President’s Message: Strengthening Temple Israel: A Call to Action

For those who do not know me, I am a life long Daytonian. My parents moved to Dayton in the 1950s. My mother was from Chicago and my father, a chemist, was from Brooklyn. They chose to live south and moved to Washington Township and not north where the Jewish community was prominent. Our family practice of Judaism was limited and mostly that of High Holiday services, Passover, and Hanukkah. This journey was clearly not predictable.

 In 2010, after my mother passed away, my wife Nika, and I agreed to join Temple Israel. A year or two later, Rabbi Karen mentioned her son Jonah and my daughter, Hillary, would be in the same religious school class and encouraged Hillary to join. We enrolled Hillary in religious school and my involvement with Temple Israel deepened. Then In 2018, I believe, Bart Weprin asked me to join the board. A few years after, I joined the executive committee. (I thank Carol Finley for that.)

 I offer this story only to explain why I am here. My background is not rich in Judaic practice, but I believe strongly in this synagogue and its continued existence. A synagogue such as Temple Israel can only exist with committed members and congregants. I gradually became more involved with Temple Israel. I also, perhaps seeing the loss of membership and participation over the years, saw a need to get involved.

So, I approach this position from a management perspective. I believe in the role of the board and the relevant committees are to support and manage the synagogue. I believe it is the responsibility of the board to tackle the tasks of membership growth, to best utilize Temple resources and maintain our impressive facility. So, I call on the board to consider how Temple Israel can grow in membership, to increase membership and Temple funds, and provide our Rabbis with the resources they need to offer the most and complete services to our congregation and the greater Dayton community in general.

Although challenging, I believe growing the membership of Temple Israel, and increasing membership dues is a worthy task for the board to focus on in the coming years. Also, I believe it is important to maintain and continue with the work and efforts of Temple Israel’s past Presidents with respect to community. The caring committee comes to mind as a means of reaching out and being there for our congregants in need. It is also necessary to be supportive and engaged when the greater Dayton area is challenged and needs help; such as the 2019 tornadoes.

At this time, I want to thank the outgoing board members who served the board and Temple Israel well. I also want to welcome the incoming board members and thank them for their involvement with Temple Israel. I welcome our new Treasurer Wendy Gray, and Robin More our future Secretary, and Dennis Lieberman as Vice President. I look forward to working with you all. I also look forward to learning about and working with all the committees of Temple Israel.

I want to thank our Rabbis, Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz and Rabbbi Tina Sobo for their fine work in leading services at Temple Israel. And I want to thank our Executive Director Suzanne Shaw for all her work and effort in managing the day-to-day business affairs of Temple Israel. Suzanne, as it is often said, does exceptional work. Suzanne is the glue to the operation. I also want to recognize the office staff at Temple Israel, Jodi, Jess, Annette, Ellen and Scott, for their fine work and contributions.

I also want to acknowledge the past Presidents I have come to know since becoming a board member. Dan Young did really good work while the COVID epidemic was present. Linda Novak followed Dan and led the board with skill and grace. I found both Dan and Linda to be exceptional leaders and great to work with. Fran Rickenbach, I know the most being Vice President and I found Fran to be an outstanding President. The common characteristics of all these individuals were their professionalism, their patience, and their commitment to Temple Israel.

In closing, I want to say that I truly look forward to working with the board and its new members, I look forward to working with Wendy, Robin, and Dennis as they take on more prominent roles at Temple Israel. I encourage the board members to be active participants offering ideas and thoughts on how the Temple can tackle the many issues facing it in the years ahead. I appreciate our Rabbinic staff and look forward to working closely with them as they continue to do the good work for Temple Israel. And of course, I look forward to working with Suzanne recognizing how important she is to the operations and success of Temple Israel.