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I want to take a moment to thank one particular service leader, our president, Lisa Eizen, who is completing her two-year term of service as president and continuing her lifelong role of service to Jewish community. Our presidents take on a tremendous amount of responsibility, which is why I’m so grateful to Neil Cohen and Elana Hunter for getting ready to receive the torch from their predecessors. I’ve had the honor of working closely with five presidents now: Debbie Stewart, Harry Oxman, Jeremey Newberg, Carmen Hayman, and Lisa Eizen, and each brings their own approach, skills and strengths. I want to uplift Lisa’s dedication to this role: if you were on a committee, chances are Lisa attended nearly every one of your committee meetings. If she didn’t, it was either because she didn’t know about it, or because she was attending a different synagogue committee meeting, class, or program that evening. This is not a fair standard to set — not every president can or needs to be this present, and yet in doing so, Lisa signaled to the community the level of dedication our volunteers bring. Lisa, thank you for leading by example.
OK, Rabbi’s Report: the state of our union — or, should I say, the state of our synagogue community — is strong, and inspiring.
There is a lot of hand-wringing out there about the Jewish community, and not without reason. We have daily reminders that the world is broken and in need of repair. And yet, there is a teaching in Jewish tradition that Shabbat is a foretaste of olam haba, the world to come, of paradise, of the healing for which we yearn. If you drop into Society Hill Synagogue in the middle of a musical Kabbalat Shabbat, with the kids on our bimah, or in the middle of a Sanctuary-wide Torah discussion on Saturday morning, or a Kiddush lunch filled to the brim, there is a real healing quality, and the notion of olam haba doesn’t seem quite so far off.
That doesn’t mean we don’t have our challenges, and I’ll touch on a couple of them in a minute. But I have the hutzpah to say that if those who are concerned about the future of Jewish community were a fly on the wall at Society Hill Synagogue during the rhythm of our week, our month, our year, the outlook for the Jewish future would feel pretty sunny, and in fact, I believe it is.
You know we are growing. You know we’ve grown from around 270 families pre-pandemic to 420 families now, from 65 kids in our Hebrew School to 115 now. Half of this now sizable congregation has joined within the last five years.
I want to talk for a few moments about why we think that is, what challenges and opportunities it presents, and what we’re doing about it — how we steward the sort of Jewish community we want to experience for ourselves and for the next generation to whom we pass the torch. I think about why this growth has happened on three levels: culture, strategy, and leadership.
The first level is culture. For decades, since long before I got here, almost since its inception, this community has had a beautiful culture. It was built on the spirit of inclusion. Long before women could lead services, this synagogue, upon its formation, endowed women with equal privileges in ritual practice. We chose to recognize Jewish identity through patrilineal descent, and we welcomed interfaith couples and their children.
Inclusion has been our watchword. This culture of inclusion permeated not just synagogue policies but, with rare exception, each and every interaction of members and guests. Every synagogue prides itself on being warm and welcoming, so much so that it has become cliche, and yet Society Hill Synagogue truly has been for decades.
Another facet of our culture that I believe serves as a real strength today is our approach to Judaism: not formally Conservative, yet traditionally grounded; certainly not Reform, and yet in deep conversation with modernity. I think the tagline that we drafted a couple of years ago — Communal Warmth, Spiritual Depth, Jewish Life — really captures it. The Jewishness you experience here is rigorous but joyful, deep yet accessible. Open to a relationship with the Divine but not dogmatic about what that means. Open to wrestling. To me, that culture is beautiful.
So part of the reason we’ve grown is that the culture that we’ve created here, for decades, really serves as a draw. And part of our responsibility now is to make sure that the structures around that culture — our programs, our staffing, and our physical space — are strong enough to hold it.
Which leads to the second level of growth: strategy. A few years ago, I witnessed two synagogue communities here at Society Hill Synagogue. A quiet but committed Shabbat community, committed to tradition with a spirit of openness and inclusion, and a vibrant, boisterous Hebrew School. The challenge was, with rare exception, never the twain shall meet. The Shabbat community wasn’t buoyed by the energy of the Hebrew School community, and the Hebrew School community wasn’t sufficiently exposed to the depth and commitment that the Shabbat community brought.
Enter the Immersive Shabbat Hebrew School that we created. Not only has each community enriched the other, but strategically, this shift was designed to showcase how truly vibrant our community is on the one day each week that guests — shul shoppers, if you will — drop in to see whether this community is for them. Shabbat. The move to a Shabbat Hebrew School allowed us to put our best foot forward with each visitor. And word has spread. I can’t tell you how many times people have come to tell me how cool it is to see all the different ways our kids participate in our services. Because of that, they want to be part of this community. Now, this is not without its challenges, and we’re going to talk about that, but it’s a huge part of why we are where we are.
