Rabbi's Message

Rabbi Elyse Wechterman
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December 2006
Update on Caring

As I indicated last month in this space, I plan to write to you regularly regarding the efforts of our members to care for one another and for our neighbors in community. I want to bring two structural and programmatic efforts to your attention this month.

As you know, Susan Bradie and the Social Action Committee have been doing a wonderful job energizing our community toward good works. We now have a two-year record of Mitzvah morning successes and a number of other projects have become traditional activities in this congregation. I am very proud of the work of that committee and the fact that they feel supported and appreciated enough by this congregation to commit us to staffing the Attleboro Area Council of Churches soup kitchen on a monthly basis. As of this month, we are now responsible for staffing the fourth Friday soup kitchen on a regular basis – please call a member of the social action committee to volunteer your time and to thank them for all their hard work.

In addition, Susan and I have begun discussing how the social action committee could help facilitate the creation and supply of holiday and homebound gift baskets for our own members in need. As an outgrowth of last year’s mitzvah morning and some of the work of the students in our Religious School, we have begun to see caring for our own as a part of the work we do to improve the world. It would help me – and other volunteer visitors in our congregation – if we had a regular supply of gift baskets to bring to those we visit in the hospital, at home, etc. Please look for information on how you can help with this effort and let me know if you have any ideas for materials, storage, etc.

Outside of the synagogue, I have been participating in conversations of the larger Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts Jewish community about providing more and more accessible services to Jews across the region. As of today, there are no programs for Jews with mental disabilities, mental illness, or physical disabilities supported by our local Federation and agencies. I attended my first meeting as a board member of the Jewish Family Services of Rhode Island where I learned that the agency is open to new ideas and looking for ways to partner with synagogues and other communal organizations to reach these neglected sectors of our community. I am hoping to entice the JFS to use Congregation Agudas Achim as a base for services in the Attleboro area – bringing their services to those who just can’t (or won’t) go to Providence.

Again, I invite your ideas, suggestions and thoughts on this important topic.

Report from the JRF Convention

In early November, I attended the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation’s biennial convention in Philadelphia along with Kim Bodemer and David Nerenberg. The convention was engaging and energizing and attracted over 450 participants. Workshops and study sessions ran the gamut from building "green" synagogues to Talmudic text study. Shabbat t'fillot were spirited and full of music. On Shabbat afternoon, Ruth Messinger, President of the American Jewish World Service, spoke passionately about the ongoing devastation in Darfur and Rabbi Steve Gutow, Executive Director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, challenged each of us to get involved in any one of a slew of social justice causes.

Kim Bodemer and I presented Agudas Achim's Shabbat B’Yachad curriculum as a model of Innovative Religious School Education. I also presented our congregation's evolution of Shabbat programming, culminating in this year's Celebrate Shabbat! calendar of activities. Other congregations clearly see our congregation's programming as a model.

Four guest Israelis provided engaging perspectives on the state of Israel after this summer's war in Lebanon and the growth of a grass-roots movement offering non-Orthodox Judaism to disaffected Jewish Israelis searching for meaningful community. I had the opportunity to connect with one of them and make plans to meet with him and members of his community during our Israel trip in February.

Additional highlights for our congregation include:

- Kim Bodemer was elected Secretary of the Reconstructionist Educators of North America (RENA), a professional group for people leading schools in Reconstructionist congregations.

- David Nerenberg was re-elected to a third two-year term on the JRF Board and to a third one-year term as President of the Camp JRF board.

The next convention will be in Boston, November 13-16, 2008. With two years advance notice, I hope that many of you will be joining us as one of a number of hosting New England congregations.

B’Shalom
Rabbi Elyse

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