It is the biggest "event" your synagogue has all year, and as board members, you truly are the hosts. As with anything else you host, lots of focused advanced planning coupled with a warm and welcoming demeanor on your part during this season will produce a memorable and meaningful experience for your members.

Because the High Holy Days are "early" this year, it is not too soon to start getting ready. Obviously you are not responsible for most of the planning, but it is important for you to grasp the magnitude of preparation that is needed and to learn who is responsible.

ADVANCED PREPARATION FOR BOARD MEMBERS

Holy Holy Days: This season can be a truly satisfying and uplifting experience for you and the members of your congregation. Ask yourself: How can board members make that happen? What is the High Holy Day liturgy about? Does your adult education program provide opportunities for members to prepare for the Days of Awe? As you and your clergy anticipate this season, try to schedule one session about these questions to give yourself the opportunity to reflect on what makes the High Holy Days holy.

Aliyot: With the almost endless opportunity for distributing honors during the many High Holy Days services, be certain that you have a good system for keeping track of the honorees and their availability. Determine the congregation's criterion for awarding aliyot: Is the list balanced according to age and gender? Are new members welcomed with aliyot? Cast a wide net for suggestions by asking board members and committee chairs to submit the names of people who have given their time and talent to the congregation during the past year. This is a wonderful way to honor those who help keep the synagogue running smoothly.

Welcoming New Members: Most people join synagogues in time for the High Holy Days. As board members, it is particularly important for you to make sure that these people feel welcome and comfortable at this time. Color code the tickets of new members so that ushers can be particularly helpful to them. Consider inviting new members to the late evening Selichot service (traditionally held at midnight on the Saturday before Rosh Hashanah), preceded by a dinner, a brief orientation, and a study program.

High Holy Day Mailings: Finalize the times and locations for your services, paying careful attention to crowd flow. Give yourself lead time for printing, collating, and posting your High Holy Days mailings and other printed materials, including tickets and Memorial Books. Update your database so that the mailings are sent to the correct people and addresses. Ensure that dues have been paid, outstanding debts have been cleared, or special arrangements have been made.

Ushers: Recruit plenty of ushers. Have an usher-training session to review what should be done, where things are located, and when and how people are to be seated. Explain to the ushers how to handle the situations that will occur, for example, people without tickets, people at the "wrong" service, etc. Crowd control should be planned and tested. Each usher should have a name tag or another form of identification, for example, a boutonniere. Provide written instructions.

GENERAL TEMPLE PREPARATION (share this list with your rabbi,
administrator, and/or Ritual Committee chair).

Know Who Is Responsible For:

Ritual Objects: Make certain that the congregation's silver, Torah covers, talitot, kipot, and robes have been cleaned and that the synagogue has enough of everything, particularly prayer books.

Food and Flowers: The High Holy Days may require providing food for a children's event, a Kiddush, and breaking the fast; flowers for all service locations and boutonnieres for the ushers.

Site: Many synagogues are not big enough for their High Holy Days crowd. If your congregation is moving off-site, who is booking and doing a complete walk-through of that location? Who is keeping the list of everything that must be transported, from Torahs to kipot? Who is ordering chairs, large-print books, and hearing devices? Who is making sure that handicap access is functional, arranging for baby-sitting (location, toys, snacks), servicing and then testing the air conditioning, sound systems, and closed circuit TV, replacing all batteries, and thoroughly cleaning the interior of the building and sprucing up its exterior?

Security: Who is arranging for additional parking spaces, working with your local police or private company well in advance to insure security in the building and parking areas, planning for emergency procedures, and obtaining any additional permits that may be needed?

AS BOARD MEMBERS, YOU ARE THE HOSTS
Come to services early. Put on a flower or a specially prepared board name tag and mingle, greeting people and welcoming new and seasoned congregants back for another year. Keep your eye on the details: Is everything in place? Is the temperature comfortable? Are there enough chairs? As a trustee, it is important for you to regard the synagogue as if you own it and for the congregation to see you and know who you are.

AFTER THE HIGH HOLY DAYS
Do not neglect to have a "How did it go?" meeting. Obtaining feedback immediately after the High Holy Days while all the details are still fresh in everyone's mind is an efficient and productive way to plan for the following year. Remember that the High Holy Days put a tremendous burden on the clergy as well as on the professional, office, and custodial staff. Thank them for all their efforts verbally or in writing, and perhaps with a gift of flowers or food.

Chag same'ach!

Everyone knows the problem. With roughly 200 days to go until the year 2000, if your synagogue's computer--which uses only two digits to record a date (now it is '99 in Computerland)--does not perceive that '00 is not greater than '99, then:

• No year 2000 facility bookings will appear on your schedule;
• Tax, payroll, and interest calculations will be inaccurate; and
• Five-year printouts will read 1999, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903.

Make sure that someone in your synagogue takes responsibility for 2000 readiness by following this five-step plan:

1. Be aware that action must be taken.
2. Inventory everything that needs to be checked.
3. Assess the severity of the problem and determine which systemsare date-sensitive.
4. Implement the readiness strategy that you have chosen.
5. Test your strategy carefully and fully.

