From the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

A Message From Our President

Dr. Lance Strate

The State of the Congregation

For the past five years, I have been able to begin my report by saying that the state of our congregation is strong, and I see no reason for departing from that tradition this time. It is true that we will have to face many challenges in the years to come, and that there will be difficulties and problems that we have not anticipated and cannot anticipate. That is the way of the world, the future is always uncertain, to some degree. But we can prepare for whatever is to come by doing all that is in our power to be the best version of ourselves, the best Adas Emuno that we can be. And to acknowledge and address those challenges that we do recognize. With this in mind, I will say to you this one last time, the state of our congregation is strong.

In politics, it is of course customary for office holders to take credit of all the good that occurs, and pass the blame for the bad off to others. But our congregational leadership has never been very political, and I want to state, for the record, that when I took on the role of president six years ago, I was very lucky. I was lucky because a period of deep financial distress had just ended, through a series of significant donations. I was also lucky to be able to work together with a group of trustees and officers who were willing to roll their sleeves up and put in the effort needed to keep our congregation running smoothly. And who were willing to put on their thinking caps, or I should say their thinking kippahs, and work out effective and creative solutions to the problems we faced, and come up with new ways to improve our shul and our school. And I was very lucky as well because the previous year Rabbi Schwartz became our spiritual leader; it has been a great gift to our congregation to have him join us, and it has been a great gift to me personally to have the privilege of working with him.

Rabbi Schwartz is a true inheritor and embodiment of the prophetic tradition that is central to Reform Judaism, as a voice for social justice and a champion of ethical conduct, as a teacher and educator of great intellectual acumen, as an individual of deep and abiding spirituality, and as an advisor, counselor, and caretaker in every sense of the word. Thank you, Barry, for all that you have given to us over the years. And let me add a word of thanks for the added bonus of our rebbetzin, Debbie Schwartz, who has also contributed to our congregation in many significant ways.

During my first two-year term as president, in contrast to the situation with our rabbi, things were a bit more problematic when it came to the roles of cantor, and religious school director. All that changed when we hired Cantor Horowitz. Those of us who attend Friday night services enjoy singing along with Sandy, to melodies we know so well, and to all of the new ones that she has taught us. And all of us who come for the High Holy Days know that she is truly a sweet singer of Israel. When Cantor Horowitz joined us, it was to fill the duel role of clergy and religious school director, otherwise known as Cantor-Educator. Four years ago, it was an experiment, and we were unsure as to how it would work out. It didn't take long to learn that this experiment was indeed a success, and Cantor Horowitz has done an outstanding job with our Adas Emuno School. Thank you, Sandy, it has been a great pleasure and a privilege to work with you these past four years.

I have dubbed Rabbi Schwartz and Cantor Horowitz our dream team, and these past four years our congregation has known a stability that we have not enjoyed for much of our recent history. And I am pleased to report that we can expect that stability to continue for this coming year, and hopefully, for many more years to come.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my fellow officers for all of their hard work over the past two years, thank you to Vice-President Elka Oliver, Financial Secretary Mark Rosenberg, Treasurer Marilyn Katz, and Recording Secretary Susan Gray. I also want to express my gratitude to Michael Fishbein for his work as chair of the Building and Grounds Committee, and also for his willingness to step up and take over the leadership of our congregation for at least a year, and work together with Elka Oliver as we move forward. Virginia Gitter also deserves special recognition for all of the many roles that she plays for our congregation, as a past president and current trustee, as chair of the ritual committee, publicity committee, editor of our newsletter, Kadima, and so much more; it is hard to imagine what Adas Emuno will be like without her, after she leaves for the west coast in the fall, but she has set an example and provided us with a model of service and commitment that we all need to emulate. Thank you, Virginia.

Six years ago, Adas Emuno was not very much engaged in social action, but that soon changed when we formed our Social Action Committee, and Annette DeMarco took over as chair; under her leadership, social action has become a significant component of our congregation's activities. I want to also acknowledge our other committee chairs, Susan Grey, chair of our Fundraising Committee; Elka Oliver, chair of the Music Committee; Jody Pugach, co-chair of the Cemetery and Religious School Committees; Michael Raskin, co-chair of the By-Laws and Religious School Committees; Norm Rosen, co-chair of the Cemetery and By-Laws Committee; Mark Rosenberg, chair of the Financial Committee and co-chair of the Membership and Internet Committees; Lauren Rowland, co-chair of the Membership Committee; and Ron Waxman, chair of the Adult Education Committee and co-chair of the Internet Committee. And I want to thank everyone else who has chaired our committees during my three terms, and everyone who has volunteered as members of our committees over the past six years.

I also want to express my gratitude to everyone who has served as a trustee during my time as president. It was especially during those first few years that our meeting lasted many hours as we worked diligently on behalf of our congregation, and I am grateful to all concerned for your patience, and for all that we have accomplished together during this time.

One of the first tasks we took on six years ago was to review and revise our by-laws, an effort then led by Fred Friedman and Norm Rosen. When you think about the importance of the Constitution to our nation, the same is true for the by-laws for any organization, including out congregation. A healthy organization will undertake such reviews every few years to determine whether they are being followed, and if not, whether to change the practices or to change the by-laws themselves. For this reason, we conducted a second review this past year, with the aim of clearing up some ambiguities regarding membership. The result is the proposed changes, approved by the board, that reduces our membership categories down to two, full members who have voting privileges, and affiliate members who do not. In part, this was to clarify the change made previously regarding voting rights of spouses. In part as well, it removes the financial category of membership unit from our by-laws, reinforcing the board's ability to set the structure for dues and fees. This was a result of the realization that the assumptions underlying membership units were outdated, for example the assumption that single parent families always are subject to financial hardship in comparison to two-parent families. These changes to the by-laws, if approved, will have no bearing on the dues structure as it exists at present, but it will be a topic that the board can review and revise in the coming year.

