Annual Report Thursday, May 16, 2019

Table of Contents Opening Prayer ...... 4 Agenda ...... 4 Senior Rabbi’s Report ...... 5 President’s Report ...... 11 Treasurer’s Report and Budget ...... 14 BHS New Heights Capital Campaign...... 17 Nominating Committee ...... 18 General Donations ...... 19 Tribute Gifts ...... 24 High Holy Days Schedule ...... 28 Executive Director’s Report ...... 29 Membership Commitments 2019-20 ...... 31 Membership Statistics ...... 32 B’nai Mitzvah Students, This Year and Next ...... 36 Associate Rabbi-Educator’s Report on Education at BHS...... 37 Religious School Tuition Schedule ...... 40 Director of Early Childhood Education’s Report ...... 41

“BHS is a special place for our families, friends, and community to come together to celebrate our past, enjoy the present, and build an even better future.” -Why BHS Matters to Me Brooklyn Heights Synagogue Annual Meeting May 16, 2019

Opening Blessing:

Agenda:

Report from the Senior Rabbi

Report from the President

Report from the Treasurer and Approval of the Budget

Report from the Nominating Committee and Election of Trustees and Officers

Report from Executive Director

Report from Director of Member Engagement

Report from Associate Rabbi-Educator

Report from Director of Early Childhood Education

New business

4 Brooklyn Heights Synagogue Annual Meeting May 16, 2019

Opening Blessing:

Agenda:

Report from the Senior Rabbi

Report from the President

Capital Campaign Report Update

Report from the Treasurer and Approval of the Budget

Report from the Nominating Committee and Election of Trustees and Officers

Report from Executive Director

Report from Director of Member Engagement

Report from Associate Rabbi-Educator

Report from Director of Early Childhood Education

New business

4 Senior Rabbi’s Report

Tonight, I am grateful to mark twenty-two years of service as the spiritual leader of the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue. Thank you all for the privilege of service. Our 60th program year was marked by constancy in our professional staff and lay leadership as well as some additions and departures in our support positions and custodial staff.

Our Director of Early Childhood Education, Pam Karlin, continues to guide the school, its faculty, students, and parents with an expert hand and along with Assistant Preschool Director Jennifer Kendall and Assistant Parenting Center Director Rebecca Leighton, continues to strengthen and expand our program and sharpen our vision. We wish Rebecca Leighton great success as she leaves us to become director of Grace Church’s Preschool!

Sue Gold, our indispensable Executive Director will take a well-deserved mini-sabbatical in June. Safe travels and return!

Rabbi Molly G. Kane our BHS Associate Rabbi-Educator continued to oversee record enrollment while reviewing, renewing, and expanding our religious education programming. In addition to guiding our religious and adult education programming, Molly brings unbridled energy and vision to our program and community. She also oversees BHS’s ‘The Other Friday Night’ -- a Shabbat Experience for Young Professionals in their 20s and 30s. Our annual BHS Women’s Seder held once again at Grace Church was a huge success. Thanks to Rabbi Kane, Michelle Citrin, and of course our lay leaders. Lena Eson Roe joined us at the beginning of the year as our new Associate Director of the Religious School. Abby Johnson as our BHS Education Program Manager continued her hands-on and steady contributions to our program. Faye Wilbur from JBFCS joined us in a very part time capacity (half a day per week) as BHS’s Social Worker. In that role, working with Myriam Bucatinsky and with the help of the Membership Engagement Team, our Community as Family Program also was initiated.

Our Religious School and Preschool once again participated in the UJA Israeli Shinshinim (Sh’nat Sheirut – gap year) Program.

Rabbi Hara Person, having been selected as the incoming Chief Executive of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) as of this July 1, concludes her final year as BHS Adjunct Rabbi, facilitating chavurah, study groups, and life-cycle support and coverage. She has offered a lifetime of experiences from here at BHS to our upcoming B’nai Mitzvah families at programs she facilitated throughout the year. We have been blessed to have her in this limited but highly valued role for these past many years as Adjunct Rabbi at BHS.

Cantor Bruce Ruben has served as BHS’s Cantor in a part-time (30 hrs/wk) position, bringing good humor, strong chanting skills, a pedagogical background, and his resonant voice to our community. Cantor Ruben has noticeably increased our Adult Choir’s opportunities to perform for us and in the larger community. He has done a masterful job teaching our 7th Grade as well as providing individual one on one tutoring for all of our upcoming b’nai mitzvah students. This year, along with Rabbi Kane, he hired and supervised Rabbinic Student Healy Slakman who provided introductory prep tutoring for our 30 plus students. Cantor Ruben organized a congregant band that has joined us on a number of third Fridays of the month for Shir Shabbat. Cantor Ruben also has recruited Torah and Megillah chanters for Festivals and other occasions. He once again helped organize our participation in Martin Luther King Jr. weekend events with First Presbyterian Church. We wish him success and blessings into the future as he concludes his term of service at BHS. We are blessed that Miriam Daly continues to serve as our Accompanist/Musical Director. Miriam creates and accomplishes tiny unnoticed musical miracles every time she is at the piano. She leads a terrific band and has been a talented rehearser for the choirs.

Liann Herder joined us in August as our Executive Assistant to Senior Clergy and Development and has made an outstanding impact upon our synagogue community and organization in these past months!

5 Dave Ramos supported an outsized program as our Head Custodian/Building Superintendent. We wish him well as he moves on to a new position closer to home and family in Massachusetts.

We saw packed family attendance and participation once a month at Shabbat our B'yachad: Family Service & Dinners thanks to Rabbi Kane’s planning, Lena Eson Roe’s attention, and Student Rabbi Evan Sheinhait’s leadership, vision, and energy, Cantor Ruben’s willingness to jump in, and the assistance of Miriam Daly providing her musical talents. Special Mazal Tov and y’sharkoach to Evan who was ordained at the beginning of May as Rabbi Evan Sheinhait and will serve in this coming Fall as the Reform Rabbi on the campus of Brandeis University!

At worship services, we announced the coming of the new Hebrew moon each month, continue the custom of Counting the Omer, and blessed congregants' numerous simchas and publicly recognized good tidings on one Friday of each month. And we have named numbers of infants, children of members and our neighbors on many Friday evenings. LOTS AND LOTS OF BABY NAMINGS!!!

We celebrated festivals and holidays, minor and major.

Saturday morning Chavurah continued to grow and prosper under myself, Rabbi Molly Kane, Rabbi Hara Person, Rabbi Daniel Lehrman, Rabbi Sue Oren, Student Rabbi Evan Sheinhait, and our rotating pool of facilitators. Thanks to lay prayer leaders and facilitators Ken Roff, David Hirschland, and Laura Szapiro. We celebrated births, namings, birthdays, conversions, weddings, anniversaries, and other simchas in our sanctuary and elsewhere. We worried and prayed through sickness and adversity and celebrated many joys as well.

We call to mind the untimely passing of BHS members Grace Gutman and Arthur Radin, as well as BHS Past President Lola Lea. Far too many of us lost a parent, sibling, or close friend in this past year. Both in adversity and in celebration, we at BHS have buoyed each other up and offered the hand of comfort.

Our youngsters learned in our religious school, and at Parenting Center programs and family education programs. Our well-attended Tot Shabbat program continued to be led by Lauren Demby. My 'Welcoming Shabbat' program on Friday mornings continues to bring young families and potential new members into early affiliation.

Under the leadership of Alycia Zimmerman and Helene Fuhrman-Gold, co-chairs of our Membership Engagement Team and working closely with our extraordinary Membership Engagement Director Amy Leszman, we have introduced a new brief Shabbat Evening service entitled “Shalom Shabbat” at 5:30pm each quarter. Each of these services and dinner celebrations has been fully subsidized.

ECE Director Pam Karlin and Assistant Parenting Center Director Rebecca Leighton coordinated a variety of holiday and life-cycle related programming (Bagels & Blocks) for this youngest age range that is open to the entire community.

Programmatically, it has been a remarkably busy and exceptional year.

Thanks to Cantor Ruben, Rabbi Kane, Rabbi Person, and David Jaroslaw who along with me led summer services in 2018!

We prepared for the Days of Awe with Selichot services at Mount Sinai Congregation on Saturday evening, September 1. We gathered for Rosh Hashanah eve at Plymouth on Sunday evening, September 9. On September 11th we gathered on the Promenade with the Brooklyn Heights Interfaith Clergy Association to mark this day of tragedy and memorial. I was privileged to offer a brief reading on that occasion. In between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur on Sunday September 16, Sue Gold organized our efforts to clean up the synagogue’s cemetery section and bury our tattered sacred texts at Maimonides Cemetery. Many thanks to our volunteers.

6

On Yom Kippur, Tuesday evening September 18, we were again inspired by our choir which is now lifting up its voices at both morning and evening services of the high holy days. This year, in addition to having repositioned the choir and the pulpit to enable us to better hear and appreciate their musical efforts, we added in a few professional anchor voices. We also continued to enjoy an improved sound system that Cantor Ruben, Sue Gold, and member Ray Raskin made happen. And we heard moving Spiritual Journeys from our fellow members Monica Elias, Julie Irwin, and Dahlia Locke.

We celebrated Sukkot with our outdoor sukkot including the large Sukkah in the backyard of 127 Remsen Street and enjoyed many Sipping in the Sukkah events in each other’s sukkot. We consecrated new students in our Religious School program. We danced on Remsen Street with the Torah Scrolls accompanied by our Klezmer band once again on Simchat Torah.

On Saturday, October 27, as we read the story of Abraham welcoming strangers, tragedy struck the American Jewish community, as Congregation Tree of Life—Or L’Simcha in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh PA was attacked by an anti-Semitic-terrorist, murdering 11 peaceful worshippers. We gathered as a community on #ShowUpForShabbat and saw the support of our neighbors and all the other Houses of Worship in our community to stand fast against antisemitism and hate. We also formed a security task force under Executive Director Sue Gold’s leadership which has taken significant (though not inexpensive) measures to further protect everyone in our synagogue community. The recent attack by another anti-Semitic-terrorist in Poway, CA added a twelfth victim to the list of our martyrs. The world around us has turned darker and stormy, but we remain both confidant in our Jewish commitments and ever vigilant.

Both on the High Holidays at Plymouth and in our own sanctuary on Shabbat, we worshipped and celebrating with those present and those not present, through the ‘live-streaming’ of our services over the internet. We continued with Visual Tefillah on most Friday evenings, projecting the words of the prayers up on the front wall of the Sanctuary during most Friday evening Shabbatot from September through June.

I also offered and taught a number of Lifelong Learning classes including: “The Reign of Hezekiah: King of Judah” from Everett Fox’s Translation of the Book of Kings, as well as Adult Intermediate and Adult Advanced Prayerbook Hebrew.

