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September 2001 Ehul 5761
 

EARLY REGISTRATION DEADLINE FOR THE
BOSTON BIENNIAL IS SEPTEMBER 24
Register On-Line at www.uahc.org/Boston

Send a Board team to the 66th UAHC Biennial Convention, Daring to Dream: Transforming
Reform Judaism, which will be held in Boston, MA, on December 5–9, 2001.

Assemble a delegation for the Biennial and transform your Board members from a group of well-meaning individuals to an inspired, excited, and committed team. As Paula Milstein, a member of
Temple Israel, Tulsa, OK, and the president of the UAHC Southwest Council, says, “Sending a Board
team to the Biennial is one of the most positive avenues for congregational leadership development.” Helene Spring, the president of East End Temple, New York, NY, states, “It is an exciting
and valuable venture. Those who attend make better committed leaders, and that is what counts
here.”

The UAHC Biennial will enable your members to explore what the future holds for Reform synagogue communities. With 5,000 of your fellow North American Reform Jews, you can totally immerse yourself in your Judaism, explore synagogue life, gather new ideas, study with scholars, celebrate with friends, learn from the pros and each other, and sing and schmooze.

Celebrate Shabbat in Boston with a twenty-four hour magical, mystical, spiritual experience of wor-ship, rest, singing, celebrating, reflecting, studying, and eating. From the joyful Kabbalat Shabbat
welcome to the sweet-smelling Havdalah separation, benefit from the essence of Shabbat joy, holiness, and rest.

Don’t miss major speakers and award winners, including Senator Edward Kennedy, Representative Barney Frank, Federation leader Barry Shrage, author Deborah Lipstadt, and composer Ben
Steinberg.

To help insure that your delegation takes home the most valuable information for your congregation, the workshop choices this year are grouped into sixteen tracks based on general areas of interest. Board members can follow tracks like Synagogue Leadership, Synagogue Finances and Fund-Raising, and Synagogue Transformation.

Register by September 24 and save $40. Once you have paid your registration fee in full, you will receive housing information. Discounted air travel to the Biennial is available through Ayelet Tours,
Ltd., by calling 900.237.1517, extension 329.

To register on-line for the 2001 Biennial, complete the on-line registration form and submit credit card information to www.uahc.org/Boston.

To pay by check, please print out the on-line form and mail it to UAHC Biennial Registrar, 633 Third
Avenue, New York, NY 10017.

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.

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CONSTRUCT A FULL–FUNCTIONING BOARD
Schedule Training before the First Board Meeting

Because many synagogue Trustees assume office around the holidays, now is the time to get your Board fully prepared for the year ahead. Plan a Board-training session in which members are apprised of their responsibilities and educated about the temple and governance processes.

President Stacy Chertock of Temple Beth Torah in Wellington, Florida, invited all the Board members
to dinner at a past president’s home. In that festive and relaxing atmosphere, she arranged everyone in a circle, distributed and discussed a potpourri of appropriate materials, and then conducted a question-and-answer session. She invited all Board members because it was the temple’s first training session ever and many of the Trustees were newish (members of the Board for only a year or so). She found the event to be quite worthwhile, noting that the more experienced members worked with the newer members. It was so successful that she decided she would invite all members in the future, making attendance for experienced members optional.

At United Hebrew Congregation in St. Louis, Missouri, Board performance is kept at peak efficiency by the use of the new Board-member training experience. This intensive session, which is held immediately before the first Board meeting, enables new members to rapidly learn about a whole host of Board responsibilities. President Barry Ginsburg finds that “Board meetings go fairly efficiently and quickly, and so new members could spend months trying to figure out how things work and what their role is. Training jump-starts the process, allows new Board members to feel less nervous about what their role is and what will be expected of them, disavows them of incorrect presumptions about their responsibilities, and enables them to become productive members right away.”

Effective Board training should be fairly straight-forward. The president, staff, and a financial officer can cover all of the needed information. Material included in a Board manual and reviewed during the session could include the following:

A brief leadership text study that provides a model for the role of temple Board member*
A list of the Board members’ responsibilities and objectives
A history of the temple
A sample agenda
A list of the committees and their chairs, as well as information about the overall temple-governance structure
A diagram of the structure of the professional and office staff
A “whom do you call” list with telephone numbers (or extensions), which includes those of
the Executive Committee, Board members, committee chairs, and professional and office staff
Board meeting, holiday, and bulletin calendars
A copy of the Constitution and bylaws
A copy of the budget
A copy of the mission statement
A copy of Managing the Sacred: A Guide for Synagogue Board Members and other appropriate UAHC materials about effective leadership, delegation, and structuring a meeting
*Appropriate Board-study materials include the Go and Study text-study programs, which are available from the UAHC Department of Adult Jewish Growth by phone at 212.650.4087, by e-mail at ajgrowth@uahc.org, or on the Web at http://uahc.org/leadership/goandstudy.


