October.