Over the past six years, Adas Emuno has been able to organize many interesting and entertaining events as part of our adult education efforts, musical programming, and more. For this past year, I would personally like to thank my friend Moshe Botwanick, aka Marc Salem, for providing us with a mind-blowing exhibition of mentalism, a performance that once graced Broadway and other major venues. And I want to thank all of the performers and musicians who helped to bring my fourth Purim spiel to life this past March, and it is with great pride that I want to acknowledge the inspired directing on the part of my son, Benjamin Strate, for the second year in a row.

Six years ago, one thing that kept coming up over and over again was the fact that many people in the area simply were not aware that there was a Congregation Adas Emuno. Over the past six years, that has changed dramatically, through efforts great and small, such as creating our logo and improving our outdoor signage, as well as obtaining significantly more publicity in the local press, especially the Jewish Standard. I can't remember the last time I heard someone say, I never knew you were here! Awareness does not always lead to action, but it is a step in the right direction.

During my time as president, we changed our database provider and website host, and our website was revised. We are presently considering further changes, and we especially need to create a more dynamic website than the one we have now. This is a task that should be completed in the coming year. As for our congregational blog, I have been working on it for a decade, and it has enhanced our online presence. I have in the past asked for others to contribute, and I think it is time for us to consider the future of the blog, and for others to take over our social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and the like. Moreover, over the past six years I have noted that organizations much larger than our congregation have long switched over to digital newsletters delivered by email and archived online. This would save a significant amount of money spent on photocopying and postage, and electronic documents allow for color images, better overall quality, and even the inclusion of video and links. Indeed, many other mailings could be accomplished electronically as well. Not all, of course, but most. It is my opinion that such a move is long past due, and that this is something that needs to be considered in the coming months.

Fundraising efforts are absolutely necessary for us, as membership dues, fees, and tuition does not cover our expenses, and it has often been said that we simply do not ask often enough. I want to applaud Susan Grey and the members of the Fundraising Committee for their efforts this year, including the marvelous Modiani Kitchen fundraiser this past October. We have added innovations like the Passover Appeal to supplement our Yom Kippur Appeal, and experiments like the envelope board, and I am gratified to witness the resurrection of an idea I introduced back when I started out as president, the sesquicentennial fundraiser, looking to raise $150,000 for our 150th anniversary.

And yes, it is now just three years to go until we reach our sesquicentennial year, 2021. I regret that all of the more immediate matters that we had to deal with kept us from starting to plan for our 150th anniversary, but now it is time to do so, to celebrate ourselves, the long term survival of our shul, and in doing so generate more recognition, publicity, and good will for our congregation.

In looking to the future, we have to consider the challenges that lie ahead. Some of them are financial. As I mentioned, we have been lucky, but depending on luck alone is a gamble, one that sooner or later you will lose. We are secure for the short term, but we are not always making ends meet, and that is not sustainable in the long run. We will have to confront this issue in the coming months and years.

Memberships and religious school enrollments have been declining over the years, a trend that is in no way unique to our congregation. We have been in a better position to weather the decline than other temples, due to our significantly lower overhead, and I hope as well due to the efforts we have made to raise our profile. But the fact remains that our numbers are going down. As I have said before, Congregation Adas Emuno does not have members. Congregation Adas Emuno is its members. Efforts at publicity help, but there is no substitute for social networks and word of mouth. I have called upon each and every one of us to be Adas Emuno ambassadors, and for all of us to do what we can. But we also cannot ignore the demographic realities.

As we continue to deal with these realities in the future, I think it is essential to avoid any form of parochialism in our outlook. Our members come from all over this part of Bergen County, and we have to keep that in mind. Our congregation is our community; it is not a matter of geography, but of a much more ancient and powerful form of affiliation. And we have to continue to keep an open mind and an eye out for opportunities for collaboration with other synagogues, including the possibility of sharing facilities with a conservative congregation. We also have to consider the possibility of either a merger or a move at some point in the future; after all, this is a congregation that started out in Hoboken. However the possibilities present themselves and the plans evolve, we have to proceed based on facts and objective assessments of our situation, but also with optimism, confidence in ourselves, and a sense of mission. This also means that practical concerns must be balanced with a clear and comprehensive adherence to Jewish ethics. As Hillel said, if I am not for myself, who am I? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?

Our congregation is strong, but it is not invulnerable. The strength of our congregation lies with its people, its clergy, its leadership, and its members. We live in challenging times in so many ways, locally, nationally, and globally, and we need to work together to meet those challenges, so that our congregation can continue to survive, and thrive.

Serving as the president of our adas emuno, our assembly of the faithful has been an honor and privilege, and I thank you for allowing me to do so. My time as president comes to an end as of July 1st, but not my service to the congregation. In accordance with our by-laws, having served at least one full term as president, I will automatically continue to serve another two-year term on the board as an officer, as Immediate Past President. I promise to try to help as much as I am able, and to be available for advice and consultation, but not to nudge or kibbutz (or not too much). I want to wish my fellow officers and trustees all of the best for the coming year. And may Congregation Adas Emuno continue to go from strength to strength to strength, as we look beyond our sesquicentennial, to our bicentennial celebration in the year 2071.

from the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

From the desk of …                    

 Rabbi Barry Schwartz

    

A TRIBUTE TO OUR PRESIDENT
 

…to the president of our Congregation, that is

As Lance Strate steps down from the helm, our thanks are due.

