Before the last Board meeting, Sara, our Board President, asked us to read Something More and How We Gather. These papers describe how millennials create and find community outside religious institutions. As I read them, I got increasingly happy and excited that young people are developing innovative ways of being, working, and playing together. The more I read, the more I thought that these are kinds of activities religion should be cultivating, especially reform Judaism; I've always considered religion as the institution that helps people see awe, find purpose and promote their passions.
Each of the committees Temple Sinai has, and every program we run, are similar to the programs millennials have started. The Access Committee, the Green Committee, Brotherhood, and WTS are all examples of people seeking community to accomplish something meaningful. The 'Conversations' we're having this year can and should be considered another Temple Sinai Committee – one that engages the community in meaningful dialogues. They all begin when clergy, staff, and/or congregant(s) have a passion for doing something and need/want support from the community.
Temple Sinai, and other reform synagogues, should be institutions that enable members to follow their dreams with Jewish values, tradition, and history. These dreams may be cultural, spiritual, social, and/or entrepreneurial. Jewish wisdom is what can help ensure dreams are realized. I suggest the goals of our strategic visioning task force should be to propose a new Temple Sinai tag line, a new Temple Sinai mission statement, and a framework for starting, running, and retiring programs, committees, task forces, and businesses.
I look forward to discussing this with the Strategic Visioning Task Force team.
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