This has been paired, for several years now, with music every Friday night throughout the school year. Energy attracts energy. We started a few years ago, with, other than our monthly musical service, very quiet Friday night services — I’m talking 5-10 people per service. We wanted to rev up the energy, because a crowd draws a crowd. We brought music and meals each and every week, and now, depending on the season, we see anywhere from 40 to over a hundred people at each Shabbat service.
Now, this is where I should say that numbers aren’t everything: we don’t want more people just for the sake of having more people. But this synagogue’s mission is to strengthen the experience of Jewish community and the nourishment and inspiration that comes from it. Having more people enables us to feel a sense of strength and accompaniment, to experience the next generation coming up behind us to receive the torch, and so we feel buoyed by their presence. It is symbiotic.
A few more strategic choices that have contributed to our growth:
The Young Families service created by Micah and Joanna Hart is the gift that keeps on giving. The spirit of openness and a non-judgmental approach to Judaism and to parenting are embodied in that music-forward, kid-friendly service. It has served as a gateway to this community for so many young families looking to affiliate with a Jewish community for the first time as adults. The move to a full-time Director of Youth and Family Education. The growth may have preceded Karen’s time here, but it would have broken down without full-time attention to this role, and Karen has been the perfect person for this job. Communication. We had the instinct that we needed to tell our story in a more clear and consistent manner, and we hired LilyFish Gomberg, whose work has been magical. A community of communities — there are so many chances to connect at Society Hill Synagogue: from Triple Chai to Young Friends, Social Action to Israel, Scholars in Residence and Adult Education, Coolanu, Rosh Hodesh, the Men’s Club, I could go on. There are so many ways to hook in if you need a pathway forward. All of this contributes to our growth.
And inclusion — as we said, inclusion, providing pathways into a warm, welcoming Jewish community, is really the foundational principle of this synagogue, whether using that exact word or not: making Jewish community accessible, approachable, graspable to all. Our Inclusion Committee and others work to lower barriers and open gateways for all who want to be present here, whether that’s helping people overcome physical barriers, social barriers, or spiritual barriers. Inclusion is a sacred value of Jewish life that is not only the right thing to do, but has increased the number of people who feel comfortable finding a home here.
Finally, the third level of growth is leadership. We are blessed to have a team of clergy, staff, and lay leaders who work deeply in sync with one another. I’m grateful to Carmen, who had the foresight to lead an initiative to develop a new leadership structure for our community. We clarified who is responsible for what, who is accountable to whom, helping ensure that we are all rowing in the same direction when we need to and pausing to discuss and debate as needed.
Synagogues are notorious for being more dysfunctional than the average non-profit organization, but even amidst many differences of opinion, this is a highly functional, committed leadership team. We are blessed to have leadership that works together cooperatively and in an organized manner — recognizing the strengths and gifts that each of us brings to the table.
Where do we go from here?
With the type of seismic growth we’ve experienced — again, we’re talking about being not so far off from doubling in size over the course of five years — there is going to be some fallout. So we launched a strategic planning process to engage in planning on a multiyear timeline, not just a one-year timeline. We took two preliminary planning steps with respect to our strategic planning process. The first planning step was that we clarified, and re-codified, our mission, vision, and values. We did this last year, and you should have all received a copy. This helps us make sure that as we plan, as we make choices about our future, we do so in alignment with our values and in pursuit of our shared mission.
The second planning step was checking in with our community — with you. We launched a series of surveys and focus groups. 339 people filled out a survey, representing two thirds of our households, and over 130 people attended focus groups, which is a really substantial number. So as we talk about what comes next, we are not guessing in a vacuum. We are listening to what this community has told us about what it values, what it needs, and what kind of future it wants to invest in.
Through this outreach, three major findings rose to the surface.
The first finding — and I’m quoting directly from Anna Marx, our consultant, here — was a “strong sense of satisfaction and appreciation of the congregation.” This is no small thing. We Jews and we humans know a thing or two about complaining, so when people express their appreciation, that means something.
The second finding, and this is where we get into our action items: people’s priorities are community and connection. People appreciate the growth, and they’re proud of it. But they also don’t want to feel lost in the shuffle; they don’t want to feel like an anonymous face in the crowd or that other people are anonymous to them. People want to get to know each other and to feel known.