I will leave it to future historians to assess his legacy, but allow me to point out that Lance:

• Served three terms (six years) as our president
• He did so while maintaining a demanding academic career
• He did so while meeting demanding family responsibilities
• He gave witty weekly greetings and announcements
• He wrote wise and wonderful bimonthly bulletin columns
• He enhanced our community profile with articles in the Jewish Standard
• He ran our blog spot
• He coordinated our poetry garden meetings
• He wrote four Purim spiels
• He brought many an intriguing speaker (and a musical ensemble) to our Congregation
• He read Torah each Rosh Hashanah
• He offered a passionate High Holy day appeal

With all due deference to Sir (and later Saint) Thomas More, Lance was our “man for all seasons”. One did not have to agree with all of his views or methods to respect his dedication and learning. How many other congregations have a president who rolled up his sleeves to do all the committee and board work that is required, while writing blogs, columns, poems, spiels and appeals (not to mention several books in his own field of media ecology)?

I am very fortunate to have worked with Lance for the entirety of his term, and look forward to benefiting from his continued involvement as an “elder statesman” as we near (as Lance was fond of reminding us) our “sesquicentennial” (otherwise referred to as 150th anniversary) just three years from now.

Our heartfelt thanks must also go out to Barbara, Ben and Sarah for allowing Lance to dedicate such time and effort to our congregation.

And to Lance we say, hazak v’amatz—be strong, and may you go from strength to strength.

Marc Salem's Mind Games This Sunday

Marc Salem - 60 Minutes from JLI on Vimeo.

Author Steven Hartov to Speak

Author Steven Hartov will be the guest speaker at Congregation Adas Emuno on Sunday, November 12 from 4:00 to 5:30 PM.

Hartov is an American-Israeli author of fiction and non-fiction works, journalist, screenwriter, lecturer in international security affairs and former Editor-in-Chief of Special Operations Report.

 His works include the Israeli espionage trilogy, The Heat of Ramadan, The Nylon Hand of God, and The Devil's Shepherd.

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His non-fiction works include the New York Times bestseller, In the Company of Heroes, co-authored with Michael J. Durant, The Night Stalkers, co-authored with Michael J. Durant and Lt. Col. (ret) Robert L. Johnson, and Afghanistan on the Bounce, co-authored with Robert L. Cunningham.

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His novel, The Heat of Ramadan, was adapted for the feature film, The Point Men.

 

Hartov served in the U.S. Merchant Marine Military Sealift Command and was a volunteer in the Israeli Defense Forces Airborne Corps, serving as a paratrooper and later in a Special Ops branch of Israeli Military Intelligence. His latest work of fiction, The Soul of a Thief, set in occupied France in 1944, is due to be released in May 2018 by Harper Collins.

Open to the Public

Free Admission

 254 Broad Avenue
Leonia, NJ

201-592-1712

www.adasemuno.org

 From the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

A Message From Our President

Dr. Lance Strate

The State of the Congregation

For the past four years, I have begun by stating that the state of our congregation is strong, and I want to begin again by saying that we remain strong as a congregation, despite the challenges that we face.

The source of our strength is in our people: our members, our clergy, our leadership. And so I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge a group of dedicated, hardworking, and talented individuals. I want to thank our officers, Vice-President Elka Oliver, Financial Secretary Mark Rosenberg, Treasurer Marilyn Katz, and Recording Secretary Susan Grey, for all that they have done for Adas Emuno, and will continue to do for our shul in the future. I also want to thank the other members of our Board of Trustees, Carol Bodian, Annette DeMarco, Michael Fishbein, Judith Fisher, Jody Pogach, Michael Raskin, Norman Rosen, Lauren Rowland, Ronald Waxman, Doris White, Sandra Zornek, and of course our past president, Virginia Gitter. Our board has never shirked its duties or ignored its fiduciary responsibilities to our congregation (the commitment reflected in the late hour that our meetings often run to), and I believe we can all be grateful that there is so much potential for future leadership represented on our board.

While I will not go over every committee and name all of the chairs and volunteers who make things happen, instead I will say that you all are the lifeblood of this congregation, and your contributions are recognized, understood, and treasured.

We continue to be blessed by a dream team of clergy, and I simply cannot say enough about Rabbi Schwartz and Cantor Horowitz. But I will say that our rabbi is a true scholar and teacher, whether he is standing on the pulpit, speaking to individuals in the social hall, teaching Torah Study, adult education or confirmation class, or setting an example by his own efforts at social action. He is our spiritual leader, our role model and guide, and we are so fortunate to have him, and his wife Debby, as part of the Adas Emuno family.

Cantor Horowitz performs her dual role as cantor and religious school director with grace, inspiration, and authority. The beautiful and moving music she brings to our services is echoed by the music that can be heard on Sundays in the voices of our students and teachers engaged in Jewish learning and education. For this reason, I am very pleased to report to the congregation that Cantor Horowitz has signed another two-year contract, so that she will continue on as our Cantor-Educator for the near future. This represents the longest period of continuity regarding our temple’s clergy for many years, certainly longer than I can remember, and I believe we can take pride in this achievement and be thankful for such good fortune.