Our BHS Homeless Shelter continued to meet the unfortunate need and reality of NYC for a 37th year. Thanks to all our lay coordinators and volunteers all under the guidance of our Shelter Team leaders Anne Landman and Sasha Burgansky. It is one of our most significant undertakings and it is all done by the laity of the congregation. You inspire me and the rest of the clergy team and staff!

In January, we once again celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday weekend for a fourth year with joint choir performances by our choir and the choir of First Presbyterian Church on Friday evening at BHS and on Sunday morning at First Presbyterian. Rev. Adriene Thorne preached on Friday evening at BHS and I offered a sermon at First Presbyterian on that Sunday morning at their worship service. Thank you to Cantor Ruben and First Presbyterian Church’s music minister Amy Neuner and all the members of both choirs for very powerful presentations at those services. On Saturday, January 19, we screened the film ‘Rosenwald’ in our sanctuary, followed by a discussion between Rev. Thorne and myself.

We re-met each other at the hugely successful 'Getting to Know You' dinners at the very end of January.

On Wednesday evening, February 28th, a large contingent of members once again chanted from the Megillah aloud followed by our completely original Purim Shpiel “Esther Day.” On Sunday, March 4th, I lead our annual Tot Megillah reading followed by an absolutely terrific and jam-packed carnival, with many, many thanks to all the volunteers for the event.

7 On Saturday evening March 9th, we celebrated the kick-off of our New Heights Capital Campaign with great fanfare. We were entertained by our Preschoolers and ‘walked’ through a virtual tour of the projected newly renovated and conjoined buildings.

Following Passover, on Wednesday, May 1st, we observed the community-wide Yom HaShoah Commemoration at Kane Street Synagogue. We co-sponsored and participated in the Yom HaZikaron (Israel Memorial Day to Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror) on Tuesday, May 6th at Union Temple and we celebrated Yom HaAtzma’ut the next evening at PSJC with a performance of Nava Tehilah.

Our Religious School ninth grade class will be journeying to Israel on Monday evening, May 20th for our 12th Annual week-long High School Israel Trip this year lead by me. A big shout out THANK YOU to the special group of congregants who stepped forward previously to help the congregation and Board keep its commitment to this program by donating the dollars to keep this program afloat over the next several years. It is an extraordinary pledge of dedication!!!

I continued to mentor a number of students (some congregants) seeking to become Jews by Choice, a tremendously time intensive but rewarding process.

In addition to my regular 10th Grade/Confirmation Class teaching role, I continue to offer 11th & 12th Grade at my home twice a month, which sees a dozen of our students continue on beyond Confirmation in their studies.

BHGSY under the leadership of the BHGSY Board’s Co-Presidents Violet Kopp and Ruby Kopel and Advisor Jenny Singer, wonderful programming was offered to our youth and the congregation as a whole.

BHS is held together by the regular ongoing and outstanding work of committees like the Chesed Caring Committee that touches so many of us individually (thanks Lauren Smetana and Justine Block), the Ritual Committee (thank you Jeremy Primer), the Religious School Committee, the College Outreach Committee (thanks Ross Brown and Lisa Securo), the Preschool Committee, the Shelter Committee and THANK YOU to all the members whose names aren't printed here but are the glue that we depend upon.

Last week the Preschool held its Sweet 17th annual benefit, this year at the “other BHS” – the Brooklyn Historical Society. It was an amazing and energetic success, surpassing all expectations and previous years (including last year’s)!

Just this past Monday, May 13 we will once again have invited members of the Dawood Masjid to join us here at BHS for their observance of Iftar (the break the fast at sundown each night of Ramadan) for the twelfth annual occasion.

The Social Justice Committee has been hard at work under the leadership of Barbara Arky and Jane Meyers. Half a dozen of our members will be traveling to the Religious Action Center’s Consultation on Conscience in Washington DC this May 19 thru May 21. Many members participated this year in efforts to learn about and reform bail practice in State courts and finally prevailed in this year’s legislature! Judith Winn, Lale Odekon, Susan Leboff and others have been supporting our involvement with the Brownstone Brooklyn Synagogue Coalition for Refugees. We are participating right now in work with HIAS to support a local asylee family from Chad.

Our Cantorial Search Committee worked tirelessly under the leadership of chair Michael Lasky. Many thanks to committee members: Andrew Ball, Deborah Baruh, Debra Sapp, Eve Hall, Jeremy Primer, Karen Brody, and Natalie Green Giles. Also special thanks to Liann Herder, Executive Assistant to the Senior Clergy and Development for coordinating meetings, interviews, and so much more!!! We are ever indebted to your extraordinarily dedicated and meticulous work! We look forward to greeting Cantor Ayelet Porzecanski as she joins us as of July 1st.

8 By the end of this June we will have celebrated 26 B’nai Mitzvah students being called to Torah: Sam Richardson, Mia Silverstein, Micah Parnass, Jack Kramer, Casey Glickman, Tybee & Eden Feiler, Avery Epstein, Isaac Houts, Charlotte Leibowitz, Zach Weinschel, Evan Komitee, Noah Cooper, Zoey Ojalvo, Alex Rosenzweig, Willa Hart, Claudia Jackson, Allison Goldblum, Eli Grubin, Eli Germain, Eli Zolan, Lucie Robinson, Holden Callif, Logan Reiman, Sloane Lipton, and Abigail Wiener.

This coming year 5780 (2019-20) we will call 35 B’nai Mitzvah to Torah from September 2019 through June 2020.

A great deal of my time, attention, and energy has been and will continue to be devoted to the planning and oversight and individual solicitations for our “New Heights” Capital Campaign. Many thanks to Campaign Co- Chairs Susan Chadick and David Smetana and to Anne Landman our Campaign Secretary, as well as to all our solicitors, and to Liann Herder whose long title only hints at her work for Development at BHS. Many thanks to Project Management Committee Chairs Rachel Loeb and Alan Schiffres and all the members of that extraordinarily hard working and important committee.

And Still Upcoming: Tomorrow, Friday evening, May 17 we celebrate Trustee Installation Shabbat and thank out-going officers and trustees. Join us at 6pm, before services, to again enjoy the animated renderings video, previewing our construction plans for joining 127 Remsen with our synagogue at 131 Remsen!

On Sunday morning, June 9, at 10:30am our 10th Grade Confirmation class will lead Shavuot morning services. Please plan on attending!

On Friday evening, June 14 – we will observe our seventh annual LGBTQ Pride Shabbat with guest speaker Rabbi Michael Moskowitz, the Scholar-in-Residence for Trans and Queer Jewish Studies at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah.

As summer nears, we can take pride that we are sending a score of campers to our regional URJ Camps Crane Lake and Eisner, as well as Six Points Sci-Tech. Rabbi Kane and I will be dropping in to visit our campers during the summer months.

So, thank you!

My personal thanks to Amy Leszman our Director of Member Engagement and to Abby Stein our soon- departing BHS Office Operations Manager, Abby Johnson our Education Program Manager, and Liann Herder, our Executive Assistant to the Senior Clergy and Development. Your teamwork is exemplary! Thanks to our hard-working custodial team, Nevin Perez, Shakiyl Smith, and Frederick Utley for all your hard work. And thank you to our security guards from Security USA and the NYPD for keeping us safe and warmly welcomed.

To all the members of the Executive Committee, and most especially to my partner in all things BHS - our President Karen Gordon - who offers not only hours upon hours of her time and attention, but also her enthusiasm, expertise, dedication, and vision.

Thanks to Sue Gold – thank you for ably guiding the operations of the synagogue. Our program and our commitments, like our building, look smaller from the outside. Many thanks for your professionalism and commitment, your personal warmth, and your collegiality. You have taken the synagogue to a new and far improved level of service and operation.

To my colleagues Rabbi Molly Kane and ECE Director Pam Karlin whose dedication inspires me daily, thank you!!!

9 To my partner in liturgy and on the bimah, Cantor Bruce Ruben: I could not have asked for a kinder, more menschlich partner over these past five years. It has been my pleasure and honor to work alongside you. Thank you for your professionalism, talent, and heart! B’hatzlacha b’atid!

And thank you to the entire congregation for such a constantly warm, supportive, and truly loving embrace!!!

To my wife Deb, who is the not-so-secret foundation of my religious and spiritual commitment: I love you. To my children – Michael, Alex and Risa – who, though graduated from the Preschool now for many years, still joyfully roam the rooms of BHS with the joy and comfort of their own home. They are my greatest inspiration in all I do!

Lastly, I give thanks to You, Eternal God, the Foundation Place of Existence, for blessing me, and my family with health and well-being, and for finding Your Presence manifest every day in serving this congregation and community.

Rabbi Serge A. Lippe May 13, 2019/ 8 Iyyar 5779

PS - A very special Mazal Tov to Rabbi Molly G. Kane and Michelle Citrin whose marriage I will have the joy of officiating at the end of this summer!

PPS - Erev Rosh Hashanah is Sunday evening, September 29, 2019. Mark your calendars now!

“BHS has been our Jewish home for over 36 years; the community has helped us celebrate the most important milestones in our lives and

comforted us when we suffered losses. We met our best friends at BHS and our children’s Jewish values were instilled here.” -Why BHS Matters to Me

10 President’s Report

As my first year as President draws to a close, I reflect on our journey over the past year. BHS has grown to almost 500 member units, including 257 religious school students, 26 B’nai Mitzvah, 49 BHGSY members, and 100 preschool students. In step with our growth, our annual operating budget for the coming fiscal year has topped $4M for the first time.

But BHS is so much more than numbers. What experiences have we shared that reflect and strengthen our community? What are some of the highlights of this past year? And what are we doing now to shape BHS for the next generation?

BUILDING OUR FUTURE “New Heights” Capital Campaign We kicked off our campaign, chaired by Susan Chadick and Dave Smetana, on March 9 with a festive Saturday night event creatively headed up by Jen Germain, as well as Maggie Ball and Lauren Smetana, and attended by over 200 people (the largest gathering ever in our building!) and received over $4M in donations and pledges before the doors even opened. Guests previewed an inspirational -- but attainable -- virtual tour of the new space we will create for 127 and 131 Remsen that continues to play on our digital lobby screen. As part of this effort, our past presidents helped draft our Donor Recognition guidelines, thus ensuring that our efforts to invest in our future will be consistent with our history, culture, and values.

Project Management Committee This committee launched last summer and is working closely with our owner’s representative Seamus Henchy Associates, architects Sage and Coombe, key staff, Finance Committee, Executive Committee and Board of Trustees to help ensure our vision for our combined building will be delivered on budget, on time, and with the high quality we expect.

