A GENERATION FOLLOWS THE EXAMPLE OF ITS LEADERS

 

The members of our congregation are the engine behind everything we do as a synagogue.  We are blessed with individuals who are deeply committed to our vibrant community.  These people have contributed in so many important ways to make our congregation what it is.  If, as the Talmud suggests, “A generation follows the example of its leaders” (Arachin 17a), then our congregation is deeply caring, learned, thoughtful and devoted to living a vibrant Judaism, just like our leaders.

Jeremy Wolfe is, of course, the first worthy of mention.  Jeremy finishes his fourth year of serving as our temple president this month, and he will hand the ostensible gavel (but not his laptop computer) over to Harvey Cotton as our next president on June 6.  Jeremy has been an outstanding president, guiding our congregation through important transitions with wisdom during these past four years.  With great for how Temple Sinai can function as a kehillah k’doshah, a sacred community, as well as with his wonderful (and often wacky) humor, much serious reflection, dedication and respect for all the members of our community, Jeremy has done very well in leading us. 

We will honor Jeremy – along with Abbe Cohen and Sheila Shulman, who have also served our congregation with great dedication – on Saturday late afternoon, June 23 at 5:00 p.m., with a festive and informal Havdallah service at the Temple.  I hope you will come to join me in saying thank you to all of them for their remarkable work.

Abraham and Lillian Shulman are also worthy of the honor bestowed upon them this month.  Each of them has served our congregation with a lifetime of dedication and devotion.  Lillian was the first female president of our congregation (she served from 1977 to 1981).  Over the years, she has served as a leader in our congregation in multiple ways and in the New England leadership of the Reform movement and Boston-area synagogue life at the highest levels.  Abe has been a devoted member of our congregation in many respects, as well.  When I consider their many decades of Jewish commitment, I regard them with great affection and awe.  We will honor their leadership on Sunday afternoon, June 10 at 4:00 p.m., and I hope you will join us.

Dennis Cerrotti will also be honored by Temple Sinai with the 2007 Harry Wheeler Distinguished Service Award, which will be given to him on Friday, June 8 at 7:30 p.m.  Through his many years of teaching about Judaism and its practice and development at Temple Sinai, Dennis has spread his enthusiasm for religion to many in our congregation.  Join us when we honor him.

Last, I want to acknowledge the eight members of our “Leadership Development Institute,” who have spent many long hours creating our fabulously successful “Congregational Conversation” this Spring, organizing nine meaningful conversations about the present and future of Temple Sinai, and also the members of our Atid Leadership Training group, who have participated all year-long in the Union for Reform Judaism’s study and discussion program on synagogue leadership.  The Atid graduation Shabbat service is on Friday June 15, and you will hear more from the LDI group following the summer, when they report on the Conversations to the congregation as a whole.

While the summer is certainly quieter at the Temple than the busy school-year, we are still busy.  I hope you will join us to celebrate Shabbat through June, July and August, and participate in some of the Adult Learning activities in the summer, too.  If you are traveling, I wish you safe travels and a safe return.  (As for me, in early July I will travel to Israel, where I’ll be studying with 140 rabbis at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.  I can’t wait!)  

For us all, my prayer is that the summer is a time of renewal and vision, and that come Fall we each may continue to contribute our energies to make Temple Sinai even more of a caring and vibrant Jewish community than it already is. 

Rabbi Andy Vogel