In support of the Cantor and our services, as well as other activities we take part in, such as musical performances, talent shows, and Purim spiels, we have recently made a major improvement by replacing our old, cobbled-together, secondhand sound system, which was failing, with a new one. It is one that will continue to serve our congregation (which I do not hesitate to characterize as musical and discerning) for many years to come. I want to express our sincere gratitude to Kurt Roberg for his generation donation that enabled us to purchase this new system. A special thanks also to Elka Oliver for spearheading the mission. And on the subject of the Purim spiel, I just want to say that it is such an honor and pleasure for me to be able to help make that one of our many special events and observances.

This past year has been in many ways a quiet year for our congregation, but it also has been one in which we have made our voices heard, becoming political collectively as so many of us have become individually of late. This includes Rabbi Schwartz’s efforts, endorsed by the board, to have Leonia declared a sanctuary city, and our letter of protest to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the status of egalitarian worship at the Western Wall. The significance of these efforts lies not in the fact that they did not achieve their stated goals, but in the ways in which we, as a congregation, have become engaged with our community, our nation, and our people.

Our sesquicentennial is just four years away now, and it is imperative that we think about the future, to plan a celebration, but also to insure that our congregation survives for another 150 years. Our greatest challenges remain above all, membership, as our numbers have declined, and the demographics of the area do not work in our favor. We need to put more effort into trying to recruit new members, especially families with school age children, as our religious school enrollments have also gone down. On the bright side, Rabbi Schwartz has spearheaded an effort to establish a temple youth group, and this will serve not only our teens, but our efforts to be more attractive to potential members. But we need everyone working together to keep our little shul on the hill going strong. Financially, we are healthy for the short term, but in the long run we need members to keep us healthy.

We have our work cut out for us, but I think we all know that there is something special about our congregation, something worth working for, and something that makes it very rewarding to do so. I want to call on all of our membership to come to our aid in the coming year, and beyond, to do whatever you can, to go above and beyond, to support our shul, through donations, and through your thoughts and time and participation as congregants, volunteers, and Adas Emuno ambassadors. Our congregation is strong, and with your help, with all of us working together, we will continue to go from strength to strength. Thank you.

June 15, 2017

Challah Baking Workshop A Great Success!

Our challah baking workshop back on December 13th was a great success by all accounts.

A delicious evening, to be sure!

Summer Movie Night Part 2

Summer Movie Night Part 1

Join us tomorrow evening, Saturday, July 23rd, at 7:30 PM, for the first of two summer movie nights at Adas Emuno. Our mini-film festival, curated by Adas Emuno President, Prof. Lance Strate, who will lead a discussion following the screenings, is on the theme of the counterculture of the 60s and 70s, art and creativity, and the democratizing trend that continue to have a major effect on us to this day. There is some mature content, so parental discretion is advised.

Our first screening will feature Drop City: A New Documentary by Joan Grossman and Tom McCourt.

For more about the film, visit the website: <http://www.dropcitydoc.com>.

Admission is free. Light refreshments will be served. 

The second part of our mini-festival will be in two weeks, Saturday, August 6th, when we screen the documentary, !Women, Art, Revolution. More on that later...

Book Talk and Bagel Brunch

Sports Talk Sunday December 6th

Join us on Sunday, December 6th at 10AM in the Social Hall when the Congregation welcomes guest speaker, Dr. David Kristol, who will speak on “Jews in Sports.” 

Lite refreshments served

Sponsored by the Adult Education Committee

 

From the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

A Message From Our President

Dr. Lance Strate

The Spirit of '76

I think just about all Americans know that the year 1492 holds special significance, as the year that Columbus “sailed the ocean blue” and arrived at the western hemisphere. We used to say he “discovered the new world,” but now we view the event from a less innocent and less positive perspective. Moreover, for the Jewish people, 1492 represents one of the greatest tragedies in our history, the year we were expelled from Spain.

But this isn’t about 1492. And there may be other years in American history that most of us recall, 1812 for example (because of the war named for it), maybe 1929 for the stock market crash that marked the beginning of the Depression, maybe 1941 for the attack on Pearl Harbor, maybe 1945 for the end of the Second World War.

v But the year that especially resonates for us as Americans is 1776. Even through the American Revolutionary War began in 1775, 1776 is year of our Declaration of Independence. That’s why we consider it the year that the United States of America was founded, never mind the fact that the Revolutionary War didn’t end until 1783, that the 13 states were considered individual sovereign entities in a loose confederation until the adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1789, and arguably were not completely united until the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865.

But this isn’t about 1776. This is about a year on a slightly older calendar, the year 5776. That, of course, is the year that just began on Rosh Hashanah evening, this past September 13th. The year 5776 holds no special significance in Jewish tradition, of course. Unless we choose otherwise.

So let's choose otherwise. Let's make 5776 a year to remember. A year to look back on. A year that we can be proud of. Let's create the Spirit of 5776 here at Adas Emuno. And that means getting active, getting involved, participating. In our social action initiatives, our adult education programs, our religious school, our fundraising and fun-raising events. And what would the Spirit of 5776 be without including a measure of spirituality itself. On Shabbat, Friday evening services, Saturday morning Torah study, and our festival and holiday celebrations?

When we think of 1776, we think of government of the people, by the people, and for the people, in the words of Abraham Lincoln. And along similar lines, Congregation Adas Emuno has a government that is of our members, by our members, and for our members. You can embrace the Spirit of 5776 by getting involved in our shul's governance, by volunteering, by serving on committees, by stepping up and making yourselves available for temple leadership positions. In 1776, the Continental Congress announced our Declaration of Independence. In 5776, wouldn't it be fitting if Congregation Adas Emuno proclaimed our Declaration of Interdependence. If we acknowledged that we depend upon each other to form a Jewish community, to support each other as members of that community, to maintain our 4,000-year-old, ever-evolving tradition.