REINVIGORATING EFFORTS A Vibrant Membership & Engagement Team Led by Alycia Zimmerman and Helene Fuhrman-Gold with Amy Leszman, our Director of Member Engagement as staff liaison, this team helped assess, design, and develop strategies to sustain BHS as a welcoming community for all current and prospective members and ensure that new members were assimilated into congregational life. It has helped us to think about what engagement means each time we come together, whether for long-running programs or new programs, such as:

•Sipping in the Sukkah — a joyful event for members to come together in smaller groups—making new acquaintances and being with old friends— in the sukkot of fellow congregants to enjoy nature, to appreciate the harvest, and to simply be together to celebrate Jewish unity; •Pizza in the Hut — for BHS and neighborhood families to celebrate Sukkot in in community— through various arts & crafts and other activities outside on the street and a brief service indoors and, of course, accompanied by family-friendly foods; •Havdalah in ‘micro neighborhoods’— services in a congregant’s home either in large residences with many BHS families or on neighborhood blocks populated by members, with several more gatherings in the works; •Shalom Shabbat—on four Shabbats, our sanctuary was bursting as we welcomed our families with 2-8-year-olds to a half-hour Friday night service followed by a family-friendly group dinner; •Shuffleboard Schmooze and Booze— Forty young member families had a wonderful time coming together to build community in this event which is slated to be an annual event; •Cooking by the Book—three Shabbat lunches that have been an opportunity for members to share food, personal stories and time with Rabbi Kane; •Getting to Know You Dinners—record number of participants with an increase in younger cohort in attendance and as hosts;

11 •BHS Men’s Group — reimagined and renewed under some new leadership and sailing forward with strength!

The membership team has also launched two subcommittees: •Young Family Committee—focused on the needs and interests of young families; •Welcoming Committee— dedicated to ushering new families into our community with intention and attention, with more rigor and vigor.

‘Community as Family’ For Our Members Who Are 55+ Dedicated offerings as determined by the members themselves and organized, in part, by our part-time social worker from the Jewish Board, Faye Wilbur.

Successful New Lifelong Learning Offerings As led by Karen Brody, the Lifelong Learning Committee offered a four-session workshop on Lifelong Learning—addressing family, friendship, health, and thriving as we age. In addition, we offered a course on Wise Aging for Couples, as facilitated by Rabbi Lisa Grant.

Social Justice Efforts Led by Barbara Arky and Jane Meyers, we have begun to engage in important social justice advocacy work— directed towards improving the world through creating alliances, lobbying for legislative changes, and changing unjust policies. We focused on passing state legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain standard driver licenses, and also became involved in reforming the cash bail system. Next year we will build on these efforts and introduce one or more initiatives.

We have long been involved in social action, providing assistance to those who are homeless, hungry, or otherwise in need. We run a coat drive, toy and food drives, and participate in other service initiatives. Our homeless shelter, led by congregants Anne Landman and Sasha Burgansky, is entering its 37th consecutive year of operation…evidence of our deep social justice commitment!

Reinvigorated Chesed Committee Led by Lauren Smetana and Justine Block, this 11-person committee is supporting members of our community who are home-limited or struggling through sickness, grief, or other challenging moments. Whether it’s a meal, a card, a tree planted in Israel, an errand taken care of, this committee is taking root anew.

ENGAGING WITH OUR BROADER COMMUNITIES

#ShowUpForShabbat A Shabbat morning service that was attended by a large and diverse community, well beyond our members, and was focused on fighting anti-Semitism and the memory of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue martyrs.

Iftar Our 12th year to welcome our Dawood Mosque friends to join us during their Ramadan week for one day to offer their evening prayers in our space and break their daily fast with us.

MLK Weekend with our First Presbyterian Church Friends Our fifth year together to commemorate the weekend with our choirs united in song and our communities worshipping together in services held in our sanctuary on Friday night and the church’s sanctuary on Sunday morning.

12 OFFERING NEW SERVICES

New Preschool Engagement and Tuition Offer Based on the extensive research and analysis by the Preschool Tuition and Engagement Ad Hoc Committee, we have restructured our tuition discount program for preschool families. New in the coming fiscal year, we will offer one full year of synagogue membership for families new to our preschool so that they can experience BHS as ‘their synagogue’ and we offer a deeper tuition discount to member preschool families in subsequent years.

First BHS Full Time Cantor Approval by the Board of Trustees of the new position of a full time Cantor, as well the approved hire of Cantor Ayelet Porzecanski, who will begin on July 1. The recommendation of Cantor Ayelet to the Board was the result of the extensive work of the Cantor Search Committee, chaired by Michael Lasky. That Committee worked closely throughout the process with Rabbi Lippe and Rabbi Kane and gathered input from a large and diverse set of congregants who responded to an online survey, participated in listening sessions, and/or engaged in conversation with individual Committee members.

Part-Time Social Worker Faye Wilbur is working with us on a weekly basis to provide more support for the needs of our home-limited and hospitalized members, as well as members who are coping with elder care or other life challenges. She coordinates closely with our clergy and Chesed Committee.

Enhanced Security In light of recent events, and based largely on the recommendations of a newly formed Security Task Force as well as our lay leadership, we continue to make enhancements to our infrastructure, staffing, and processes to remain diligent about the safety of our community.

Our past year could not have become a reality without not only the hard work of the Executive Committee and Board, but also the extraordinary efforts and devotion of our staff: •Our clergy team, led by Rabbi Lippe, including Rabbi Kane, and Cantor Ruben, as well as the support they received from our Student Rabbi Evan Sheinhait, rabbinic student Healy Slakman, accompanist Miriam Daly, and Senior Clergy Executive Assistant Liann Herder. •Our office staff, led by our Executive Director Sue Gold, who has been supported by Amy Leszman and our Office and Operations Manager Abby Stein. •Our religious school staff, including Lena Eson Roe and Abby Johnson and our terrific religious school teachers. •Our Early Childhood Education Director Pam Karlin, supported by Jen Kendall and Rebecca Leighton and our extraordinary preschool teachers and early childhood education office staff. •Our facilities staff, including Nevin Perez, Shakiyl Smith, and Frederick Utley, whose work is often behind the scenes and yet enables us to do what we do in our challenging limited space.

As we end our year, we recognize Cantor Bruce Ruben, whose five years of dedicated service come to a close at the end of June. He has served as our kind, loyal, and talented Chazzan, B’nai Mitzvah tutor, and choir leader. We wish him only the very best going forward.

In the coming year, I do hope that you will discover at least one more meaningful point of engagement for yourself and/or your family in our BHS community! And don’t be shy about bringing friends and relatives to worship and celebrate with us!

With the sincerest of wishes for connection and health and peace for one and all,

Karen Gordon President

13 Treasurer’s Report

Overview of the Current (2018-2019) Fiscal Year On March 31 2019, we had cash balances in operating accounts totaling $1,801,517. The capital campaign account balance was $602,732. Restricted fund account balances totaled $89,882.

The outstanding balance on the mortgage is $755,073.

The synagogue’s fiscal year ends June 30 and usually at the end of the third quarter (March 31) we are running a deficit. This time last year we had a deficit of $253,010. This year at the end of the third quarter we had an operating surplus of $166,062. As of March 31, 2019, revenues were $2,812,138 and expenses were $2,646,076. Each year we do a reforecast at mid-year and we project for the full fiscal year 2019 (ending June 30) we will run a surplus of $67,000 vs. our original budget surplus of $11,000. We project full year revenues of $3,769,000 and expenses of $3,702,000.

The primary reasons for this year’s stronger (than budget and last year) performance are: •Continued growth in membership; currently 495 member units vs. 476 at this time last year (at March 31 membership income was $106,000 greater than last year) •Continued full capacity in our pre-school, a larger summer camp enrollment and more participation in parenting center programs •Lower fundraising costs in the operating results •Fewer and less costly building repairs •Lower mortgage interest costs

There is one area where we have experienced significant cost increases: this is security. This has been necessary in the wake of events in Pittsburgh, Poway and elsewhere in the past year.

Capital Accounts and Capital Campaign As of March 31, 2019, the cash balance in the Capital Campaign account was $602,732 and the balance in the Weissler endowment fund was $446,620 (which has been designated by the Board for building expansion).

Capital campaign donations through March 31, 2019 is $1,008,677 and expenses were $322,668.

The public phase of the capital campaign kicked off in March 2019 and to date we have commitments totaling $4.6 million.

Budget for FY 2020 (July 2019-June 2020) The operating budget for the next fiscal year, 2020, is significant because for the first time we expect the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue to have operating revenues and expenses exceeding $4,000,000. We are projecting revenues of $4,047,623 and expenses of $4,044,130.

The key assumptions in the FY 2020 budget are as follows: •Hiring a full-time Cantor for the first in BHS history •A new security fee of $190 per family (Preschool families already pay a security fee of $275 and will not pay the new $190 fee); security costs in the original FY2019 budget were $70,000, for FY2020 they are projected at $160,000 •A 4% increase in membership dues and a net increase of 12 in membership units •A 4% increase in Preschool and in Hebrew School tuition •An average 3% increase in staff salaries •An 8% increase in health insurance costs

14 The FY20 budget is shown below:

FY 2020

Budget Revenue DONATIONS & FUNDRAISING $ 265,300 GENERAL & FACILITY INCOME 123,200 MEMBERSHIP INCOME 1,162,900 EARLY EDUCATION INCOME 2,001,623 ADULT ED & REL. SCHOOL INC 366,000 RITUAL INCOME 128,600

Total Revenue 4,047,623

Operating Expenses DONATIONS & FUNDRAISING EXPENSE 22,740 FACILITIES EXPENSE 617,159 GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSE 623,134 MEMBERSHIP EXPENSE 85,900 PARENTING CENTER & ECE EXPENSES 1,462,660 ADULT ED & RS NON-PERSONNEL 446,157 RITUAL EXPENSE 786,380

Total Operating Expenses 4,044,130

Operating Income (Loss) $ 3,493

The following graphs illustrate the source of our funds (Income) as well as how funds are expected to be used (Expense), according to our 2020 budget:

Where it comes from... RITUAL 3% DONATIONS & FUNDRAISING 7% ADULT ED & REL. GENERAL & SCHOOL FACILITY 9% 3%

MEMBERSHIP 29%

EARLY EDUCATION 49%

15 Where it all goes... DONATIONS & FUNDRAISING 1%

RITUAL FACILITIES 20% 15% GENERAL ADULT ED & RS ADMINISTRATIVE NON- 15% PERSONNEL 11%

EARLY MEMBERSHIP EDUCATION 2% 36%

Other matters During FY2019, a Finance Committee was established, in charge of managing financial matters and preparing relevant documents for the BHS Board of Trustees. These documents/reports are intended to explain the financial performance of BHS and to provide relevant financial information for decision-making. The Treasurer chairs the Finance Committee that is held at a minimum quarterly.

