Thank you very much for the great trust you have placed in me and in all the leaders you just voted in. I am truly looking forward to serving with them in support of all your hopes and aspirations – not only in what we know Temple Shir Tikva is today, but what we also believe it can be. This past winter felt like it would never end. Then all of a sudden, it seems we were thrust into the warmth of late spring and early summer where we find ourselves today. You may think I’m talking about the weather outside, but I’m really talking about the journey we have been on together during the past 4-5 years. We’ve had some dark days, and then the anticipation of spring, and now we truly are basking in the sunshine. Many thanks to our recent past presidents, especially Brian Levy, Julie Kniznek and Matt Langweber. Under Julie in particular, it took great bravery and vision to navigate our Board through difficult decisions and to never lose sight of what was 2 possible. Under Matt, we made courageous and innovate decisions to invest in our future and to lead our congregation into brighter days. We have arrived, yet we must keep up the momentum and move forward. I tip my hat to Matt Langweber and owe a great deal to him. To just scratch the surface, he led us through the sourcing and hiring of Rabbi Danny, Rabbi Jordi, and our new Education Director, Alison Weikel. Under Matt’s leadership and our Board’s commitment, we have taken great strides at becoming a more welcoming community through offerings such as our free membership program for Early Learning Center families, our inclusive Marriage Guidelines which passed with unanimous support from our Ritual Committee and our Board of Trustees, and our brand-new Gift Membership Program, providing a free year of membership for all new temple members this next year. The Gift Membership program is designed to help new members quickly get connected and ‘find their niche’ in our community, so they recognize this is a place they can call home and want to stay. This past year, as we know, has also been filled with joyous celebrations marking our 40th Anniversary, culminating with a wonderful Gala Event honoring Rabbi Herman and Paula Blumberg a few weekends ago. 3 As I said, we now must build on these successes and keep up the momentum, and I’d like to outline three hopes and aspirations I have for our future – three areas of focus that are very important to me. Education, Inclusion, and Engagement. In the area of education, we have a tremendous Early Learning Center. Its enrollment has grown substantially in the few years since we took over its operations, and that is no accident. We provide a wonderful learning environment for our youngest congregants, led by a tremendous staff of educators. Yet, I think if we are honest with each other, we’d have to say that once those young congregants graduate our Early Learning Center and enter our religious school, they get an adequate and respectable religious education. Well, frankly, I don’t believe ‘adequate and respectable’ is good enough, and I do believe we can and should be striving for more. Our children and youth today are pressed for time and stretched thin. They deserve to experience educational offerings which have relevance to their busy lives, and will help provide them with the foundation to become mature, responsible Jewish adults in the 21st century, with strong identities in their culture and in their faith. Once Alison, our new 4 Education Director, has a chance to take it all in and evaluate what we have in place today, and we are going to give her time to do that, I look forward to hearing her views on what it will take to create a truly stellar religious school at Temple Shir Tikva. There is absolutely no reason why we can’t have that. Our children and parents deserve nothing less. As to inclusion, all congregants, no matter their physical, mental, or emotional limitations, no matter their sexual preference or identity, all congregants need to not only feel welcome – they need to feel included in our community. I speak from some level of experience, although all of our experiences are different. Sue and I struggled through the years to ensure that our sons experienced safe and motivational classrooms that for our family meant catering to unique learning challenges and significant food allergies when snacks were served. Some educators and parents got it, and others didn’t. For those of you who never experienced any of these issues, I say ‘Wonderful….I’m glad you were never dealt that set of cards.’ However, I know I’m not alone, and I know that many of us have family and friends who have experienced mental illness, drug addiction, food allergies, anxiety….you name it. Few of us fit a textbook definition of ‘perfect 5 people’ – just because we are Jewish, just because we are here in Wayland, we are not immune from societal issues….they exist in our own society right here at Temple Shir Tikva. I hope to do my small part in supporting our new Inclusion Task Force, which will help build greater awareness so we can all truly not just welcome others, but make them feel an integral part of our community. So those are some quick thoughts around education and inclusion. Now, I wish to speak about engagement. First, it is wonderful to see week after week, and even tonite, so many volunteers who we can count on for all the great programming we do. We can’t do it without them, and we have a great