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PLAN A BACK-TO-SHUL NIGHT
Showcase Your Activities and Increase Membership Involvement 

A fundamental and ongoing Board concern is how to boost member participation. Congregation Emanuel in Denver, Colorado (2,000 member units), has in place a wonderful program designed to encourage temple members’ involvement. Early each fall (this year on Friday, September 28, right
after Yom Kippur), the temple hosts a Back-to-Shul Night, which is publicized in the temple bulletin and via postcards sent to new and potential members.

The evening begins, as do all Shabbats at Emanuel, with a dinner (provided for a nominal fee), which is open to both members and non-members. In the foyer, booths are set up and staffed before and after services by name-tag-wearing members of each group represented, and written materials about the temple’s auxiliaries, committees, and activities are provided. Oneg goodies are available at each booth to further encourage interaction.

Sandie Eichberg, the program director at Congregation Emanuel, lauds the evening: “Our congregation is so large and our programming is so diverse that this is a great opportunity for people to see what happens in our temple.” Designed to educate and excite members and potential members about synagogue activities, Back-to-Shul Night provides a wonderful chance to meet and reach out to future congregational leaders.

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T’SHUVAH
Return to the Board and Study

In preparation for the High Holy Days, the UAHC Department of Adult Jewish Growth has published Reaching for Holiness: A Study Guide for S’lichot and Yom Kippur, 2001/5762 . The focus of S’lichot is preparation for the High Holy Days specifically and for Jewish life in general. This booklet provides a wealth of material that can help Board members prepare for temple leadership as the new season begins. Many of the workshops can be adapted for Board study or d’var Torah use at the beginning of each meeting. Especially appropriate for teaching Board members about governing Jewishly are the following workshops:

‘It’s Okay, I’ll Sit in the Dark’: What Judaism Says about Reproaching Others, by Rabbi
Irwin A. Zeplowitz, which uses several texts to explore the issue of reproaching others for
wrongdoing
Taking T’shuvah Personally: Reflections on Our Relationships with Others, Ourselves, and God, by Darren Levine, which seeks to encourage the personal process of t’shuvah through articles from the Fall issue of Reform Judaism magazine titled “Family Feuds”
Don’t Get Ugly: A Talmudic Story, which encourages discussion about the effects of gossip and hurtful language.
To obtain a copy of Reaching for Holiness and the companion audiocassette from the UAHC Department of Adult Jewish Growth, free of charge to your congregation call, 212.650.4087or e-mail your request to ajgrowth@uahc.org. You may also download the material via the Adult Jewish Growth Web site .


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ISRAEL NOW AND FOREVER
Promote Israel Solidarity during the High Holy Days

Calling Israel “a worldwide Jewish project,” Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has urged global solidarity among the Jewish people. He said, “The solidarity of the Jewish people must be seen.” The prime minister also suggested that Jews throughout the world continue to unite and defend Israel against
the distortions of Arab propaganda. In addition, he stated, “It is time for tens of thousands of Jews to
visit Israel.”

In response to Sharon’s call for global solidarity among the Jewish people, the leadership of the United Jewish Communities (UJC), representing 189 Federations and 400 smaller communities in North America, in cooperation with synagogue and rabbinic organizations, has launched Israel NOW and Forever, a bold initiative of commitment and solidarity to energize and mobilize the synagogue and Federation communities with a comprehensive program of education, advocacy, and financial support. National sponsors of this initiative include the Reform Movement’s Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Central Conference of American Rabbis, ARZA/WORLD UNION, North America, and Women of Reform Judaism.

Learn about the program so that you, too, can support and promote it in your congregation during the
upcoming High Holy Days.

Publicize the UJC leaflet that is being sent to your congregation, which urges synagogue members to express their support for Israel and include Israelis in their prayers.
Support a special Solidarity Shabbat and inter-denominational effort on September 15–16 that is designed to promote unity with Israel in synagogues and churches coast to coast.
Encourage your membership to travel to the major Solidarity Sunday rally on September 23 at 1 p.m. in New York City or attend a local rally.
Work with your local Federation to organize a group that will join one of the monthly Israel NOW missions: September 9–14––the Capital to Capital Mission (Washington, DC, to Jerusalem), November 13–18, or December 2–7. “The objective,” said UJC Chairman Charles R. Bronfman, “is for us to be in Israel on a constant basis.”
Contribute to Israel NOW’s fund-raising component, which will support victims of terror, traumatized children and seniors, new immigrants, and vulnerable communities.

According to UAHC President Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, “Reform Jews are committed to the mystery and wonder of the modern State of Israel. We are a religious movement, and our commitment to Israel
is not conditional.” Each Reform synagogue can validate that commitment by promoting solidarity
with Israel now.

For rally updates and more information about Israel NOW and Forever, contact United Jewish
Communities at www.ujc.org. For further information on how your congregation can participate in
the program, contact the UAHC Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism by telephone at
212.650.4160 or by e-mail at elederman@uahc.org.

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Contact the
UAHC Ida and Howard Wilkoff
Department of Synagogue Management
633 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 212.650.4040
Fax: 212.650.4239
E-mail: Synagoguemgmt@uahc.org