2010 h Project Lech Lecha View: Part 1 Long Range Strategic View for Congregation Ohav Shalom Presented to the Board of Trustees of Congregation Ohav Shalom Albany NY August 27, 2010 Ohav diverse and financial shared evolving greater viability resources Congregation interaction within Capital within Region Jewish Albany community community diverse culture of and beyond practices of inclusion Judaism Shalom Ohav Shalom Long Range Planning Committee Table of Contents I. MESSAGE FROM THE LONG RANGE PLANNING COMMITTEE II. MESSAGE FROM THE RABBIS III. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONGREGATION IV. PLANNING METHODS AND APPROACH What is a Strategic View? Strategic View Background Next Steps V. VALUES VI. CURRENT VIEW Ohav Today VII. CHALLENGES VIII. THE VISION Shaping the Vision Vision Statement IX. GOALS & PATHWAYS 1. Meet the needs of a diverse and evolving congregation through community 2. Create, sustain and grow a culture of inclusion within the congregational community 3. Encourage the growth and acceptance of practices that allow members to express their Judaism 4. Share resources within the Capital Region Jewish community 5. Promote greater interaction within the Albany Jewish Community and beyond 6. Sustain the financial viability of Ohav Shalom X. PATHWAYS, OJECTIVES & SUGGESTED ACTIONS a) Creating the greater family b) Being a community of learners c) Promoting inclusion d) Maintaining and enhancing membership e) Increasing the spiritual and religious experience for all f) Understanding what it means to be a Conservative Jew g) Enhancing the value of Ohav h) Sharing and merging services or functions i) Widening interactions with greater Jewish community j) Continuing responsible financial management k) Fostering a culture of giving l) Enhancing operations management XI. Acknowledgements & Glossary Appendix 1. A Brief History of Congregation Ohav Shalom 2. Frame Reports 3. Report to the Ohav Shalom Board of Trustees and notes from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Biennial Movement Convention 2009 2 Project Lech Lecha MESSAGE FROM THE LONG RANGE PLANNING COMMITTEE To the Congregation of Ohav Shalom In Genesis 12:1, Abram is called by God to go, “Lech Lecha”, to leave his native land and the house of his father for a land that God would show him. When he reaches the land of Canaan, God appears to Abram and tells him that this is the land that He will give to his descendants. In a sense, God provided a vision statement for Abram and the Jewish people, “I will make of you a great nation; I will bless you and make great your name and all families of the earth will be blessed by you” It takes great courage to leave a comfortable place and journey to a place unknown. However, leaving a known place necessitates the reinvention of yourself and redefinition of your mission. Both knowing where you are going, and having a map showing you how to get there, is indispensible to achieving your Vision. “Lech Lecha” requires a vision with pathways to reach the place we are seeking. The long range planning group was formed to help Ohav to go on a journey. The journey, called Project Lech Lecha, is to produce a strategic view, to help determine where Ohav needs to go over the next several years. The future of Conservative Judaism in the 21 st century has been the subject of intense debate among rabbis and academic scholars and yet has not produced a universal answer. While Project Lech Lecha does not attempt to answer this question, we do know that without substantive change, our future is challenged. For our congregation to continue to be a relevant vehicle for Jewish life in Albany, New York, our organization, culture, and religious practices must strive to be meaningful to its members. This project and approach is designed to be a living document, which can evolve as the synagogue changes over time. The intent of this project was to look at future trends and issues that are playing out in almost every Conservative synagogue across North America, and to try to identify successful pathways that are being explored to meet these challenges. The approach was not about fine-tuning the existing structure of Ohav Shalom. Our hope is that the “out of the box” thinking, debating, collective processing and pathway building that has engaged the members of the long range planning committee for many long hours over the last year and a half is reflected in this strategic view. The strategic view presents a vision for the future of Ohav Shalom with set goals and enabling pathways. Project Lech Lecha presents this strategic view to the Board of 3 Project Lech Lecha Trustees in order to provide a context within the Ohav community to discuss these important issues. We need your constructive feedback, since issues raised and the long-term trends