Diego Cransy Treasurer

“After my kids graduated from high school, BHS became my

community anchor. Where else would my community be?” -Why BHS Matters to Me

16 BHS NEW HEIGHTS CAPITAL CAMPAIGN 2019 - BY THE NUMBERS MAY Raised to Date:

Our Current Donors 100% Our Goal: Joined BHS in...

12.5%

12 months

EXPANDING USABLE SPACE:

EXPANDING ACCESSIBLE SPACE:

BUILDING COMMUNITY STEP BY STEP

17 Brooklyn Heights Synagogue Nominating Committee Report April 2019

The Nominating Committee proposes as Trustees the following individuals:  Andrew Berger  Jen Germain

 Aaron Zimmerman Each is a current Trustee, and will be entering his or her second term in that capacity. The Nominating Committee makes no further nominations of either Trustees or Officers.

David Jaroslaw Chair, BHS Nominating Committee

Save the Dates!

Friday, May 17, 6:30 PM Shir Shabbat Evening Service with Simcha Blessings and Board Installation & Appreciation

Saturday, June 8, 8:00 PM Shavuot Tikkun Leil and Services

Sunday, June 9, 10:30 AM Shavuot Festival Morning Service and Yizkor and Confirmation

Friday, June 14, 6:30 PM Pride Shabbat Evening Services

Friday, June 21, 6:30 PM Shabbat Evening Services and Rabbi Molly Kane and Michelle Citrin’s Auf Ruf

“As a practicing Jew, I can feel almost comfortable in any synagogue, but I had never felt I belonged to a community of caring kindred spirits until I stepped through the threshold of this wonderful spiritual com- munally- satisfying place. I feel blessed to have found it.” -Why BHS Matters to Me

18 Thank you to all of our supporters – August 30, 2018 through May 3, 2019 (Excludes gifts made as tributes)

2016-17 Annual Congregational Appeal Jack DeHovitz & Lisa Goldfarb Ednalyn Bragin Gary DeWaal Ross Brown & Lisa Securo David & Lisa Dince Eileen Dirnfeld 2017-18 Annual Congregational Appeal Joel & Marilyn Duckoff Rhonda Epstein Paul Egerman Spencer Kurn Justin Elghanayan & Alexa Cato Mark Lenetsky & LouAnn Smith Rhonda Epstein Jeffrey Miles & Madeline Schwartzman Bruce Feiler & Linda Rottenberg David & Lauren Smetana Stuart & Randi Feiner Benjamin Schak & Dory Weiss Jack Wright & Linda Feldman Michael First & Leslee Snyder 2018-19 Annual Congregational Appeal Zachary & Haley Fisher Hilary Ackermann & Paul Goldberg Alan & Judith Fishman Martin & Ellen Adelman Cliff Fonstein & Nadia Burgard Andrew Akers & Jennifer Wilkov Jonny Frank & Terry Haas Mans Angantyr & Rebecca Fisher Stuart Freedman & Carla Craig Amy Appelbaum Paul & Judith Fried David & Barbara Arky Mark & Marjorie Fuerst Cristian & Anne Bartoc Ned & Jeanine Futterman Glen & Jennifer Basner Adam & Emily Gasthalter Michael & Marcia Beck Jeffrey & Paula Gaynor Barry & Judith Beil Dan Shalev & Amanda Geller Shalev Alex & Emily Bellos Paul & Jennifer Germain Allan Brilliant & Marcia Bellows Douglas & Natalie Giles Andrew & Emily Berger Michael Gillespie & Lauren Glant Jan Erica Bertisch Jeffrey Ginsberg & Jane Smith Joshua Birnbaum David Black & Melissa Glass Jason & Justine Block Jeffrey Gold & Helene Fuhrman-Gold Dana Dratch & Esther Bloustein Shirley Gold Ervin & Susan Braun Steven & Susan Gold Jill Braver Eugene & Anita Goldstein David Brodsky & Roanne Mann Elissa Goldstone Karen Brody Bob & Karen Gordon James & Jessica Brown Frances Gottfried Steven & Pamela Brown-Inz David Goldstein & Sherri Greenbach Myriam Bucatinsky Harry Greenwald & Babette Krolik Sheryl Buchholtz Scott & Dana Grubin David Cerruti & Gale Cantor Jeffrey & Elizabeth Hafter Clifford Chanin Lynn Harmon Barbara Charton Seth & Jessica Harris John Chism Joseph & Rella Hartman Gregory Clarick & Jodi Hauptman John Herzog Daniel Cogan & Elizabeth Garbus Michael & Lori Hiller Amy Cohen Jill Holder Jonathan Kopp & Nancy Cohen Daniel Horwitz & Shari Hyman Steven Cohen & Lisa Melmed Cohen David Houts & Rebecca Berman Edward & Madeline Cohn Richard & Anita Inz William & Marjorie Coleman Douglas Woodward & Fran Jacobs Sy & Harriet Colen David & Ilene Jaroslaw Peter DeChiara & Sara Horowitz Marilyn Kahan

19 Thank you to all of our supporters – August 30, 2018 through May 3, 2019 (Excludes gifts made as tributes)

Rabbi Molly Kane & Michelle Citrin Hannah Rabinowitz Gerald & Jerilyn Kaplan Linda Rapchik Joshua & Pam Karlin Boris & Jennifer Rapoport Miriam Katowitz Joyce Raskin Mark Katz & Jennifer Zaslow Raymond Raskin & Rosary Morelli Ellen Kaufman-Nuzzi Stuart Reich & Kate Davis Eugene Keilin & Joanne Witty Gail Ressler Gregory Keilin John & Jennifer Richardson Gordon Kingsley & Dahlia Radley-Kingsley Marsha Rimler Judith Knie Ellen Rittberg Ed & Andrea Kopel Rachel & Richard Robbins Blanche Krakowski Maxine Rockoff David & Shelley Kruth Kenneth & Sandra Roff Mark & Dorothy Lahm Arthur Rose Mark & Anne Landman Patricia Rosenblum Michael Lasky & Peggi Einhorn Daniel & Lisa Roth Nancy Lazar Julia Rubin Carol Lazarus Edward & Susanne Sack Bruce Weiner & Susan Leboff Stephen & Christy Sacks Paul & Stacey Leibowitz Scott Sager & Sharon Nelles Maxwell & Rebecca Leighton David Salpeter & Jennifer Rosen Mark Lenetsky & LouAnn Smith Andrew & Katherine Saltoun John Levy & Victoria Westhead Michael & Debra Sapp Lewis Lieberman & Ina Ratner William Socolov & Sheila Scharfman Rabbi Serge Lippe & Deborah Speyer Abraham Schmutter Bobye List Bruce & Mila Schmutter Mali List Peter & Carol Schulhof Matthew Mallow & Ellen Chesler Andrew & Leslie Schultz Kenneth & Susan Mandelbaum Dan Schwartz Aaron Marcu & Mary Lu Bilek Gabriel & Jolie Schwartz Benjamin Marcu Rita Schwartz Michael & Meredith Marcus Jeffrey Miles & Madeline Schwartzman Andrew & Bethany Martin Don Shacknai & Eve Hall Gary & Monique Marton Eric & Maria Simon Ari & Anna Meisel Joshua Sirefman & Thanh Bui Jane Meyers Benjamin & Veronique Sobel Alan & Karen Neuberg Lawrence & Judi Sobel Michiko Neufeld Alex Gelinas & Linda Sosnowitz Joel Nowak & Wendy Lebowitz Richard & Susan Sporer Jason & Holly Ojalvo Bradley Manier & Karen Stiefel Raymond Ojserkis & Gina Taylor Harriet Stollman Jerome Oliner & Wendy Weil Adam & Vanessa Sussman Kenneth Olshansky & Margot Owett Ken Sutak Rebecca Palley Jenny Swift Felix & Alexandra Partow Laura Szapiro Christopher Lyon & Debra Pearlman Steve & Mary Tager Helen Pearlstein Michael & Joyce Thomas Anne Pollack Susan & Doug Warsett Michael Pollack & Barbara Marcus Lawrence & Irene Waxman Jeffrey & Jennifer Powers David Weinkrantz Jeremy Primer & Sandra Wertheimer Benjamin Schak & Dory Weiss

20 Thank you to all of our supporters – August 30, 2018 through May 3, 2019 (Excludes gifts made as tributes)

Steve Boyer & Emily Weiss Barbara Charton Robert Weiss & Susan Chadick Heather Cohen Jonathan & Jessica Wiener Patrick & Alexa Conway Judith Winn Laura Dattner Andrew & Vicki Wittenstein Gary DeWaal Andrew Wolff & Andrea Perlman Bruce Feiler & Linda Rottenberg Michael Swift & Tessa Woodward Reva Golden Stephen Yankauer & Rachel Schnoll John Herzog Jonathan Lonner & Lauren Young Scott & Carol Himes Stuart Zagnit & Carolyn Sloan Steven Landis & Julie Irwin William Miller & Anna Ziegler Stephen & Lucia Larson Richard & Carolyn Ziegler Michael Lasky & Peggi Einhorn Aaron & Alycia Zimmerman Carol Lazarus Michael & Barbara Zimmerman Mark Lee Joseph Zito & Elizabeth Gould Rafi Musher & Lara Seligman Matthew & Ronit Prince BHS High School Israel Trip Fund Stuart Reich & Kate Davis Allan Brilliant & Marcia Bellows Carrieann Reilly David Brodsky & Roanne Mann Sheldon Siporin Steven Cohen & Lisa Melmed Cohen Larry Swertloff & Anna Fong Michiko Neufeld Laura Szapiro Paul Hinton & Andrea Phillips David & Vanessa Wise Scott Sager & Sharon Nelles Steven Dovas & Marie Wolpert Laura Szapiro Homeless Shelter Cantor's Discretionary Fund Daniel Cogan & Elizabeth Garbus Mark Greenfield & Laura Barnett Brad Epstein Steven & Susan Gold Chesed Caring Fund Mark Greenfield & Laura Barnett Mark Greenfield & Laura Barnett Ellen Kaufman-Nuzzi Rafi Musher & Lara Seligman Donation for Shabbat Oneg Gail Ressler Andrew & Emily Berger Harriet Stollman Sheryl Buchholtz Diego Crasny & Olga Timoshkina Mishloach Manot Bob & Karen Gordon Martin & Ellen Adelman Miriam Katowitz and Arthur Radin z”l Amy Appelbaum Eric & Jennifer Komitee Allan Brilliant & Marcia Bellows Mark & Anne Landman Gary Dolan & Wendy Bellus Joel Nowak & Wendy Lebowitz Arlene Brown Raymond Raskin & Rosary Morelli Myriam Bucatinsky David Salpeter & Jennifer Rosen David Cohen & Andrea Feller Jonathan Lonner & Lauren Young Jeffrey Gold & Helene Fuhrman-Gold Steven & Susan Gold Education Fund Bob & Karen Gordon Alex & Emily Bellos Mark Greenfield & Laura Barnett Dan Haft & Ellen Pemstein General Fund Lynn Harmon Simone Amber Richard & Anita Inz Santander Bank Douglas Woodward & Fran Jacobs Randall & Deborah Baruh Arthur & Judith Keller

