FROM THE PRESIDENT
Rebuilding the Temple
By Hon. Richard Kestenbaum
   
    When I took the job as President of our congregation, I knew that there would be a learning curve, but who knew that I’d get a postgraduate degree in tzuris so quickly! 
    This issue of the Voice describes in some detail the fire of 2008. I would like to tell you where we are now and where we are going. Right now, as you read this, the insurance adjuster and several lawyers are beginning the process of settling our insurance claim. At some point over the next month or so, an amount will be agreed on between our advocates and our insurance company. At that point, we will understand the scope of the rebuilding process.
    However, although the areas of the synagogue which were damaged were just recently renovated, rebuilding them exactly as they existed before the fire may not be the correct thing to do, now that we have had several years of experience with the space. Also, there are other parts of the synagogue which could better serve us if we modernized them in coordination with the rebuilding.
    In order to undertake a project of this scope and allow for substantial input from every constituency of the congregation, we turned to our ReImagine Committee, an excellent group of people under the leadership of Barbara Levy, which has been meeting for more than a year in order to "reimagine" improvements to our school programs, the effect of which would trickle down to our congregation generally. It made perfect sense to turn to them to help reach out to the congregation because they were already organized, they represented a wide cross-section of the congregation, they already had established a means of communication with each other and generally represented a thoughtful, imaginative and dedicated group of congregants. All it took was a simple request and the
group instantly mobilized. They intend to reach out to every arm and constituency in the congregation to receive, vet, evaluate and prioritize suggestions about rebuilding our synagogue. This will save months of effort and allow us to begin a thoughtful rebuilding without any unnecessary delay. I never saw a group jump into action so quickly. Within hours of my request, the e-mails started flying!
    In order to be certain that no member of the congregation is without an access point to the suggestion process, we also established a new website called rebuildTIGN@gmail.com in order to receive questions and suggestions about the  rebuilding process. It will be monitored daily for prompt response.
    We have also requested that each board member contact the list of Temple members they are responsible for so that each congregant receives a personal call from a Trustee offering an explanation of the current status of things and an ear to listen to the concerns of each member. Among the thoughts that the Trustees will convey is our establishment of a new fund, the Temple Israel Rebuilding Fund, established to accept donations from those who want to participate financially in our quest to turn our current challenge into the reality of an even stronger and better Temple Israel. Stay tuned for regular updates.

 

(From the Temple Israel Voice, February 21, 2008)