identified will be critical to our synagogue’s and community’s future viability. While many of the ideas presented in this strategic view may be familiar to you, we ask that you consider them as a set of new lenses (or as a paradigm shift) for how we view Ohav Shalom. We also recognize that you may agree or not agree with many of the ideas presented here, and that may lead to strong emotional responses. In the Jewish tradition of presenting divergent viewpoints, we hope that the ideas presented here will engage the congregation in a discussion about the future of Ohav Shalom. Ultimately, it is up to the rabbis, jointly with the Board of Trustees, as to how to adopt and implement any or all of the goals presented in this Project Lech Lecha View Part 1. Project Lech Lecha : Long Range Planning Committee Co-Chairs Kim Friedman Landau Scott Halle Steering Committee Kim Friedman Landau Scott Halle Alan Dorn Marc Newman Anita Rabinoff-Goldman Membership of the Committee Roberta Berko Matt Greenblatt Anita Rabinoff-Goldman Dan Bernstein Kevin Grossman Phil Rosenberg Alan Dorn Bob Gumson Carol Rasowsky Jen Fox Mona Hampson Lynne Schaefer Rob Ganz Steve Levy Katherine Sheingold Bill Golderman Marc Newman Robin Suitor Brad Gornstein Harris Oberlander Mike Weisberg Walter Greenberg Barry Pollack Lianne Wladis 4 Project Lech Lecha Dear Ohav Family, The Hebrew words Lech Lecha ("go forth!") form God's command to Abraham to begin a new life and found a new nation. This command can be read literally to mean, "Go to you!" Generations of Torah commentators have understood this feature of Biblical Hebrew grammar as pointing to an important spiritual message that lies beneath God's words to our founder and to us: each time we leave what is comfortable and set out on a journey, we are actually striving to "come home" to our truest selves. As that is true for individuals, so it is for our synagogue. As we celebrate our one-hundredth anniversaries with pride and gratitude, our community is immersed in Project Lech Lecha, a dynamic long range planning process. For nearly two years, Lech Lecha has looked carefully at who we are as a Conservative congregation. Committee members have also explored issues in the broader Conservative movement and in the larger North American Jewish community, and the blessed challenges that await all of us. By doing so, Project Lech Lecha provides us with guideposts for dialogue about where we need to direct our congregational journey as we begin our second century. The work of this project offers a wonderful tool to help us determine how to come home to our truest selves as a kehillah kedoshah, a sacred community. As your rabbis, we urge you to become part of this ongoing dialogue by reading critically the report you have before you, by commenting on it and participating actively in the congregational conversations that ensue from it. Its recommendations are the result of a great deal of hard, thoughtful work by the Long Range Planning Committee and its leadership, and we thank the committee for its devotion to this process. May God who called Abraham to set out on a journey that changed humanity, give our congregation the courage and wisdom we need to take our newest journey towards strength and renewal in the years ahead. B'vrachah (with blessing), Rabbi Dan Ornstein and Rabbi Rena Kieval 5 Project Lech Lecha Letter to the members from the President of Congregation Ohav Shalom, In the next year 2011, our synagogue will mark its 100th anniversary. This is a time to look back at our history and take pride at how well Ohav Shalom has served the members of our congregation over the years. Over the past century Ohav has grown as American Jewry has changed. This growth and change has always been done within the context of Conservative Judaism. This process of “tradition and change” has enabled our synagogue to preserve Jewish tradition while maintaining relevance to each generation of our Ohav community. Our collective hope is that we will continue to be a vibrant Jewish community well into the future. The Long Term Planning Committee, under guidance of the Board of Trustees and the Rabbis, was charged to develop a future vision of Ohav Shalom. The output of the committee, named Project Lech Lecha, is a comprehensive and detailed view of several potential opportunities to address key challenges that the synagogue must face. This document was recently officially presented to the Board and should serve as a springboard for discussion about the future direction of Ohav. Project Lecha Lecha View Part 1 presents a wide range of viewpoints that can serve a framework for enabling “tradition and change” going forward. I strongly urge you to take a close look at this document so that all members can participate in constructive feedback sessions this fall.