21 Thank you to all of our supporters – August 30, 2018 through May 3, 2019 (Excludes gifts made as tributes)

Blanche Krakowski Rick & Anita Inz Evan & Meredith Kresman David & Ilene Jaroslaw Mark & Anne Landman Keith Kleinick Stephen & Lucia Larson Erik & Jen Komitee Scott Sager & Sharon Nelles Jonathan Kopp & Nancy Cohen Alan Schiffres & Lynda Davey Blanche Krakowski Philip Schneider David & Stacy Kramer Charlotte & Laurie Simon David & Meredith Kurnov Marvin & Phyllis Starkman Anne & Mark Landman Nelson & Diana Tebbe Michael Lasky & Peggi Einhorn Judith Winn Susan Leboff & Bruce Weiner Bobye List New Heights Capital Campaign Jonathan Lonner & Lauren Young Anonymous Mary Lu Bilek & Aaron Marcu Geri & Cynthia Armine-Klein Jane Meyers Maggie & Andy Ball Sydney & Harry Neuhaus Michael & Marcia Beck Diane Person Andy & Emily Berger Rabbi Hara Person Matthew Bloom Jeff & Jenny Powers Jill Braver Jeremy Primer & Sandy Wertheimer Alan Brilliant & Marcia Bellows Arthur Radin z”l & Miriam Katowitz Karen Brody Linda Rapchik Arlene Brown Yigal Rechtman & Marnita Robinson Jessica & Jim Brown Ellen Rittberg Sheryl Buchholtz James Rosenfeld & Cathryn Galanter Gale Cantor & David Cerutti Lewis & Irene Rosenthal Susan Chadick & Bob Weiss Susanne & Edward Sack Barbara Charton Scott Sager & Sharon Nelles Steve Cohen & Lisa Melmed-Cohen David Salpeter & Jennifer Rosen Harriet & Sy Colen Andrew & Katie Saltoun Diego Crasny & Olga Timoshkina Robert Schachter & Wendi Lazar Lynda Davey & Alan Schiffres Sheila Scharfman & Will Socolov Lisa & David Dince Leslie & Andy Schultz Marilyn & Joel Duckoff Gabe & Jolie Schwartz Mark Elliot & Julia Bovey Rita Schwartz Larry & Nina Epstein Sandra Shap Rhonda Epstein Dave & Lauren Smetana Bruce Feiler & Linda Rottenberg Deb Speyer & Rabbi Serge Lippe Cliff Fonstein & Nadia Burgard Harriet Stollman Brian & Joy Gelbman Liesje Ten Houten Paul & Jennifer Germain Dory Weiss & Ben Schak Melissa Glass & David Black Andrew & Vicki Wittenstein Sue & Steve Gold Steven Yankauer & Rachel Schnoll Jeff Gold & Helene Fuhrman-Gold Jennifer Zaslow & Mark Katz Karen & Bob Gordon Michael & Barbara Zimmerman Jennifer & Andrew Gordon Aaron & Alycia Zimmerman Frances (Fran) Gottfried Scott & Beth Zucker Harry Greenwald & Babette Krolik Scott & Dana Grubin Rabbi Kane Discretionary Fund Jeff & Liz Hafter Steven & Pamela Brown-Inz Peter Heller Jack Wright & Linda Feldman

22 Thank you to all of our supporters – August 30, 2018 through May 3, 2019 (Excludes gifts made as tributes)

William & Sarah Sobel

Rabbi Lippe Discretionary Fund Gary Dolan & Wendy Bellus Deanna Dauber Mark Greenfield & Laura Barnett Henry & Karoly Gutman Peter Sneider & Jennifer Hoguet Edward Janger & Victoria Eastus Keith Kleinick Carol Lazarus Jeff Isreeli & Karen Metzger Kenneth & Michele Newman Sandra Palley-Brandt Lewis & Sheila Skolnik William & Sarah Sobel

Stanley Person Preschool Fund If we have inadvertently left you Rafi Musher & Lara Seligman off this list or listed your name Diane Person incorrectly, please accept our sincere apologies. Please contact Security Fund the office to remedy this error. Harvey & Phyllis Klein

“My marriage, baby namings, children’s B’nai Mitzvah and confirmation have all been here! Even have a plaque for the future. Blessed to have all life cycles here- beginning to end.” -Why BHS Matters to Me

23 Tribute Gifts – August 30, 2018 through May 3, 2019

2018-19 Annual Congregational Appeal Capital Campaign Norman & Arlene Basner Bruce and Cheryl Goldhirsch in honor of Jennifer & Glen Basner in honor of Mark and Anne Landman's Richard & Robin Baum anniversary in honor of Karen Baum Gordon Richard & Anita Inz Diego Crasny in honor of the anniversary of David's in memory of our father, Felipe Crasny Bar Mitzvah on May 4th, 2000 Hope Dana in memory of Arthur Radin Chesed Caring Fund Joel & Judy Dorfman Michael & Judith Geller in honor of Dana & Scott Grubin in memory of Henry Roberts Steven & Jennifer Eisenstadt Susan & Steven Gold in appreciation of Sue Gold in memory of Karen Gordon's parents David & Meryl Hirschland in memory of Julio Bucatinsky, in appreciation of Rabbi Lippe husband of Myrian Bucatinsky Sandra Palley-Brandt in memory of Frances Wolff, mother of in honor of Avika Palley Andrew Wolff in honor of Amicai Palley in memory of Eleanor Vogel Diane Person in memory of my husband, Donation for Shabbat Oneg Stanley Person Martin & Ellen Adelman Sandra Shap in honor of our 50th wedding in memory of my husband, anniversary Mark Andrew Shap Michiko Neufeld Phyllis Widder in honor of simcha blessings in honor of Jonathan Kopp & Family Scott Sager & Sharon Nelles Marc Zelanko & Rhonda Weiner in honor of Rabbi Hara Person, in memory of our fathers, Burton services and dinner, on May 10, Weiner and Seymour Zelanko 2019. Robert Weiss & Susan Chadick BHS High School Israel Trip Fund in honor of our anniversary and in Anonymous support of Show Up for Shabbat in memory of Lee Feldman Barbara Charton Education Fund in memory of Dr. Howard Moshman David & Meryl Hirschland David & Lisa Dince in honor of Rabbi Hara Person upon in memory of Art Radin her selection as the Chief Executive of the CCAR Cantor's Discretionary Fund Kim Messina David & Stacy Kramer in memory of my father, in honor of Jack Kramer's Bat Mitzvah Randolph Pace Mark & Anne Landman Susan & Doug Warsett in appreciation of High Holy Day in appreciation of BHS Chavurah services Rita Schwartz General Fund in memory of my husband, James & Jessica Brown Allen Schwartz in honor of our anniversary Ruth Clapper in celebration of In honor of Liora Connor and Sam Selinger on the occasion of their marriage

24 Tribute Gifts – August 30, 2018 through May 3, 2019

David & Barbara Cohen Phyllis & Marvin Starkman in appreciation of our daughter's in honor of Giving Tuesday attendance at High Holiday Services Lisa and Bill Stromberg Monica Elias & Roy Walter in memory of Arthur J. Radin in support of BHS' conversion to Rebecca Swartz "green" serviceware at Onegs in memory of Arthur Radin Claire Fishkin & Marjorie Berman Liesje Ten Houten in memory of Grace Gutman in appreciation of Sue Gold Jeffrey & Paula Gaynor in honor of Sam Richardson in honor of our 40th wedding becoming a bar mitzvah anniversary in memory of my beloved children Barbara & Cliff Gerber in memory of Eleanor Vogel Homeless Shelter Susan & Steven Gold Sandra Ellington-Cole in memory of David Bennick on behalf of David J. Smetana Caren & Steven Horowitz Steven Rissman & Ilisa Katz-Rissman in memory of Rozanne Reiman in memory of Barbara Susan Katz Phyllis Kass Kathleen Roberts in honor of Eli Grubin becoming a Bar in honor of Barbara Deinhardt Mitzvah Rita Schwartz Mark & Anne Landman in honor of Giving Tuesday in memory of Art Radin Susan & Doug Warsett Nancy Lazar in appreciation of the warmth and in memory of Dr. Howard Moshman hospitality of Phyllis and Ellen Lippmann Marvin Starkman in appreciation of the leaders and in honor of warmth and hospitality of members of the weekly Shabbat Mark and Anne Landman Chavurah Joseph Zito & Elizabeth Gould Lisa North in memory of my father, Larry Gould in memory of Arthur J. Radin, beloved husband of Miriam Katowitz Music Fund Joel Nowak & Wendy Lebowitz Eric Fried in memory of Inez Janger in memory of Arthur Radin Diane Person Hilda Scroggins in memory of Larrie Goetz in appreciation of High Holy Days in memory of my father, Harold Goetz Barbara Stob Joyce Raskin in memory of Arthur Radin in honor of Nine and Larry Epstein's wedding anniversary New Heights Capital Campaign Maxine Rockoff Matthew & Jamie Bloom in memory of my parents, Hilda Kahan in honor of the 40th wedding Lieberman & Arnold Leo anniversary of Michael Lasky & Peggi Lieberman Einhorn in memory of my husband, Bob & Karen Gordon Wesley A. Clark in celebration of Eli Germain Kenneth & Sandra Roff becoming a Bar Mitzvah in memory of Charles Shoiock Frances Gottfried Rita Schwartz in memory of Mary McKey in memory of Henry Roberts, father of in memory of Ben Goldberg Dan Shalev in memory of Dr. Howard Moshman