As a member of a temple Board of Trustees, it is your obligation and, we hope, your pleasure to develop yourself Jewishly. Use your summer without meetings to study and share your learning experiences with the board in the fall. The following is a brief sampling of learning opportunities to consider:

LEARN TO TEACH: Register to go to the Para-Rabbinic Fellows Program. Learn to lead Torah study, conduct services, and create synagogue programming at the HUC-JIR campus in Cincinnati, OH (Level One, July 9-18; Level Two, July 23-30).

ASSEMBLE TO STUDY: Go to Kallah. Experience five days of exploration and study, of worship and song, exploring the theme Living the Good Life: Righteousness in Jewish Text and Thought. Choose from four locations: Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (July 7-11); the University of California, Santa Cruz, CA (July 21-25); Beloit College, Beloit, WI (August 4-8); and UAHC Camp George, Parry Sound, ONT, Canada (August 25-29).

PREPARE DIVREI TORAH: Get "Go and Study, vol. 2." These lessons, designed for lay-facilitated text study, provide a meaningful Jewish framework for the beginning of monthly meetings and have ten new texts designed specifically for Boards of Trustees.

READ A BOOK: Get a head start on the Reform Movement's upcoming Significant Jewish Books and consider organizing fall discussion groups in your synagogue. Choose from:

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, a midrashic novel told in Dinah's voice, which reveals the traditions and turmoil of womanhood in the biblical period.

Jews: The Essence and Character of a People, by Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, scholar and vice president emeritus of the World Jewish Congress, and Aron Hirt-Manheimer, editor of Reform Judaism magazine, who in this landmark work answer the question: What makes a Jew a Jew?

The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, a series of responses to a dilemma posed by Holocaust survivor Simon Weisenthal, who refused to grant forgiveness to a dying SS man seeking his forgiveness.

Pirke Avot: A Modern Commentary on Jewish Ethics, by Leonard Kravitz and Kerry M. Olitzky and Wisdom of the Jewish Sages: A Modern Reading of Pirke Avot, by Rami M. Shapiro, are two new editions of Pirke Avot, a favorite Jewish text that is ideal for group study. Discussion guides will be available for all of these books.
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For detailed information about any of these programs, contact the UAHC Department of Adult Jewish Growth by telephone, 212-650-4087, or by e-mail, ajgrowth@uahc.org.

Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill, New Jersey (1,000 families), has a ten-year-old, highly successful way for the congregation to get to know its board members. Every fall, the entire congregation is invited to a Sunday morning breakfast, which is served to them by many of the temple leadership. The rabbis and members of the Board of Trustees, all in personalized aprons, roll up their sleeves and dish out the food. The president is the official greeter, and the turnout is fantastic. New members, long-time members, and all age groups are represented at this temple "institution," which is eagerly anticipated by congregants. Volunteer sign-up forms placed on each table result in many new committee members. Sometimes there is a speaker, but the real draw are the board members, serving and mingling with the rest of the congregation.

Joyce Hoff, vice president and cochair of the event, calls "Breakfast by the Board" an absolute success: "When we can get 300 people at an event, we are very excited." Who wouldn't be?

September is always a busy time, particularly in a synagogue during the High Holy Days, which are "early" this year. One way to get the board into a shul frame of mind is to distribute well in advance of your first meeting a complete packet of materials to all board members so that everyone can start thinking about, envisioning, and planning for the upcoming year. The packet may include a welcoming cover letter from your president suggesting that if the board is prepared, focused, and ready to go, the result will be shorter and more efficient meetings.

Consider including a Torah study piece on leadership that could form the basis for your first devar Torah discussion. The following are other items to include, preferably in loose-leaf binders in which the minutes, monthly budgets, committee reports, and other materials collected throughout the year can be inserted:

• The temple Mission Statement, bylaws, and constitution.
• The congregational calendar of the upcoming year's programming, including the bar/bat mitzvah schedule.
• The budget for the upcoming year.
• The schedule of the year's board meetings (including devar Torah assignments for each meeting).
• A list of the specific responsibilities of a trustee.
• A list of the officers, trustees, and honorary trustees.
• A list of the committees and affiliates and their chairs.
• A committee roster and year-long agenda for the committee(s) with which each trustee is involved.
• A schedule of the bimah responsibilities.
• The minutes of the annual congregational meeting.
• An information telephone chain.

Relatively inexpensive, directors and officers liability insurance is available to protect board members who volunteer their time on behalf of the congregation.

Some synagogue insurance programs include directors and officers liability in their general liability policies. If your synagogue's does not, board members should consider the UAHC Congregation Insurance Program directors and officers liability insurance because it offers the broadest protection available for your assets and the assets of your spouse. It covers fiscal mismanagement, employment suits alleging breach of contract, actions of employees, and even the failure to provide adequate insurance for the congregation.

Remember, even groundless lawsuits can be costly and time consuming.
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For information about the UAHC Congregation Insurance Program contact Ken Schreiber at Frank Crystal Insurance, 1-800-221-5830.

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Watch for the next issue of Inside Leadership in time for your September board meeting.