We use YAHOO for our Internet service provider for this web page and they have a 5 megabyte limit for uploaded files. I've had to chop the presentation up into 3 parts to make it fit. Here is the first part of the presentation, the second part of the presentation, and the third part of the presentation that was given at the town hall meetings held at the Weinstein JCC on March 21st and 22nd.

I know that you have questions about what is going on with our discussions with Or Atid. This page (rough though it may be) is my attempt to keep you constantly abreast of the happenings between us and Or Atid as well as other pressing issues Beth-El is dealing with. I will be making updates to it when I have new information so check back often. I will add the new stuff to the top of the page so at your first visit scroll to the bottom and start reading up. After that you can check from the beginning and keep posted on current events.

 

If you want to get in touch with me, send an email to president@bethelrichmond.org.

 

This is a web link to the presentation part of the 3/21 Town Hall meeting.

This is a web link to the Q & A part of the 3/21 Town Hall meeting.

This is a web link to the open comments part of the 3/21 Town Hall meeting.

This is a web link to Or Atids web site.

Here is the Feedback Form that was distributed at the town hall meetings held at the Weinstein JCC on March 21st and 22nd. Save it to your computer, fill it out, and email it back to us, or you can snail mail it to the Grove Ave. address.

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Rumor Central. This is where rumors go to die.

 

1.      We sold the Grove Ave. property to the Science museum. " FALSE! " We have not sold anything to anybody because nothing is for sale.

2.      Congregation Or Atid is still looking for a new location. " TRUE! " These remarks are from the President of Congregation Or Atid: While COA is strongly committed to the ongoing talks between COA and TBE, COA still must act on a parallel path of exploring new locations so that COA will have a backup plan should these talks not produce a new congregational community. As a show of that commitment, COA did not sign a deal 8 weeks ago on a perfectly acceptable new property.

We have made an agreement to sell the Grove Avenue property in preparation to move to Parham Road.

" FALSE! " Again, there has been no vote and there is no agreement to sell anything or move anywhere.

Whoever is spreading this rumor needs to speak to me. Please contact me.

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TBE/COA Joint Statement

Meeting Date: April 19, 2010

The Committee for the Creation of a Conservative Congregation for Richmond (C4R) core committee met at Congregation Or Atid for two hours and forty five minutes. C4R has not met since March 23^rd to allow the governance and finance sub-committees the opportunity to give their full attention to what needed to be done in order to prepare their reports.

The primary topics for discussion at this meeting were the feasibility reports from the governance and finance sub-committees.

Glenn Weiner and Steve Linas are the co-chairs for the governance committee. The charge of the subcommittee was to create an interim framework to guide governance of the new congregational entity until such time as a permanent document is drafted and ratified by the new congregation.

In providing its report, the Governance sub-committee reminded C4R that its recommendations are intended to be a framework for interim use and are not intended to necessarily reflect the details of a final constitution. The sub-committee made the following recommendations:

1. The size of the Board of Directors will be dictated by a number equal to 5% of the number of membership units plus the chairs of standing committees, presidents of the Men’s club and Sisterhood, and the immediate past president. A membership unit shall consist of a single adult, a couple, a single parent with dependent children, and a couple with dependent children. This definition does not necessarily delineate dues categories.
   
2. The officers of the congregation shall be the President, President-elect/senior vice-president, vice- president of finance, vice-president of education, secretary, and treasurer. The initial terms of the President and Senior vice-president/ president elect shall be for two years. Each will have been a member of different original congregations.
   

3. The standing committees shall be: school, ritual, budget and finance, personnel, membership/welcome, membership relations, facilities, adult education and family programming, I.T./publicity/communications, social action, library/archives/art gallery, and nominating. Endowment and cemetery committees were relegated to the “parking lot.”

4. Each committee will have two co-chairs, one each from the two former congregations . These co-chairs will serve for a period of two years, after which the chairmanship reverts to a single chair.

5. The executive committee will consist of the president, president elect/senior vice president, vice- president of finance, vice president of education, treasurer, secretary, president of Men’s club, president(s) of Sisterhood, and the immediate past president.

6. Voting privileges.
~There shall be one vote on congregational issues per membership unit of the new congregation. ~Only those membership units who are current in their financial agreements with the new congregation at the time of any vote shall eligible to vote.
~All extraordinary financial agreements shall have to be preapproved by the membership relations committee, and such obligations must be current at the time of voting.

7. A family is defined as 2 co-habitating adults, a single parent, parent/parents with dependent children.

8. For the first term, the current C4R committee shall be the defacto nominating committee for the new congregation. Members of the C4R committee may be considered for nomination only if they recuse themselves from the nomination vote for the position they seek. For the first term only, the defacto nominating committee will attempt, as closely as possible, to nominate equal numbers of former TBE and COA members to the board of directors.

9. The C4R committee will decide whether a TBE member or COA member shall be the first president.

Next, Joe Cheslock presented the feasibility report from the finance sub-committee. The sub-committee created three budgetary models based upon a series of assumptions. The models were realistic, pessimistic and optimistic and tried to account for the membership attrition that may occur in the event a new entity is created.