We can't do it alone. We can't be fully Jewish by ourselves. We can't survive in isolation. We need each other. We need to join together as a congregation.

Renewing our commitment to our synagogue, declaring our interdependence as a congregation, establishing the Spirit of 5776. Maybe it's a revolutionary notion? Maybe it's an idea whose time has come? Are you ready?

Doris White's Yom Kippur Appeal 5776

L’Shana Tova.

I have been chosen to give the Yom Kippur appeal for two reasons: (1) I was absent from the meeting when the speaker was chosen and (2) my fellow board members thought I might be a good candidate because I left Adas Emuno for a few years and then returned. In truth, I feel honored to be standing here. I can’t think of a more supportive place to help me overcome a bit of nervousness at speaking before a packed house.

Yes. I did leave this congregation for a few years. Sometimes we feel as I did that the person and the place are no longer a good fit, and I did feel that way. My daughters and I joined temples in their towns, and it was fine, but not the same. After a year or two, I met Eileen Cohen who said, “Come back. Give it a try. We have a wonderful rabbi. Drop by one Saturday for Torah study.” It took me a few months, but one Saturday I decided to see this wonderful rabbi. The rest, as they say, is history. Rabbi Schwartz had me from his first thoughtful comments, and I became a regular at Torah study. Then I attended Friday night services and a few special events, and yes—dear listener—I rejoined and became a member of a vibrant, thoughtful, intellectual, musical, inspirational congregation. Shortly thereafter my daughters and their children came with me. When Cantor Horowitz arrived last year, the picture was complete. We here at Adas Emuno call Rabbi Schwartz and Cantor Horowitz the dream team, and we are so lucky that they are here. Everyone who was at last night’s Kol Nidre service can attest to the words and music that took their places in our hearts and our minds. Sadly, Rabbi, another sports legend passed away yesterday, Yogi Berra, with his own way with words, but his legacy is pure gold—no asterisk there.

We can’t close our eyes to the fact that synagogues in our area are closing: a few years ago Congregation Sons of Israel and shortly Gesher Shalom in Fort Lee. My talk will not concentrate on asking you to keep Adas Emuno alive; I’d like you to witness with me that we are alive with great energy, great spirit and great heart. We cross the generations as is reflected in our board, we are inclusive of everyone who wants to be here, and our welcome is strong. Our board works diligently to keep abreast of the times and offers activities that we want you to join: upcoming a walking tour of the Lower East Side, a fund raising event for our religious school called Treats and Treasures which will take place on October 29th at Modiani Kitchen in Englewood with prizes ranging from restaurant and store gift cards to a week at a vacation home in North Carolina. There will even be a cooking demonstration given by someone I know very well. We have our fingers on the pulse of our members; we are thinking and planning speakers, songfests, celebrations and prayer. The whole megillah.

Did you know that we celebrate the holidays with joy and music? Please join us in the Sukkah on October 2nd for performances by our youngest to our most mature members. Then on October 4th we offer subs in the Sukkah followed by our annual Simchat Torah service which spills out of our doors as we read the last words of the Torah and then begin the ancient ritual of starting over with the first words of Genesis. Please join us; we need your voices and your hands as we raise the Torah high.

Did you know that this year’s Torah study theme is Jewish ethics? Come and join us Saturday mornings from 10-11:30. Rabbi Schwartz discusses each section with commentary, psychology, archeology, history and politics. Even on the coldest winter mornings the talk is lively and stimulating with the many different perspectives offered by our members and guests. Everyone is welcome.

Did you know that we have a Poetry Garden the second Sunday of each month from 7-8 PM? Those of us who love the sound of words gather in the garden when it is warm and in the social hall when it is not. We read our favorite poems, classic and current, or listen to what others read or even share our own poetic thoughts. This past Sunday as the darkness fell, we recited some children’s poetry , were introduced to a new poet, Chanah Bloch. Each month we are surprised and delighted by poetry. Come and join us.

Did you know that we have a lively adult education program that has brought us folk dancing, scholars, comedians, archaeologists, members from Israel’s IDF? Please enjoy these special times with us.

Did you know that we have an engaged and dedicated staff of Hebrew teachers under the direction of Cantor Horowitz and an enrollment of excellent students in grades K through confirmation? We even have a Tot Mitzvah program for 2-1/2- to 4-year-olds that meets three times in the fall and three times in the spring in conjunction with the holidays. I invite you to take a walk or ride past our Hebrew school at noon on Sundays and see the faces of the children as they greet their parents with talk of what they learned and enthusiasm for the several projects the school offers.

Did you know that the B'nai Mitvahs in this temple are such meaningful experiences for our students? I know because three of my grandchildren stood on this bimah as Bar/Bat Mitvahs in the Spring. I invite you to attend the next such event so you can join with me in watching as this temple, these children and their families, this “dream team” inducts our children so meaningfully and so joyfully into the rituals, obligations and beauty of coming of age in Judaism. I was passed the special Torah, saved from the Holocaust in Czechoslovakia, and then passed it to my children and kvelled as they passed it down to their children, my beloved grandchildren. There are no words for this; you have to come and experience it yourselves.

