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A Message from Rabbi Yitzhak (May, 2007)
Among the many enriching ways Shonna and I spent time during our recent leave, visits to different congregations provided us with a sense of possibilities for the growing community at TBI. While Berkeley served as our base, we visited San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz and Santa Monica and in each place found a wealth of Jewish life. Of course, the scale of Jewish population in these settings is reflected in the at times overwhelming number of choices for an evening or afternoon’s activity.
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Gleanings From Our Journey
It was not so long ago that the Jewish community in Eugene consisted of a sixty-family Temple Beth Israel, a barely funded Hillel, an occasional Beginning Hebrew course offered on campus, and periodic meetings about the possibilities of starting a Jewish Federation in Eugene. We have seen these seeds grow and flourish into a full range of Jewish institutions. We now have a dynamic and multifaceted thriving community in Eugene and G-d willing, we are far from finished with our growth and flourishing.
Upon returning, Shonna and I almost immediately went to our 29th and University new building site to see the progress. What a thrill it was to see the foundation so far along with nicely colored cement block walls rising, and enough of an outline of the sanctuary, offices and school to fantasize about future celebrations and quiet moments in the office.
Colleagues whose congregations had gone through the process of building a new synagogue/center, advised us to be well prepared with program content upon making the move to the new building. A hyper-focus on establishing the physical facility, while not preparing adequately for the program content upon arrival, is an often made yet avoidable error. It can be disorienting for a community to move into their new facility and then begin to say, ”now what?” We will have an opportunity to express our communal exhilaration at accomplishing the massive task of building by celebrating its ultimate purpose – a vital Jewish life of learning, social and cultural activities and prayer. The time for renewing this vision is now, concurrent with the incredible energy that we are devoting to establishing the physical structure and raising the funds. In our visits to eight congregations, we experienced a rich variety of educational, cultural and religious activities and we want to share the ideas we now carry.
I want to urge us all to do our very best to contribute generously toward funding our new synagogue/center. This is a moment not to miss. How fortunate we are to be creating a new home for ourselves that expresses so many values we hold sacred. It is an awesome mitzvah to contribute to this endeavor, one that will surely bring great joy and satisfaction.
I, along with other core leadership, seek communal wisdom for renewing and expanding our vision of programming. I am particularly interested in seeing us develop a varied and high quality cultural arts program with concerts, art exhibits, writers series and a Jewish film festival. Other ideas include a fair trade gift shop, more social action programming, meditation and spiritual direction programs, and inviting a wide variety of guest speakers and presenters. Our programming will define us as a community and I believe that our vision will be most fully expressed through our commitment to core Jewish values.
I am so appreciative of our community’s recognition of the need for times of rabbinic replenishment and renewal. Times to enjoy family relations, study, write music, pray and reflect. Time to do life’s essentials that often get squeezed out of the busy rabbinic schedule. I truly hope that the great sense of renewal that Shonna and I have experienced will be a blessing to our community as a result of the renewed energy and vision we bring back to share with you.
Shalom,
Rabbi Yitzhak
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