Congregational Meeting Anniversary
Often it is difficult to process how quickly time passes. It was just a year ago at our congregational meeting where leadership solicited feedback from you regarding your thoughts for our future course as a congregation.
Metropolitan model? Merger? JAA? Dissolution of the congregation? We had an excellent turnout at that meeting last January 4th and one thing was obvious: you do care about this shul, and you were eager to share your strong opinions. You told us you wanted your community, your memories and your building to remain intact, and that engaging a new rabbi was a must.
That January evening last year was momentous, exciting and empowering. Leadership went to work and charted a new path towards a fresh and promising future for our storied, 150 plus year old congregation.
We’ve got much to celebrate as we mark the one-year anniversary of that pivotal meeting. The most favored strategic plan that night, the “metropolitan” model, is fully underway and I want to thank Congregation Dor Hadash and New Light Congregation for being part of this momentous occasion for us and the Squirrel Hill Jewish community. We can also celebrate the successful rabbinical transition of this past summer and the warm welcome you have shown Rabbi Myers. I am thrilled at how far we have come in just one year and grateful for the optimism with which we head into 2018.
We are proud that the three congregations have accomplished the goal of creating a metropolitan model within this building, but we must not rest there. This is not an endpoint, but rather the starting point of something new and unique for the Jewish community, which needs to be nurtured and explored.
I’ve already met with the leadership of Dor Hadash and New Light to make sure that we plan for a future in which we maintain our individual identities and spaces, while also providing collective experiences for our congregants in a manner far superior to that which we could do separately.
Resolve in 2018 to be part of this exciting process! Stop by Wilkins and Shady and witness something special on a Friday evening or Shabbat morning: three simultaneous services in three different prayer spaces, and a calendar of compelling joint programming to come. Our building is filled once again; its vitality is inspiring and welcoming.
A great way to welcome the New Year, looking forward to 2018!