25 –

Michael Lasky & Peggi Einhorn Frances Gottfried in honor of the birth of Robin Samuel in support of engraving Torah Boyer ornaments Richard & Carolyn Ziegler Karen and David Hoguet in memory of Arthur Radin in appreciation of Rabbi Lippe Maureem & Hilton Israelson Rabbi Kane Discretionary Fund in appreciation of Rabbi Lippe Cliff Fonstein & Nadia Burgard Pearl and Paul Kane in memory of Beba Wishnia in celebration of the engagement of in memory of Abraham Citrin Rabbi Molly G. Kane to Michelle Citrin Bob & Karen Gordon David & Stacy Kramer in memory of Abraham Citrin in honor of Jack's Bar Mitzvah Jennifer & John Richardson George Menken in celebration of Chanukah 2018 in honor of the warm and moving Steven Rissman & Ilisa Katz-Rissman service Rabbi Lippe conducted at the in memory of my father, unveiling of Audree's stone Arthur David Rissman Stanley & Karen Moshman in memory of Dr. Howard Moshman Rabbi Lippe Discretionary Fund Joel Nowak & Wendy Lebowitz Hilary Ackermann & Paul Goldberg in memory of Irwin Speyer in memory of my son, Ben Goldberg Debra Pearlman & Christopher Lyon Morrell & Maria Avram in memory of my parents, Willard and in memory of my brother-in-law, Beverly Pearlman and in celebration Larry Friedman of Rachel and John's wedding in memory of my father, Ricki Pearlman Mendel Avram in celebration of the life of Marcia Bellows & Allan Brilliant Ellen Cohen in memory of Arthur Radin Raymond Raskin & Rosary Morelli William & Marjorie Coleman in memory of Art Radin in honor of Etta Barnard's babynaming Marsha Rimler David & Lisa Dince in memory of my father, Moe Rimler in appreciation of Rabbi Lippe on the Matthew & Alison Rosenzweig occasion of the auf ruf of Molly Dince in honor of Alex Rosenzweig's Bar and Max Bryer Mitzvah Eileen Dirnfeld Sheila Scharfman & William Socolov in memory of my mother, in honor of Karen Gordon as the new Dora Dirnfeld Congregational President in memory of my parents, Julius and in memory of Irwin Speyer Dora, and brother, Louis Andrew Silver Zelcah Farsijany in appreciation of Brooklyn Heights in memory of Ellen Cohen Synagogue on the occasion of Sophie Arthur & Ellen Gang Adela Silver's baby naming in honor of Kent Sanderson, Joanna Linda Sosnowitz & Alex Gelinas Gang, and Asher Gang Sanderson in memory of Charles Shoiock, father Jeffrey Gold & Helene Fuhrman-Gold of Sandra Roff in appreciation of Karen Gordon, the Robert Teich Board, and Rabbi Lippe for your Mi in memory of Matthew Puccio Shebeirach and kindness Liesje Ten Houten Bob & Karen Gordon in appreciation of Rabbi Lippe in honor of Eli Grubin becoming a Bar Mitzvah

26 –

Robert Weiss & Susan Chadick in honor of the bris of Robin Samuel Boyer Stephen Yankauer & Rachel Schnoll in appreciation of Rabbi Serge Lippe Lauren Young & Jonathan Lonner in appreciation of Rabbi Molly Kane

Stanley Person Preschool Fund Chaim Lieberman & Jenni Person in memory of Arthur Radin Linda Sosnowitz & Alex Gelinas in celebration of the birth of Noa Setton, granddaughter of Sheryl Buchholtz in honor of Rabbi Hara Person in honor of the birth of Robin Samuel, son of Emily Weiss and Steven Boyer

If we have inadvertently left you off this list or mistakenly listed your dedication, please accept our sincere apologies. Please contact the office to remedy this error.

“It is the most wonderful place and warm community within which I can honor and support my heritage.” -Why BHS Matters to Me

27

Join us for the High Holy Days 2019/5780!

SELICHOT Saturday, September 21 7:30 pm: Selichot Evening Program and Service EREV ROSH HASHANAH Sunday, September 29 at Plymouth Church 6:30 pm: Evening Service & Childcare* (babysitting will be available) ROSH HASHANAH Monday, September 30 at Plymouth Church 9:30 am: Morning Service* 9:30 am: Services & Activities for Grades K-7, Childcare, & BHGSY Activities Tashlich at Fulton Landing immediately following services 2:00 pm: Community Family K-3 Service at Plymouth Community Tot (0-5) Service at BHS Monday, September 30 at Brooklyn Heights Synagogue 6:30 pm: Evening Service (babysitting will be available) ROSH HASHANAH - 2nd Day Tuesday, October 1 at Brooklyn Heights Synagogue 9:30 am: Morning Service (babysitting will be available) SHABBAT SHUVAH Friday, October 4 at Brooklyn Heights Synagogue 6:30 pm: Evening Service (babysitting will be available) Saturday, October 5 at Brooklyn Heights Synagogue 12:00 pm: Shabbat Shuvah Minyan and Study Lunch – bring your own “brown bag” KOL NIDRE Tuesday, October 8 at Plymouth Church 6:30 pm: Kol Nidre Service & Childcare* YOM KIPPUR Wednesday, October 9 at Plymouth Church 9:30 am: Morning Service* 9:30 am: Services & Activities for Preschool to Grade 7, Childcare, & BHGSY Activities Study Session following Yom Kippur Morning Service 2:00 pm: Community Family K-3 Service at Plymouth Community Tot Service (0-5) at BHS 3:15 pm: Afternoon, Healing, Yizkor & Closing Service Break Fast follows concluding service at sunset - reservations required

*Tickets are required ONLY for our services at Plymouth Church. College & graduate students with ID and members of the U.S. Armed Forces are welcome at all our services without charge.

For further information, tickets to our services at Plymouth, to reserve childcare or a place at our community Break Fast, or to learn about membership at Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, please call Amy at 718-522-2070 x124, or email [email protected]. 28 Executive Director’s Report

I continue to be immeasurably honored to serve BHS as its Executive Director and am profoundly grateful to my team of office and custodial staff as well as to my inspirational departmental colleagues and our wise and thoughtful leadership. This has been an incredibly fast-paced year, what with the launch of the New Heights Capital Campaign and all of the Project Management that is attending to the upcoming expansion project. With a full heart, I am happy to provide you with this brief update on the administrative “state of the shul.”

MEMBERSHIP: More than a physical building within which to explore Jewish life, BHS is a community of devoted members. As of July 1, 2018, the BHS community had grown to 476 member families. As I write this report, we are now at 495 member families. For more information about our membership, please read Amy Leszman’s membership metrics starting on page 32. We experienced “new heights” of synagogue engagement under the lay leadership of our membership engagement team leaders Helene Fuhrman-Gold and Alycia Zimmerman, the details of which are also highlighted in Rabbi Lippe’s and BHS President Karen Gordon’s reports.

ADMINISTRATION/FACILITIES: The administrative team grew this year to include Liann Herder serving in the dual roles of Executive Assistant to the Senior Clergy and Development Associate to the Capital Campaign team effort. Our awesome Office Operations Manager, Abigail Stein, revealed her technological and design prowess in serial successes this year, designing invite after invite, banner after banner, website improvements and web-based applications to our operations, and securely positioning us in the 21st century. Our Building Superintendent, Dave Ramos, left us in April after 5½ years of service to be closer to his family in Massachusetts, but left the existing crew fully-prepared to keep our institution functioning well on a day to day basis. In April, the Executive Committee approved a plan to conduct a facilities management assessment which will help us restructure our facility management plan going forward, both in terms of staffing, procedures, and infrastructural needs. Abby will be headed to graduate school in Landscape Architecture and Rebekah Kendall – a new hire – will start on May 29th as Office Operations Manager.

CELEBRATIONS, EVENTS, AND WORSHIP: For Purim this year, it was a treat and a labor of love for my husband Steve to work with me to create the original and hilarious shpiel “Esther Day!” Thank you to Cantor Bruce Ruben for supporting this endeavor and to David Hirschland for co-writing the script with Cantor Ruben, who never lacks for a quick pun and funny musical inuendo. Thanks, too, to all of the fine musicians including Roy and Jason Walter in the band and our amazing cast of performers including Dan Rosenbaum & Olivia Sohmer Rosenbaum, Meryl Hirschland, Jack Allen Greenfield, Sandy Wertheimer, accompanied by Jonathan Kopp, Laura Brown, Babette Krolik, Pam Karlin, Liann Herder, Rabbi Serge Lippe, and Ross Brown.

And speaking of Ross Brown (and Lisa SecuroBrown), our college students received holiday joy multiple times this year, thanks to the work of the College Outreach Committee. Remember to send us your outward-bound college students’ contact information for the fall, so they can receive treats, as well!

29 Over the summer, we again brought our services into Brooklyn Bridge Park and enjoyed the special joy of worshiping together outdoors. We will certainly be doing this again in the coming summer on June 28th and August 9th! High Holy Days at Plymouth Church were wonderful, as always, and featured a “first time” standing ovation when Rabbi Molly Kane concluded her spectacular Rosh Hashanah sermon reflecting on the #MeToo Movement.

Security Our community was profoundly shaken in October when the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh suffered a vicious, premeditated attack. The BHS community joined together in our sanctuary with members of the wider Brooklyn Heights many faith communities for a memorial service of solidarity and healing. However, just days after our gathering, swastikas were sprayed on buildings in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood on Halloween, elevating tensions and concerns for safety and security. A Security Task Force was immediately formed to address the needs of our institution, and a plan was begun to increase our security presence and protection both with added personnel and hardened entrances. Thanks to the Security Task Force for its continued guidance in the many months since the fall: Don Shacknai, Laura Solomon, Joy Sinderbrand, Philip Hirsh, and former NYPD Lt. David Boehm of Security USA.

NEW HEIGHTS CAPTIAL CAMPAIGN: Throughout the year, the Capital Campaign Steering Committee and Core Group have been organizing home-based Parlor Meetings for intimate presentations on our building plans and the development needs that will help us realize our dreams. Without exception, these gatherings have been powerful engines of two-way information and connection, and have stimulated much success during the “quiet phase” of the Campaign, helping us to reach almost half of our $9.5 million goal before we launched the campaign on March 9 with our “Building Excitement” event.

It’s been a busy year, and a great year, and we all look forward to a restful and rejuvenating summer and the fall holidays yet to come, where we will be all together again! Sue Gold Executive Director

30

Brooklyn Heights Synagogue DRAFT Based on 4% increase

ANNUAL DUES & FEES 2019-2020 Dues may be resolved by check, e-check, or cash or by credit card through ShulCloud.

Membership Dues & Fees Two Adults One Parent One Adult

Membership dues are the backbone of the Household Household Household Synagogue’s annual budget. Included in your dues consisting of two consisting of one consisting of one Amounts is $140 per member household that we pass on to the Union for Reform Judaism, as an affiliated adults with or adult living with adult living Due congregation. To learn more about the URJ, visit without children children without children www.urj.org.

The Synagogue’s operating expenses are not entirely covered by membership dues. Our fundraising efforts throughout the year help us to meet those operating needs. We thank you, in advance, for your generous support.

Security Fee (for non-PS families)* $190 $190 $190 *If this is a burden, please contact Sue Gold.