Did you know that 10 students are continuing their Hebrew education past Bar/Bat Mitzvah as they meet with the rabbi in confirmation class? This year they will explore and discuss the many issues and decisions facing Jews and their connection to and support of Israel: topics such as the Iran situation, the Palestinian state conundrum, capital punishment, euthanasia. What a range of thoughtful topics for our young people on the threshold of becoming adults.

I also invite you to share with me the feeling of Shalom when I enter the sanctuary for Friday evening services. Each Shabbat I marvel again at the wisdom of separating the work week of tension, hassle, racing the clock with the ushering in of a time for rest, reflection and prayer. I often enter bringing with me the problems of my week and I feel them evaporating as the songs and prayers offered by Rabbi Schwartz, Cantor Horowitz and our congregation take their rightful place in my priorities. Rabbi Schwartz always provides his thoughts on what is happening in the world outside of ourselves, providing thought and even action as I go through the following week.

Perhaps my favorite part of the service is the Mi Sheberach prayer when we all join hands and send our healing thoughts to those who need them. We say the prayer together with joined hands and then give each others’ hands a final squeeze. I hope you will make time on a Friday night to join us and share in this healing communal spirit.

So we are alive and well and residing at 254 Broad Avenue in Leonia, New Jersey. We are privileged to be here with our dream team, our families, our friends, each other. Please take a minute, look around and absorb the worshipful aura in this sanctuary. Please think of this sharing as you consider your donation for this Yom Kippur appeal, and think of how your donation will support all the excellent happenings that make Congregation Adas Emuno such a special place.

I will end with a personal story. This summer, when her brothers and cousins were at camp, my granddaughter Stella asked me for a sleep over. What could be better? Of course I said, Yes. Then she asked me what we were going to do: I said: we would get manicures and pedicures, eat dinner and see a play in New York, and go to Shabbat services. She looked at me, but she knew I was serious. And so on a hot summer night in July, we did just that. Cantor Horowitz had brought her guitar and her lovely voice into the garden, and we sat on chairs around the lovely pond—thank you Rabbi and Fred Cohen. After the service was over, Stella said, “Bubbie, that was really nice. I love the way Lance sings the prayers and is so into it.” The next morning as were heading out for the manicures and pedicures, she said, “You know, Bub, I’m really glad we came back to your temple. It’s so heart to heart.”

Please open your own hearts and help us to keep this great Adas Emuno heart beating. Thank you.

The State of the Congregation

From the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

A Message From Our President

Dr. Lance Strate

The State of the Congregation

President's Report Delivered at the 

Annual Congregational Meeting 

June 25, 2015

This is the third time that I have reported to the membership on the state of the congregation, and what I said in 2013 and 2014 holds true for 2015: The state of our congregation is strong.

To be clear, over the last three years that I have had the honor of serving as president of Adas Emuno, we have faced a number of difficulties, we continue to face some very real challenges in the present, and no doubt will need to face new ones in the future. But we are strong because we are facing up to those difficulties and challenges. We are strong because we have been solving problems and making progress on many fronts. And most of all, we are strong because of the talent, the skills, the caring, and above all the dedication of our amazing little community, our assembly of the faithful.

One year ago, our most pressing concern was our religious school, and the Board of Trustees made it our highest priority to make sure it had the kind of leadership that our congregation, our members, and above all our children deserve. Traditionally, Adas Emuno has had three key part time positions, that of Rabbi and Cantor, our clergy, and the third being our Religious School Director. On the suggestion of Rabbi Schwartz, we decided to combine the positions of Cantor and Religious School Director, and conducted a search for a Cantor-Educator, the title now used for such a combined position. The search concluded successfully, and Cantor Sandy Horowitz became our new Cantor-Educator last July.

I want to make it clear that the Board had great confidence in Cantor Horowitz's ability to take on the role of Religious School Director, but as the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding. So it is only now, with the completion of the 2014-2015 school year, that I can say for a fact that our confidence was not misplaced, that Cantor Horowitz has proven to be a splendid Religious School Director, and for the first time in recent memory we have been able to find the right balance between maintaining a warm and welcoming atmosphere for our school and providing our students with the quality of academic instruction that they need. I should add that credit also goes to our dedicated teachers, teacher's aides, and parent volunteers, and our Religious School Committee, co-chaired by Elka Oliver and Michael Raskin this past year.

Of course, Cantor Horowitz was hired to be our cantor as well as Religious School Director, and the combined role of Cantor-Educator was meant to bring some stability to what had been a juggling act of student cantors, cantorial soloists, and b'nai mitzvah tutors coming and going each year. In this regard as well, what had been a problem in previous years was no longer a problem this past year. And anyone who knows Adas Emuno knows that our congregation has pretty high musical standards, and so it is particularly gratifying to know that Cantor Horowitz has not only met those standards, much to our membership's satisfaction, but has in fact exceeded them. And so, I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to Cantor Horowitz, who has poured her heart and soul, and many more hours of work than she anticipated, into our congregation.

I have referred to our clergy as a dream team, and I know that our membership is quite familiar with our Rabbi, Barry Schwartz, and we are very grateful for the many gifts he brings to our congregation, for his intellectual acumen, for his talent as a teacher and educator, for his dedication to social action, for his devotion as a caretaker (often in ways unnoticed and unacknowledged) of our shul, as an advisor and counselor, and above all, as our spiritual leader. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you, Rabbi Schwartz, for all that you do, and to let you know how much you mean to us. And in the past I have neglected to mention Debbie Schwartz, our rebbetzin, but I think that she deserves a word of thanks as well.

