• Click on Communicate: Submit an Idea and Earn a $1,000 Cash Grant
• Summertime and the Temple Needs
  Cleaning and Painting and Repairing...
• It's Time to Prepare for the High Holy Days
• Send A Board Team to the Boston Biennial
  

CLICK ON COMMUNICATE
NOW FULLY AVAILABLE ON THE WEB

SUMBIT AN IDEA AND EARN A $1,000 CASH GRANT!

Is your Board looking for new fund-raising approaches? Are you considering instituting a Leadership Development Program? Are you reviewing your dues system and want to learn about other Fair Share Programs? Know that you are not alone and you do not have to reinvent the wheel. Hundreds of UAHC congregations tackle the same issues every day, and many of them have submitted their ideas to Communicate!

Communicate! is an easy-to-use computerized encyclopedia of ideas, program expertise, contacts, and resources that is designed specifically for the UAHC and its member congregations. The Communicate! database consists of time-tested ideas and resources that have been created and used by your fellow congregants throughout North America. Communicate! is now fully available on the Internet as well as on CD-ROM.

With Communicate! you can do the following:

• Scan the database subjects by viewing over 500 different key words ranging from -administrators- to -Zionists.
• Research how similarly sized congregation have handled your particular issue.
• Collect a packet of ideas for a Board or committee meeting.
• Tailor your search for information to fit your needs by subject as well as by title, author, congregation size, and congregation name.
• Gather a contact list of individuals who are experts in your area of interest.
• Assemble resources that will enhance your project.

To build an ever-growing database, Communicate! has instituted a grant program. Submit a new summary of each of your congregation’s great ideas between now and October 15, 2001, and you will be eligible for a $1,000 cash grant to be used for programming in your synagogue. Grants will be awarded in each of the following categories:

• Best idea from a large congregation (over 250 members)
• Best idea from a small congregation (250 members or fewer)
• Best NATE/educational idea
• Best NATA/temple administration idea

Communicate! is a project of the UAHC Ida and Howard Wilkoff Department of Synagogue Management. To access Communicate! on the Web, click on http://uahc.org/comm. For further information about Communicate! telephone 212.650.4040, fax 212.650.4239, or e-mail Communicate@uahc.org.

SUMMERTIME AND THE TEMPLE NEEDS
CLEANING AND PAINTING AND REPAIRING...

Thus saith Adonai: Set thy house in order.
-Isaiah 38:1

As Board members, you have a fiduciary duty to oversee the financial stability of your congregation. Properly maintaining the facility on an ongoing basis can greatly assist in this effort. Thus it is incumbent upon you as Board members to insure both that the budget provides funds for routine facility maintenance and that in fact the facility is properly maintained.

A member or members of your Building or House Committee who have a working knowledge of your facility’s infrastructure and a critical eye should scrutinize your facility with your maintenance staff to impress upon them the scope and standards of appropriate upkeep. The committee, staff, and the building superintendent if you have one, must work well together as a team.

Once the examination has been done, a system of preventive maintenance must be instituted. A yearly month-by-month schedule should be created, maintained, and supervised by a member of the committee. The summertime break from other activities will enable your congregation to do more of this routine but critical inspection and maintenance work. This timetable will also help you to prepare the building for the High Holy Days.

Another important aspect of properly maintaining your facility is to create a facilities capital replacement forecast. This will enable the congregation to put aside funds in your budget for routine maintenance so that once it is observed, a little rip in the carpet or a chip in the paint doesn’t become a major expense. Both as a budgeting and scheduling tool, creating this forecast will permit your congregation to plan effectively, maintain appropriately, and avoid surprises.

Once this system has been implemented, your committee should meet regularly to assess the state of the building maintenance, monitor the performance of the staff, and make any necessary adjustments to the forecast.

For more information on how to maintain your temple, see The Synagogue Facility As a Valuable Asset, by Stephen, E. Breuer, which is available free of charge. The Synagogue Facility As a Valuable Asset (PDF 68KB) is available to download in a PDF file format from the web, or you may order the publication by contacting the UAHC Ida and Howard Wilkoff Department of Synagogue Management by phone at 212.650.4040 or by e-mail at synagoguemgmt@uahc.org.

IT'S TIME TO PREPARE FOR THE HIGH HOLY DAYS

It is the most well-attended synagogue time of the year, and so as Board members, it is incumbent upon you to help insure that your temple creates a well-organized and well-planned memorable and meaningful worship experience. Although you are not responsible for administrative planning, it is important that you be aware of the preparation that is required and monitor its execution. Below is a short alphabetical checklist of key considerations and some ideas for using the High Holy Days to enhance community within your congregation and neighborhood.

Annual Checklist

Aliyot: Honor new and seasoned members and make sure that honorees know what is expected of them.

Food and flowers: See that children’s snacks, Onegs, and the break the fast are arranged and that bimah flowers and usher boutonnieres are ordered.