Annual Membership Dues $2960 $2220 $1965

Special Membership Dues for new 1st Year $1080 1st Year $825 1st Year $800 members under 30 years of age OR with children under 6 years of age, and for children of the 2nd Year $2035 2nd Year $1490 2nd Year $1425 congregation beginning at age 30

Please contact our Executive Director to activate this special dues schedule.

Maintenance Fund $2000 $1000 $1000

Required of all members. Payment may be made in (or $200 per year) (or $100 per year) (or $100 per year) annual installments over a period of ten years, or sooner if possible.

The Maintenance Fund keeps our landmark building repaired and periodically refreshed. Additional contributions to this fund are always welcome.

ARZA (optional contribution; visit $36 $36 $36 www.arza.org for more info.) This is the Association of Reform Zionists of America Subtotal for Membership Dues & Fees: $

Subtotal for Religious School & BHGSY (see over) $ TOTAL Amount Due for 2019-2020 $

If you would like to arrange for a payment schedule or other special financial consideration, please contact our Executive Director at 718-522-2070 x122 or [email protected]

I (we) hereby apply for 2019-2020 membership in BHS. I (we) agree to abide by the by-laws, rules and regulations of the congregation, including the payment of all dues, tuition and fees per the payment schedule, unless we have made special arrangements with the Executive Director of the Synagogue.

Date: ______Print Name(s): ______

Signature(s): ______* For assistance logging on to ShulCloud, contact [email protected]

31 Membership Statistics

Current Member Families*: 495 New Members Families: 37 Resignations: 12 Suspensions**: 13 Growth (Decline): 19 families

*As of Shulcloud reporting on May 2, 2019. The discrepancy in the total current member families plus the new members, less the resignations in comparison to last year’s final count due to date variance from when the data was pulled. *Families that abstained from membership for this year, but fully expect to return next year

Membership Growth from FY06 – FY19

Fiscal Year TOTAL MEMBERS Fiscal Year TOTAL MEMBERS FY06 273 FY13 433 FY07 336 FY14 445 FY08 342 FY15 456 FY09 366 FY16 465 FY10 383 FY17 474 FY11 394 FY18 476 FY12 424 FY19 495

Total Members 600

500 495 465 474 476 445 456 424 433 400 394 366 383 336 342 300 273 Total Members 200

100

0

32 Membership by Age

The below graph breaks down the entire congregation, including children, by age. The largest age cohort in our congregation is children aged 0-10, noting our vibrant young families population at BHS.

Membership by Age 350

300

250

200 Membership 150 300 by Age 268 240 100 199 167 155 163 50 84 30 0 Age 0- Age 11- Age 21- Age 31- Age 41- Age 51- Age 61- Age 71- Age 81+ 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Membership by Gender

54% of the BHS adult membership is female and 46% of the adult membership is male. The below graph depicts individuals and not member units. Membership by Gender

420

486 Male Female

33 Families with Children Under 21

62% of the BHS congregation has children under the age of 21. The below graph depicts member units.

Families with Children >21

189

With Children 306 Without Children

Membership by Length

The below graph details how long member units have belonged to BHS. The largest group, members for less than 5 years, comprises 29% of the congregation. The second largest group has been members for 11-20 years and comprises 25% of the congregation. The third largest group has been members for 5-10 years and comprises 21% of the congregation. Membership Length

12

40 144 74

123 102

Members <5 Years Members 5-10 Years Members 11-20 Years Members 21-30 Years Members 31-40 Years Members 41+ Years

34 Membership by Type

The BHS membership encompasses various compositions of member families or two adult households with or without children. As the below graph depicts, 77% of the congregation is comprised of member families. Membership by Type 450 400 350 300 250 200 391 Membership by Type 150 100 50 62 0 23 19 Family One Adult Single Other Parent

Membership by Zip Code

340 member units, or 69% of the congregation, reside in the 11201 zip code which covers Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, and parts of Fort Greene and Cobble Hill.

Membership by Zipcode

97

58 11201 11231 340 All Other

Compiled by Amy Leszman Director of Member Engagement

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Mazel Tov to Our 2018, 2019, & 2020 5778 & 5779 & 5780 B’nai Mitzvah!

Samuel Richardson September 8, 2018 Zoe Benjamin October 5, 2019 Mia Silverstein September 15, 2018 Francesca Siskind-Holgersen October 12, 2019 Micah Parnass September 22, 2018 Henry Brown October 19, 2019 Jack Kramer October 6, 2018 Parker Lapidus October 26, 2019 Casey Glickman October 13, 2018 Braydon Kaplan November 2, 2019 Eden Feiler October 20, 2018 Noah Cutler November 9, 2019 Tybee Feiler October 20, 2018 Ezra Atkins November 16, 2019 Avery Epstein October 27, 2018 Zara Gelbman November 23, 2019 Isaac Houts December 15, 2018 Theodore Cogan December 7, 2019 Charlotte Leibowitz January 12, 2019 Sophie Larson January 4, 2020 Zachary Weinschel January 19, 2019 Gianna Gordon January 11, 2020 Evan Komitee January 26, 2019 Emily Landis January 18, 2020 Noah Cooper February 2, 2019 Sophie Landis January 18, 2020 Zoey Ojalvo February 9, 2019 Sydney Slatkin January 25, 2020 Alexander Rosenzweig February 23, 2019 Alexander Smetana February 1, 2020 Willa Hart March 2, 2019 Talia Dickinson February 8, 2020 Claudia Jackson March 9, 2019 Bora Bromberg February 15, 2020 Allison Goldblum March 16, 2019 Hallie Rosenzweig February 22, 2020 Eli Grubin April 6, 2019 Solomon Block February 29, 2020 Eli Germain April 13, 2019 Teddy Basner March 7, 2020 Eli Zolan April 27, 2019 Milo Zaks March 14, 2020 Lucie Robinson May 4, 2019 Sarah Radnay March 21, 2020 Holden Callif May 18, 2019 Addison Caruso Scott March 28, 2020 Logan Reiman June 1, 2019 Alex Chesin April 4, 2020 Sloane Lipton June 8, 2019 Elle Smiley April 18, 2020 Abigail Wiener June 15, 2019 Nathaniel Weinberger April 25, 2020 Aiden Shap May 2, 2020 Molly Appelbaum September 7, 2019 Kayla Sirefman May 9, 2020 Ezekiel Wise September 14, 2019 Naia Neuman May 16, 2020 Jolie Weinstein September 21, 2019 Jordan Strohmenger June 13, 2020 Alexander Kramer September 28, 2019 Sara Cocco June 20, 2020

“We feel a deep connection and personal loyalty to the institution and a genuine affection to the many friends and neighbors we’ve made there over the last thirteen years.” -Why BHS Matters to Me

36 Associate Rabbi – Educator’s Annual Report

Religious School RS Enrollment 2018 - 2019 The Brooklyn Heights Synagogue Religious School welcomed students and families to celebrate Jewish life together this past year. Our teachers, madrichim (post-b’nai mitzvah helpers), and • 259 - students total our full-time Jewish education team created community in our • 69 - K-2 classrooms, developed and nourished our student’s spiritual • 31 - 3rd grade lives, and conceived of dynamic and engaging lessons and • 79 - 4th-6th grade programs. • 31 - 7th grade Our curriculum weaves together several strands of Jewish • 40 - High School learning at each grade level. Over the course of the year, I have • 9 - 11th-12th graders worked closely with a special Religious School Ad-Hoc committee to examine our religious school program. We are looking forward to making some important changes over the next couple of years to better meet the needs of our students and families.

Here are some highlights from this past year:

Ritual: Students gathered weekly for t’filah with our music educator rabbinic student Healy Slakman. We had our bi-annual chocolate Seder, 3rd graders explored Havdalah, while in our younger grades, families were given tools to celebrate Shabbat every week.

Hebrew: We welcomed back this year Shiraz our Hebrew resource teacher who works individually with students during class time. We took beginning steps to change our Hebrew program to make it more effective and help students be more successful and are excited for bigger changes for next year.

Israel: 11 students will travel on our 9th grade Israel trip this year with Rabbi Lippe, our 3rd graders had a fantastic Yom HaAtzmaut puppet show, our shinshin Jenny (Israeli emissary for the year) cooked, taught modern Hebrew and culture, and added so much to our program!

Social Justice: Every grade took a night at the BHS shelter organized by our Religious School Committee, we participated in the annual MLK day of service programs organized by UJA- Federation, Lena enhanced and taught our 7th grade social action/tikkun olam mini semester.

Arts and Exploration: We made sure every grade took a field trip this year and some grades took more than one so that we could use NYC as a living laboratory for exploring Jewish arts and culture.

Teen Engagement

We offer multiple points of engagement for our teens post-B’nai Mitzvah. In our Hebrew High program offered on Tuesday nights students delve deep into Jewish History, Modern Israeli History, and Current events and world religions. We offer communal programming for our Hebrew High Students ranging from our annual Hanukkah party to programs about Israel offered by our shinshin, to our annual trip to the Religious Actions Center L’taken Weekend.

37

Students can also participate in our madrichim program, where they serve as teacher assistants in our religious school classrooms. 12 students participated in our program this year. They earn an Amazon gift card as compensation for each semester worked.

BGHSY flourished under the leadership of our 11th graders Ruby Kopel and Violet Kopp with supervision and mentorship from our youth advisor Jenny Singer. Students from 8th-12th grade participated in our annual high school Shabbat and Shul-Inn, our BGHSY food tour, Hanukkah Casino night, and weekly meetings. We also want to congratulate Violet Kopp on being elected to the North American Federation of Temple Youth – New York Area regional board for the upcoming year as the Social Action Vice President.

Holidays, Worship, and Ritual

This year, (as it is every year) it has been an honor to serve the BHS community on the bima. From Shabbat B’Yachad to Bnai Mitzvot, it has been a meaningful year of worship and lifecycle in our community. I am still in awe and gratitude for the wonderful reception of my Rosh Hashanah 5779 morning sermon.

The Other Friday Night @ BHS our Shabbat service for young professionals is now in its fifth year. Anywhere from 20-40 people come to BHS once a month for this Shabbat service. We have increased our presence on social media thanks to newly ordained Rabbi Evan Sheinhait, who has served as our student rabbi and TOFN coordinator over the past two years. The music of our service continues to attract folks from all over the city with thanks to our incoming Student Rabbi Healy Slakman.

This spring, nearly 100 women gathered together for the BHS Women’s Seder led by myself and Michelle Citrin. The Seder was held at Grace Church for the fourth time and the space fostered a deeper sense of community. I worked closely with our chairs this year to continue to make this a powerful and relevant event for our community.