For the past year, from the High Holy Days through to Shavuot, on every Friday evening, on Saturday morning B'nai Mitzvah services and Torah Study sessions, and on Sunday morning Religious School model services, we have been enjoyed a quality of clergy leadership that is nothing short of exemplary. Credit also goes to the work of the Ritual Committee, chaired this past year by Virginia Gitter. And looking towards the future, I am very pleased to report to you that this past year both Rabbi Schwartz and Cantor Horowitz have signed multi-year contracts that take effect this July, so that we can look forward to continued stability and continuity in the coming years.

Following the membership's approval of our amended By-Laws last year, we were able to expand our Board of Trustees, and we have been especially invigorated by the addition of several new board members, including Sandra Zornek, Jody Pugach, Susan Grey, and Judith Fisher, all of whom are religious school parents. Last year, two other board members took over as officers of our congregation, Elka Oliver as Vice-President, and Marilyn Katz as Recording Secretary. It has been a real pleasure working with all of them, as well as with our longstanding board members, past president Virginia Gitter, Michael Raskin, Annette DeMarco, Norman Rosen, Lauren Rowland, our Financial Secretary Mark Rosenberg, our Treasurer Michael Fishbein, and Doris White who serves as our bookkeeper. Thank you all for your continued service to Adas Emuno. And thank you as well to Fred Friedman, who stepped down from the board during the past year. We had the opportunity to honor Fred at a special Shabbat service on May 1st, which turned out to be a truly memorable and moving evening, but it doesn't hurt to say thank you, once again, on behalf of our congregation.

I would like to mention some of the new initiatives and special events that took place over the past year. For example, we had an Adas Emuno Religious School Family Meet and Greet last August, and then in September we launched our innovative new Tot Mitzvah program, led by Doris White. We also launched our Poetry Garden group last summer, meeting once a month in the Adas Emuno garden when the weather was warm and dry, in our sukkah during the Sukkot festival week, and in the social hall the rest of the time. I want to thank Doris White again for helping to lead the group, and note that, apart from its own merits, it can serve as a model for other special interest groups within the congregation to set up regular meetings. You don't need a large group to make it happen; in fact a small group works best.

And speaking of groups that meet in the social hall, we play host to the Bergen County Chapter of the American Recorder Society, letting them use our social hall each month for a nominal fee, and they treated us to a marvelous outdoor concert in our garden last September. Hopefully, we can make this an annual event. Our tradition of hosting wonderful musical events continued this past May with the return of Eugene Marlow's Heritage Ensemble.

This past year we enjoyed many fine Adult Education programs, thanks to the efforts of committee chair Norman Rosen, and his co-chair Fred Friedman, and it would be too much to mention all of the events they organized here. Instead, for my part, I just want to note that we had some seasonal fun on November 1st with a screening and discussion of the feature film, World War Z, and on April 11th with a screening of the documentary, The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, which was followed by a very lively discussion and debate. I believe that the format combining film screenings with discussions is one that works very well for us.

One of the high points of this past year was the return of Adas Emuno Has Talent, which serves as a fundraiser for our Religious School. As was the case the first time we held this event in 2013, this past January's talent show was a marvelous showcase for the gifts of our membership, young and old alike. Special thanks go to Elka Oliver for her leadership in organizing this event.

I have to say that it was a personal thrill for me to be able to write an original Purim spiel that, if nothing else, saved us the cost of purchasing one from someone else, as we've done in previous years, and to have it performed not once, but twice. Thank you again to our clergy and Ritual Committee for expanding our celebration of this joyous holiday, and while it may need some tweaking, I think the idea of performing the spiel twice, once on a Sunday morning for the Religious School, and once as part of an evening Purim service, is a good one. I also hope that we can make "The Schnook of Esther" available for purchase to other congregations, to maybe raise a few extra dollars for our social action fund. And thank you to Elka Oliver and Virginia Gitter for organizing and directing this year's production.

Speaking of Virginia, when she initially proposed bringing back our congregational Seder on the second night of Passover, she met with some resistance and negative feedback, or at least some misgivings about the feasibility of the event. She listened to the comments, acknowledged them, and proceeded to organize the event anyway, and it turned out to be a great success! One of the questions raised was whether enough people would be interested in and willing to attend a congregational Seder, and it turned out that we had to turn people away. Another question was the cost, but Virginia worked out a way to keep it reasonable. And the third was whether the Seder itself would be well organized and meaningful, and as led by Rabbi Schwartz, it most certainly was. So thank you again to our Rabbi, and thank you to Virginia for your vision, and your willingness to see it through!

At this point, I would like to acknowledge the hard work of the chair of our Social Action Committee, Annette DeMarco, and emphasize how important our social action initiatives are for Adas Emuno. And I must acknowledge the chair of our Buildings and Grounds Committee, Michael Fishbein, for his work regarding the repair, maintenance, and improvements of our facilities. I also want to say thank you, on behalf of the congregation to Fred Cohen for his continued work on our garden, and to Richard Allichio for his volunteer work on behalf of our events and fundraisers.

Regarding publicity, again Virginia Gitter deserves our gratitude for her work on the newsletter and mailings, as does Lauren Rowland. As for our transition to a new website and database service, this is an area in which we have not performed as well as we should have, and I regret the delays, and take responsibility for them, the president being the goalie whose job it is stop the buck right here. I am very grateful to Mark Rosenberg for his work with the ShulCloud service, and to Sandra Zornek for picking up the ball that others have dropped, and taking us to the point where we are almost ready to roll out the new system. Expect to hear more about it later this summer. I'll just add that I've been doing my best to maintain our congregational blog, which serves as something of a record of our activities as well as publicity for Adas Emuno, and I would welcome others to contribute to it as well. I also want to mention that I have been writing occasional op-eds for our local periodical, the Jewish Standard, and the primary reason I'm doing so is that each piece includes an author blurb that identifies my association with Adas Emuno, and thereby gives us a little bit of extra publicity.