time doing it together. Yet, we are also eager to develop the next generation of volunteers, and the next generation of leaders. We know they are out there….we just need to find them and connect with them. Perhaps there are some here tonite, or you know of some. With that in mind, we have a sign up sheet. If you would like to explore helping out in any capacity with us, or know of someone who might like to get asked or approached about getting more involved, please jot down your name or their name. We will be happy to follow up. And/or reach out to me, Phil Benjamin, or Julie Kniznek, who are co-chairs of our Leadership Development 6 Committee. We will try not to be pushy – please don’t confuse eagerness for pushiness – truthfully, I can’t think of a better legacy than to start passing the baton to the next generation. We will meet people where they are at, recognizing that we all lead busy lives. But now, for a different kind of engagement, fasten your seatbelts, I’m going to touch what some consider to be the third rail – I’m going to speak for the next couple of minutes, about financial engagement. I am humbled and frankly amazed at the levels of generosity you have demonstrated this past year through our 40th Anniversary celebrations. Whether you contributed to the Tribute Book, gave Annual Fund donations, purchased cookbooks….you name it, you supported your synagogue. You contributed, and in many cases you contributed far more than you have ever done before. Thank you! On behalf of me, on behalf of your community, I thank you so much. Now, tonite, I’m here to ask you to continue your generosity. Why is that so important, when is enough going to be enough? Well, as you heard in our Finance Report, our total expenditures are approximately $2.7 million. The amount we collect 7 through your membership dues, school and Early Learning Center tuition, rental income, etc. is just over $2 million. That leaves a gap of just under $700K to meet our expenses – and this does not even include special projects that many have asked for and we need – for example, a new playground for our ELC, technology investments in our religious school, beautification of our temple. In other words, your membership dues don’t cover it all. I’m not sure we’ve communicated this so directly, in plain English. So let me repeat – our membership dues do not cover our annual expenses. We rely on your generosity in supplemental giving to our Annual Fund to make up the difference, just as you have this past year. Actually, there are two ways we can work to close the annual $700K gap, and I believe we need to focus on both. One is increased membership. We believe that new programs like our Early Learning Center free temple membership and our special 40th anniversary free first year membership for new members will help us get there in the longer term. We need to spread the word, invite our friends to join, and indeed make them feel welcome and included in our community. But a second and critically important way to close the gap is through philanthropy. We typically like to say that we want 100% -- all of us -- to give to the Annual Fund. 8 I’ve got to be honest with you. I wish that were realistic, but I don’t believe it is. I think there may always be some percent of the congregation who will choose not to give, for a variety of reasons. So be it. However, I do believe it is realistic, although challenging, to establish a goal that within two years’ time, we will increase from about 60% to 90% of all of our congregants giving an amount meaningful to them as a donation to our Annual Fund. What’s meaningful? I’ll let them decide. But I’m going to suggest for those not giving today, at least double Chai, or $36. Why 36? Well, with all due respect, I need to get my head wrapped around why someone would choose NOT to give over the course of a year the same amount they will spend on one night having dinner The Villa, the Prime Grill, Conrad’s down the street – you get the idea – pick the casual restaurant of your choice. They are making a choice. They are making a value judgement. What is it we aren’t providing that we need to in order to demonstrate that kind of value to someone? As President, I think that’s the question I need to ask, and listen, and then listen some more, and try to appreciate what may encourage some people to get more engaged, or perhaps get engaged for the first time. 9 To be blunt, some would say ‘the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.’ In other words, the effort to ask about 200 families to give $36 would only bring in $7200, which isn’t going to make a huge financial impact. That’s true, yet I do think it speaks volumes in terms of our collective engagement, and our willingness to support this community -- together. In summary, I’d like us to collectively focus on Education, Inclusion, and Shared Financial Engagement. I’ll finish where I began –talking about the weather. Take a breath and enjoy the upcoming summer. To our youth who are counting down the last days of school, I wish them all a wonderful summer break. For the rest of us, take time to love family and friends, and raise a glass to ‘L’Chaim’. Winter and early spring are behind us in more ways than one, and according to my weather forecast, while we may occasionally get a shower, let’s put away our overcoats and umbrellas….come along with me, won’t you? I really only see clear skies ahead. 10 Thank you very much!