Lifelong Learning

The BHS clergy offered many diverse learning opportunities this past year. I have worked closely this year with Karen Brody in making sure we are meeting the needs of our adult learners. Courses we offered this past year: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Hebrew, a course on Jerusalem, and Cooking by the Book.

Rabbi Molly G. Kane Associate Rabbi-Educator

“BHS is where I found my Jewish identity. It’s a part of my wedding, and where I’ll raise my children to know and love. Full of love and acceptance and happiness!” --Why BHS Matters to Me

38 BROOKLYN HEIGHTS SYNAGOGUE RELIGIOUS SCHOOL & LIFELONG LEARNING 2018-2019 in numbers by Abby Johnson, Education Program Manager & Abby Stein, Oce Manager

Each student has Congregants shared 3 7 high schoolers will be attended 238 hours of Shabbat lunches conver- conrmed this June Religious School sation with Rabbi Molly Kane in her new Cooking By the Book series

259 religious school students Our 9th grade students have spent 30 weeks learning in helped lead their grades preparation for their trip to Israel Shabbat B’yachad service

100 women danced with their timbels to welcome Our photographer took Passover at our Women’s Seder 841 pictures of our families for our Purim Carnival Photo Booth

More than 75 unique Over 40 families joined us for our inaugural Pizza in the individuals came to The Hut event celebrating Sukkot Other Friday night for sushi, re ection and song.

39 2019-2020 Brooklyn Heights Synagogue RELIGIOUS SCHOOL Register by 6/15 to avoid late fees! When registering your child(ren), we ask you to make a 50% deposit -- via credit card -- through your ShulCloud Member portal. You will be billed for the remainder, which may be resolved via credit card, echeck, check or cash. Thank you. Religious School and High School Tuition & Fees Tuition Number of Children Amounts (for early-bird registrations; a late fee of $75 applies after June 15) Due Kindergarten $1020 Sundays 10am to noon OR Tuesdays 3:45pm to 5pm Tuition waived for 2017-18 BHS Preschool Grads starting Kindergarten in Fall 2018 Grade 1 $1115 Sundays 10am to noon OR Tuesdays 3:45pm to 5:15pm

Grade 2 $1115 Sundays 10am to noon OR Tuesdays 3:45pm to 5:30pm

Grade 3 $1325 Mondays 4pm to 6pm

Grade 4 $1575 Monday & Wednesday 4pm to 6pm OR Sunday 10am to noon & Wednesday 4pm to 6pm Grade 5 $1700 Monday & Wednesday 4pm to 6pm OR Sunday 10am to noon & Wednesday 4pm to 6pm BAR AND BAT MITZVAH PREPARATION AND BEYOND Grade 6 $1700 Monday & Wednesday 4pm to 6pm OR Sunday 10am to noon & Wednesday 4pm to 6pm Grade 7 $1340 Tuesdays 4pm to 6pm; invited to 6pm dinners with 8th to 10th graders

Bar/Bat Mitzvah Fee (for 2020 students) – billed 2/2019 $1750 $1800 Bar/Bat Mitzvah Fee (for 2021 students) – billed 2/2020

HEBREW HIGH SCHOOL: Grades 8-10 $1035 Tuesdays 6pm to 8pm (dinner at 6pm)

HEBREW HIGH SCHOOL: Grades 11-12 $1035 Wednesday evenings 7:30pm to 9:30pm twice a month at Rabbi Lippe’s home High School Israel Trip Fee $1250 for our class trip in late May 2020

B. Subtotal for Religious School & BHGSY (Transfer to Line B on reverse side of page) $

All Religious School tuition must be paid in full by December 15, 2019 unless other arrangements have been made with the Executive Director.

40 Early Childhood Education Report

2018-19 School Year: This year the Preschool had 100 students in seven classes and celebrated its seventeenth year of working with children and their families.

Preschool

In Our Classrooms: The BHS Preschool’s mix of emergent curriculum and project work makes each year a new experience for children and their teachers as they embark on a year-long journey of discovery and investigation. Children learn about subjects of high interest – incorporating literacy, math, science, art, and social studies learning into their projects. Studies this year covered author studies, explorations of local businesses, a student drama troupe, a class art gallery, and much more. Our Jewish learning is integrated into other domains making it lively, hands-on, and deeply engaging to our young students. We were especially proud of our oldest students when they sang the four questions at the Preschool Seder for a group of more than 170 parents, siblings, and grandparents.

Professional Development: Professional development of our staff continues to be an important aspect of every school year. We shared a day of professional development with the staff of Union Temple Preschool to train in “Critical Friendship” protocols. This has allowed us to further channel the expertise of our Preschool professionals as they hone their practice together. This training has lent shape to all of our staff meetings which are now more productive than ever.

A New Initiative In cooperation with the Membership Engagement Team, this year an Ad Hoc committee was assembled in October to research the relationship between Preschool tuition discounts and Synagogue Membership for families of Preschool children. Finding that almost no parents opted to join the Synagogue during their child’s time in the Preschool, we explored how other synagogues with preschools encouraged membership and created synergy between Preschool and Synagogue. Finding that our member discount was lower and structred differently from most other institutions, the committee (comprised of Board Member Aaron Zimmerman as well as Alycia Zimmerman, Andrew Saltoun, Hayley Geftman-Gold, and Jen Germain with assistance from Pam Karlin, Diego Crasny and Amy Leszman) proposed offering a free year of membership to new Preschool families and raising the tuition discount for paying Synagogue members to 5%. There has been initial interest in joining from several families – with 3 who have actually joined and we anticipate more as the deadline in October approaches. The Board will receive reports about the financial and community impacts of this new policy on a regular basis. We are delighted to be able to offer Preschool families – who may be taking on education costs for the first time – an affordable way to join and make BHS their home away from home.

Admissions: Current enrollment for the 2019-20 school year is at 103 students. Last year at this time we had 98 and opened with 100 children. We continue to receive applications, and to show our program to prospective families. We have a large number of sibling pairs in the school next year which will

41 reduce the total number of families but add a wonderful sense of hominess to our school gatherings as older siblings greet their younger ones in hallways and at All-School Shabbat.

We did not find that the DOE’s Pre-K for All initiative impacted our enrollment – something we had considered a possibility and addressed in our budgeting. With the neighborhood growing, we can look forward to an increase in applications and less concern with enrollment for now.

Jewish Learning: This year’s Preschool Seders were held at the Brooklyn Bar Association on Remsen St. and with children bringing many guests each, we are quite fortunate that our generous neighbors shared their space with us!

The Preschool staff continues to strive to make each holiday and every Shabbat special and meaningful to our children. At All-School Shabbat, I have the opportunity to tell stories touching on themes important to our preschoolers. Preschool parents often attend as special guests and the event continues to be central to our sense of school community.

Parents share with us that they often develop a sense of connection to the Synagogue and to their own Judaism as their children come home with holiday stories to tell.

Graduates: This year we have only 21 children moving on to kindergarten – with a record number of returning students. The school’s average age is just a bit younger and this trend will continue in order to maintain our enrollment as UPK becomes more popular. Our “exmissions” season was highly successful and our students will attend St. Ann’s, Packer, International School of Brooklyn, Berkeley Carroll, Basis, Brooklyn Friends, Hannah Senesh, and many excellent public programs, as well. We head into summer confident that all of our children have excellent kindergarten placements. Looking ahead to next year, Rabbi Kane will participate in our “Sweet Shabbat” moving up ceremony to encourage our graduates’ parents to sign up for the Religious School kindergarten program.

42 Celebrating: Celebrations and events have provided opportunities for our community to come out in force in support of BHS and to enjoy being together! The Preschool’s “BHS Preschool is Blooming!” Benefit was a great success both as a community-building evening of fun and as a chance to support BHS financially. Located at the Brooklyn Historical Society, the evening included our online auction, as well as a live auction. Assistant Director, Jen Kendall spear-headed this important fund-raising event, and chairs, Dayna Brandoff, Meghan Hershfield, and Izzy Copus worked tirelessly to make the event a special evening.

Camp: 2019 will be our sixth year with a full and fun Preschool Summer Day Camp. This year we have ensured that class sizes will be a bit smaller by adding a fifth class – bringing our capacity up, as well. We note that our Summer Twos is the only program of its kind locally and this year it filled within minutes of opening registration. We had a long waiting list and (with more space and staff) could have had yet another group of twos. In camp, preschoolers will enjoy water play and a sprinkler in the outdoor area and will be making trips to local parks, museums, and businesses for special events and activities. The Summer Program will also enjoy yet another set of new play equipment for the outdoor area, being paid for through the Person Fund.

Parenting Center

This year, in coordination with the Membership Engagement Team under the leadership of Alycia Zimmerman and Helene Fuhrman-Gold, there was an expanded calendar of events for families with young children. Shalom Shabbat – a Friday evening service and community dinner for this cohort – was exceedingly successful and filled entirely with reservations each time it was offered. We anticipate even more programming next year to meet the desire for community building within this cohort. The BHS Parenting Center continues to provide responsive programming for our community members with very young children and infants. Events are consistently well-attended and give families an opportunity to get younger siblings involved or, if they are new to BHS, to find out more about our community. Our on-going classes (Boker 2’s, Bim Bam Bunch, and Shalom Yeladim) are currently full for the fall 2019 semester.

Directors’ Conference Director Pam Karlin and Assistant Director Jen Kendall attended the ECE-RJ conference in San Antonio dedicated this year to creating and maintaining peaceful communities and environments in early childhood education. It was encouraging to note that many of BHSP’s current practices fulfill this ideal. In worrisome times, Jewish Preschools are uniquely suited to guiding and connecting families as they promote the peaceful interactions and mutual support that are integral to Jewish values.

43 Staff As we finish this school year, we are delighted that 13 of our 15 classroom teachers will return. Most important – all five of our head teachers are returning giving us a third consistent year of educational leadership in our classrooms. Jen Kendall will return as Assistant Director of the Preschool while Rebecca Leighton is moving on from her post as Assistant Director for the Parenting Center to be Director at Grace Church Preschool. A search is underway for her replacement as we expand the role to full time to meet growing need and desire for Young Family Engagement programming.

Looking Ahead The Preschool will need to adapt to the realities of a major renovation as we begin the process of expanding our space by joining our two buildings. Research in the neighborhood for summer “swing space” has proved fruitful and we anticipate being able to relocate without disruption to programs during the summer months as work commences in the coming years.

Pam Karlin Director of Early Childhood Education

“BHS is our community. We celebrate our life cycle events here, worship, learn, and see friends- many of whom we met through the congregation. We raised our children at BHS and appreciate the values within their own families for which we are grateful. We get particular joy seeing our grandchildren playing with the grandchildren of fellow BHS friends, building generational bonds among families and BHS.” -Why BHS Matters to Me

44