Two important policy initiatives were completed this year that bear mentioning. One was the development of our new Safe Child Policy for our religious school, an effort led by Elka Oliver. Another was the establishment of a new Family Service and B'nai Mitzvah Service Attendance Policy, the product of extensive discussions on the part of the board, Rabbi Schwartz, and Cantor Horowitz.

I began this report by acknowledging that we do face some serious challenges, and I would be remiss if I did not identify them to you. The way I see it, there are three main challenges, and I think it would be helpful to review them in order of priority. The first and most important challenge is membership. Congregation Adas Emuno is its membership. We are a nonprofit corporation, yes, but at the core we are an assembly of the faithful (that's what adas emuno means), we are a community, we are a congregation. And our membership has been in decline, partly due to better bookkeeping, but also in real terms. We face demographic challenges regarding the Jewish population in this area, as well as challenges that are shared by congregations of other faiths and traditions. In the past, it was sufficient to take the attitude that, if you build it, they will come, but that is no longer the case, and we need to put more effort into outreach, and to reach out to areas beyond Leonia and the towns that immediately surround us. The challenge of membership is one both of recruitment and also retainment, and in that regard, we as the leadership of the congregation need to do a better job of communicating with our membership, and of listening to what our members have to say. At the same time, I want to renew my plea to our members, to keep in mind that this is a do-it-yourself temple, that we welcome, indeed need your input and participation, in all aspects of our synagogue's life. If there's something we're not doing, or something that we could do better, please, by all means, let us know, but also let us know what you are willing to do to help out. And as I've mentioned before, please remember to be an Adas Emuno ambassador, and help us to bring in more members.

The second challenge that we face, one that is related to the first, is declining enrollments in our religious school. We can still survive for an extended period of time with declining enrollments, and in theory we can survive indefinitely without a religious school altogether. But what we have seen happening with our sister shuls is that when a congregation closes its religious school, it will eventually close its doors as well. The two may be separated by many years, even by a decade or two, but the long term health of our congregation can be measured by the health of our religious school. Moreover, religious education for our children, including b'nai mitzvah preparation, is at the heart of our mission as a synagogue. As I have noted, the Adas Emuno Religious School is now in the best shape that it has ever been, so now is the time to get the word out, to do more in the way active recruitment.

Our third major challenge is financial. This is related, in part, to declining membership, which means a decline in membership dues. It is offset by declining religious school enrollments, because tuition does not completely cover the costs of the school, but subsidizing our children's education is a longstanding policy of our congregation. For the short term, we are in good shape financially, given our three properties and savings. But we are spending more than we take in from dues, fees, tuition and donations. In part, this has been due to the need to deal with maintenance and repairs that were put off during leaner financial times. We also have been dealing with personnel changes that only now have become stabilized and predictable. Obviously, we cannot continue to spend more than we earn indefinitely, so we need to arrive at a financial formula that works for us. For this reason, the board has approved the raising of dues and tuition for the coming year. The decision was a difficult one for the board, with the impact on membership an important concern. I want to emphasize, however, that the raises are modest, and that we have avoided raising dues and fees for the past several years, for reasons that include concern over the country's economic downturn. But the board recognizes the importance of a balanced budget, and it remains a fact that we are still a bargain compared to other temples in the area.

We are also looking into ways to increase our fundraising efforts, which have included the use of the Benefit smartphone app and the Blue Moon Mexican Café Community Night last month, thanks to Sandra Zornek. And to echo Susan Grey's Yom Kippur Appeal, "Please consider giving generously this year to sustain the special life we have created here at Adas Emuno."

Of course, we are also looking into ways of cutting costs. And unlike many of our sister shuls who are also dealing with the same problems regarding membership, enrollments, and finances, as a small congregation we do not have the high overhead they do, in regard to staff, maintenance of facilities, etc., so we go into this new financial climate already lean and mean. That is why we ask for less in the way of dues and tuition. But still, it is important to recognize our fiduciary obligations.

The bottom line, however, is that our finances have to be a lower priority than our school, and our membership, and we need to spend money, prudently of course, in our efforts to increase our enrollments and our membership. People come first. Our shul cannot survive with money and no members, and our school cannot survive with money and no students. But it is possible to survive with members and students, even without much in the way of financial resources.

My intent is not to convey a sense of doom and gloom, but rather to explain why I would prioritize membership above all, followed by our religious school, and only then followed by financials. And in setting up this hierarchy of needs, I don't mean it as an absolute, but rather as a suggestion that can guide us in making decisions for the future.

I also want to emphasize that, in noting how we are experiencing declines in membership and enrollment, that they have been gradual, and that they are, in my opinion, reversible. We have a truly exceptional congregation, everyone who experiences it says so. We have every reason to be proud of what we have here, to be proud of what we have achieved here, to be proud of what we are. And we have every reason to do all that we can to insure that this extraordinary legacy that we have inherited from others who came before us can be passed down to future generations.

We are now a little more than six short years from our sesquicentennial, the 150th anniversary of the founding of Congregation Adas Emuno. Let us look forward to celebrating that milestone with a congregation that is stronger than ever. And in the words derived from the Psalms, May Congregation Adas Emuno go from strength to strength.