High Holy Day Appeal: Because this is a potentially lucrative fund-raiser, planning, care given to details, and follow-up are essential.

Mailing: Since this is your High Holy Day instructional mailing, it should be planned well in advance and include all pertinent ticket policies, service schedules, and memorial book materials.

Medical: Determine the appropriate coverage which could range from assigning volunteer doctors in the house to temple aisle seats to having paramedics stationed in the parking lot.

Mitzvah Project: A food drive is particularly successful during this season and can be organized by the Social Action Committee or the youth groups.

New/potential members: Insure that care is taken to invite, welcome, fete, and follow-up with those new to your congregation.

Security: Determine the needs and arrange for coverage with regard to parking, traffic control, emergency procedures, and appropriate permits from your local police.

Site: Whether services are held on- or off-site, insure that a walk-through is completed so that the site is prepared both logistically (for crowd and traffic flow, handicap access, and baby-sitting), and physically (Torah covers are changed and cleaned; enough prayer books and chairs are ordered; kippot and tallitot are available; the sound system, air conditioning, and batteries are tested and, the building and grounds are spruced up).

Ushers: Recruit and train those who will be your official greeters and first-line problem solvers.

An Occasion to Connect with Old, New, and Potential Members

The High Holy Days offer a unique opportunity for your Board to foster camaraderie within your congregation and community. Consider the following ideas employed by some of our smaller congregations.

Beth Hillel Temple in Kenosha, WI, places an annual advertisement in the local newspapers inviting the community to join them for High Holy Day services. Nonmembers are encouraged to sign a guest book so that follow-up connections can be made. The Board sponsors a festive Oneg after Rosh HaShanah evening services that is the temple’s biggest reception of the year as well as a reception after Tashlich and a communal break the fast on Yom Kippur.

Congregation Children of Israel in Augusta, GA, offers “good old southern hospitality” to members of their community during the High Holy Day season. Families who are new to the community are invited to a newcomer party before the High Holy Days and then identified through free, specially-marked tickets. Students at area colleges and members of the local army facility are admitted gratis if they show their student or military identification. Everyone is invited to the WRJ-sponsored Oneg on Rosh HaShanah.

At Temple Beth-El in Munster, IN, in addition to the memorial book, a New Year’s greeting book is published. For $5 per entry, each family has the opportunity to be listed and to support a small but profitable fund-raiser.

SEND A BOARD TEAM TO THE BOSTON BIENNIAL

Daring to Dream: Transforming Reform Judaism is the theme of the 66th UAHC Biennial Convention, which will be held in Boston, MA, on December 5–9, 2001. Mark your calendars, and plan to send a Board delegation to this always inspirational and profoundly stirring meeting of the Reform Jewish Movement of North America.

With more than 180 workshops to choose from, you will want to meet with your delegates to determine which workshops are most relevant for your synagogue and to insure that your temple benefits from them. A useful innovation at this Biennial is a clear delineation of fifteen tracks, each of which features at least one workshop in every time block so that temple leaders can, at a glance, identify and immerse themselves in their areas of interest. Some workshops, such as Synagogue Leadership, Synagogue Finance and Fund-Raising, and Strengthening Lay-Professional Relationships, will be particularly relevant to Board leaders.

Other highlights of the Biennial include:

• Shabbat: A twenty-four-hour, mystical and spiritual experience of worship, rest, song, celebration, reflection, study, and eating
• Networking lunches: Common Grounds Luncheons with topics such as Leadership Development and Nominating Committees, and Congregational Search Luncheons to help those looking for a rabbi, cantor, administrator, or educator
• Plenary sessions: Votes on policy issues, presentations, and major speeches
• Daily worship experiences: A variety of innovative and varied liturgical approaches, worship styles, and models
• The Exhibit Hall: The largest exhibit of Judaica and synagogue resources in North America
• Preconvention programs: An opportunity to study timely topics in depth
• The consultation area: Obtain materials and meet with professionals from every UAHC department and affiliate to discuss your unique needs

Look for the pamphlet titled Call to the Biennial with complete registration material that will be mailed to your congregation in early June. Starting on July 1, registration will be available on the Web at http://uahc.org/Boston. The registration fee is $480 or $440 if full payment is received by September 14. Once delegates have paid their registration fee in full, they can reserve rooms from a block set aside at Boston’s leading hotels. Discounted air travel is available through Ayelet Tours, Ltd., by calling 900.237.1517, extension 329.

For further registration information about the Boston Biennial, contact Robin Riback by telephone at 212.650.4180 or by e-mail at Rriback@uahc.org. For programming information, contact the UAHC by telephone at 212.650.4270 or by e-mail at biennial@uahc.org.

Share Your Ideas and Input. Do You Have... Programs that have worked well in your congregation? Topics about which you would like more information? Suggestions for articles for Inside Leadership?