So I want to be very clear: this is a personal priority for me, and an institutional priority for all of us. We are going to work to help you get to know each other and to feel known by one another, to the fullest extent. Under that second finding — community and connection — I want to talk about three concrete steps we’ve already taken in that direction:
The first community-and-connection step: Transforming GUB — God’s Unfinished Business — into Hesed. A humongous thank you to Julie Wilson, Laurie Krivo, Natalie Landro, and Debbie Stewart for chairing this effort, and for the dozens, literally dozens, of volunteers who signed up to support it. These folks have transformed the way that we provide pastoral care in this community, with food deliveries, rides to and from doctors appointments, shivah attendance, and proactively calling members of our community to ensure no one slips through the cracks.
The second community-and-connection step: Our Shabbat at Home program, led by Judy Lalli, Debbie Stewart, and Carmen Hayman. 140 people have already signed up to be in one another’s homes for Shabbat dinners throughout the summer. There is no substitute for getting to know someone in the intimacy that comes from being in their home, and we’re really excited about this.
The third community-and-connection step: Staff support. We are so sad to say goodbye to LilyFish Gomberg; she has truly touched our communications efforts with magic; our communications glow. And because she has helped get our communications on such a strong footing, as Alexis Rosen takes over that position, close to half of her work is going to be focused not on digital communications, but on community building — on supporting our Hesed Committee, our Membership Committee, our Development Committee and all of our efforts aimed at getting people integrated into the community and getting to know each other better.
We said there were three major findings as we gathered data about where we needed to focus attention as a community. I want to conclude by focusing on the third finding: our physical space. As we said, the foundational value of this community has been fostering a sense of belonging and inclusion for all who want to be a part of Jewish life, and there is one area where our values and our reality are not yet aligned as fully as they need to be: our physical space.
We have a gorgeous sanctuary with real history. But unfortunately, our bimah, the ritual high point of our Sanctuary, is for some, but not for all. A bimah should not communicate, even unintentionally, that if you can’t navigate stairs, you can’t come close to the Torah. And even for some who can make it up five steps, I’ve listened to many of you who’ve watched with trepidation as our elders scale up and down these steps. There are ways of preserving the spirit of this Sanctuary that are in alignment with the foundational values of inclusion, with which Society Hill Synagogue was formed and which we re-codified last year. But they do require us, in pursuit of these values, to look for ways we can make some improvements in our bimah and floor layout.
The same holds for other aspects of our synagogue: pastoral support, our educational mission, and social gathering. Presently, if you need pastoral care from our clergy and you want to meet with us in the confidence of our offices, and you cannot navigate stairs then, once again, heartbreakingly, you are out of luck. Sure, we can make alternative arrangements. We can come to you, and of course, we do, or we can meet in the Sanctuary or a preschool classroom. But if you want to meet with us in the sanctity of our clergy office, we have a system where only some can do so. A synagogue that is this vibrant can do something about that.
Same goes for learning, in a different way. In a moment, Karen is going to tell us about so many beautiful moments of Hebrew School this year. I’m astounded by the level of life, energy, and joy in our Hebrew School. Unfortunately, our students are also learning in some very challenging physical conditions.
We now have so many students that every one of our classrooms is beyond the recommended capacity. We set up folding tables in the hallways to manage the spillover. Multiple classes meet in the Social Hall, a challenge that was supposed to be solved with the construction of the Paula Kline Learning Center. Students, especially students with learning differences, struggle to keep their focus as congregants navigate up and down stairs right past them, or as Kiddush lunch and dessert trays are being set up to their left and right in the Social Hall.
We don’t want to turn students away, and we want students learning in such a way that their depth of Jewish understanding is profound — that they leave these halls strengthened by a relationship to Judaism that can carry them through life. These might sound like daunting challenges, but the truth is they are quite solvable.
Where there is a will, there is a way. It will take all of us, but Carter Reich is leading us through an exploration — at this point, just an exploration — being conducted by our Feasibility Study task force. Exploring certain renovations to our space that could, in addition to addressing the Sanctuary challenges, add more classroom and Social Hall space, so that being here for a Kiddush lunch on Shabbat remains a joyous, but perhaps not overwhelming experience.
Many of these are good problems to have — they are a product of a lot of people wanting to be here, and we welcome that. How beautiful is it that people find nourishing Jewish community here. We don’t want to pull up the ladder after getting onboard ourselves; we want to facilitate pathways in to nourishing Jewish community for all who yearn for it.
These are conversations we’ll continue to have together as a community for months to come, and I welcome input and feedback and advice from everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to serve this community. And thank you for being a part of this community. As we say, may we be strengthened by our collective pursuit of strength, hazak hazak v’nithazek.
