Having just shoveled out from what the newspaper reports was the sixth largest snowfall in Winnipeg in the last 40 years, I am pausing to reflect on a very busy December. At the beginning of December I rushed back from a conference I was attending in Montreal to participate in the much anticipated Visioning Workshop. I almost got stuck in Montreal due to a severe ice storm which I just missed by arranging an earlier than scheduled flight home. The Workshop is one piece of the visioning/planning process we have been engaging in this year. Prior to the Workshop, Rabbi Green and I attended a number of parlour meetings at which we heard from a variety of members some of the positive and less positive experiences they had with the Synagogue, and some of the things that they felt would enhance their Synagogue experience. Much of the conversation surrounded the concern as to how to attract young adults and young families to join in the life of the Synagogue community and better engage our membership generally. We also sent out a list of five questions to our entire membership which could be answered on-line or completed manually and dropped off at the Synagogue office. We received limited responses from our members, but the responses we did get were certainly appreciated and helpful in our information gathering process.

 

We were very pleased to have over 80 concerned and obviously committed members attend the Workshop. The Workshop facilitators had designed a format which involved a number of exercises and some discussion among small breakout groups. We have not yet had a formal evaluation done, but it is fair to say that a number of participants did not feel the Workshop met their expectations. I do not believe we allowed enough time to get to a point where any concrete results were obvious, or next steps developed and articulated. It has been suggested that some of the exercises were of little or no help in moving our vision ahead. Nevertheless, the Workshop was to focus on a reexamination of our values in order to test our current Mission Statement and determine if it needs revision. A small working group will be reviewing the material generated at the Workshop to complete that task and also to develop a proposed Vision Statement. Following that step, there still remains a considerable amount of work to be done in developing action plans to accomplish what we need to do to keep Shaarey Zedek a vibrant centre of Jewish life in Winnipeg for future generations. One of the main concerns, which could not escape those in attendance at the Workshop, was the significant lack of young adults (by young adults I mean those under 50) and youth, who were encouraged to attend. This begs the question: How can we successfully shape the future, without our “future” participating in the process?

 

My hope is that we can continue with the process of engaging more of our young people and look toward creating new initiatives which will make this group more comfortable in the Synagogue. A good start in that direction should be the new Young Family Alternative Service which was offered for the first time on January 13, 2007. This service was modeled after the very successful Young Family Alternative High Holiday Service, and owing to the positive response, it will be offered more frequently throughout the year. Another great step is the involvement of several young Torah readers who participated in Shabbat services during December. These young people are so capable and add immeasurably to the joy of our Shabbat services. I am looking forward to their continued participation and want to thank all their parents and grandparents for their support of these special young people.

 

With December, of course, came Chanukah and a very successful Family Chanukah Event and Dinner chaired by Ivana Islic and Randall Swartz. Over 200 people attended these events. We also had a beautiful Congregational Chanukah Shabbat Dinner chaired by Harriet and Ted Lyons and Marcy and Lloyd Secter with over 100 people in attendance.

 

The Tikun Olam Committee once again helped organized the Christmas luncheon at West Broadway Ministries. Many of our members donated toys, games, mitts and scarves and other items which will truly make a difference in the lives of the 150 or so less fortunate individuals who attended the luncheon which was prepared and served by members of our Congregation and other volunteers. The number of volunteers from Shaarey Zedek was significantly down from other years and I do hope that next year we will have more participation as we can definitely use more help with this very worthwhile project. There was also a regular Harvest Volunteer Night in December which was well attended.

 

So while I continue to be concerned about our future, I am very proud of the accomplishments of the present, and excited about the many great programs and events happening over the next few months which we will be reading about in this Shofar. Please join us as we continue to strive to make Shaarey Zedek the place to be.