In the time frame the sub-committee had available to it, it focused on the development of an operational budget, not a projected balance sheet of assets and liabilities for the proposed new entity.

The sub-committee used actual expenses whenever possible based upon the current operating budget for TBE and assumed the location of the new entity at Parham Road. The sub-committee also assumed payroll and benefits calculated on a somewhat reduced number of the current positions at TBE.

The sub-committee assumed that the religious school would work toward Framework for Excellence accreditation as recommended by the Education sub-committee and incorporated additional school hours into the payroll calculations.

Under each of the assumed scenarios, the new entity would not be profitable in its first year. However, the sub-committee is hopeful that the new entity might be fully self-sustaining within five years of its inception under even the most pessimistic scenario.

The next meeting of C4R is scheduled for 4:00 on April 30 at Temple Beth El.

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TBE/COA Joint Statement

Meeting Date: March 23, 2010

The Committee for the Creation of a Conservative Congregation for Richmond (C4R) core committee met at Temple Beth-El Religious School for the purpose of debriefing following the Town Hall Meetings held on March 21 and March 22.

The committee members agreed that the meetings were very well attended, with approximately 280 people attending on March 21 and approximately 250 people attending on March 22. It was agreed that the facilitator from USCJ, Shelly Goldin, had done a very good job moderating and it was reported that so far 242 feedback forms had been completed and returned. Although the feedback forms had not yet been fully compiled, Michal Zivan-Coffey reported to the group that the feedback was generally positive, with questions/comments/concerns about finances being the most prevalent. Gratitude was expressed to the JCC for hosting the meetings.

After discussion, it was determined that the timeline previously contemplated by C4R needed to be adjusted to allow the Temple Beth-El community the opportunity to become fully educated about its financial situation and to decide, internally, the question of which of its two properties to sell irrespective of the issue of creating a new congregational community.

The April 25 Special Meeting previously contemplated was determined to be premature and it was determined that the date would be used instead for an internal Town Hall meeting for Temple Beth-El. It was further discussed that Temple Beth-El would use its regularly scheduled Congregational Annual Meeting on May 23 to vote on whether or not to sell Grove Avenue or Parham Road.

It was agreed that the work of C4R should continue. It was decided that the governance and finance sub-committees begin their work immediately with the goal of submitting a report to C4R at its next meeting on April 19.

Respectfully submitted,

>Lisa Roday, President Congregation Or Atid

Brian Imburg, President Temple Beth-El

Note: The power point presentation shown at the Town Hall meetings can be viewed, together with the notes, at each synagogues website. For the month of April, a video tape of the March 21 Town Hall meeting can be viewed in three parts, the presentation, the question and answer, and the comments, by clicking the links to each segment located on each synagogues website.

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TBE/COA Joint Statement

Meeting Date: March 15, 2010

The Committee for the Creation of a Conservative Congregation for Richmond (C4R) core committee met at Congregation Or Atid for the purpose of finalizing the feedback from to be used at the upcoming Town Hall meetings on March 21 and March 22, predicting questions that might be asked at the Town Halls, sharing the final version of the Town Hall meeting power point presentation, editing the draft resolution for the anticipated Special Meetings to be held at each synagogue on April 25 and finally, putting together the task list and charge for the governance and finance sub-committees.

After discussion, a list of open logistics items for the Town Hall meetings was finalized. Comments were shared about the feedback form and it was determined that all responses not turned in personally would be submitted by mail or email to Judy Crocker. Considerable time was spent engaged in a discussion of anticipated questions.

A draft of the proposed resolution for the April 25 Special Meeting was discussed and it was agreed that Lisa Roday would compile all the comments and distribute a draft by email for C4R’s review prior to the Town Hall meetings. It was discussed that given Temple Beth-El’s constitutional requirement of 30 days advance notice of a Special Meeting, that the resolution had to be in final by March 23, the day of the post-Town Hall meeting Debriefing session.

Finally the committee developed the charge for the governance and finance sub-committees who are expected to begin their work immediately following the Town Hall meetings.

Provide recommendations to the core committee after discussion of the following:

Each sub-committee will develop a prototype related to their committee so the core committee can develop a congregation model.

Governance will develop an interim board and governing document with an expiration date to govern the congregation’s activities.

Finance will look at the financial health of each congregation and review such items as: Employee contracts, real estate rentals, dues, reduced dues, balance sheets, school budgets.

Respectfully submitted,

Lisa Roday, President Congregation Or Atid

Brian Imburg, President Temple Beth-El

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TBE/COA Joint Statement

Meeting Date: March 7, 2010

The Committee for the Creation of a Conservative Congregation for Richmond (C4R) core committee met at Temple Beth El Religious School together with the members of the Ritual, Location and Education Sub-committee. Prior to the meeting, each of the sub-committees had submitted their report to C4R in the form of slides to be used for the Town Hall meetings to be held on March 21 and March 22 at the JCC.

This was the first opportunity that each of the sub-committees had to see the other two sub-committees conclusions and a lively discussion took place about additional content, tone and presentation. It was suggested that each congregation present data showing their membership broken down by age group.

All the comments were noted for inclusion in the power point. The meeting adjourned with a plan for the synagogue presidents to continue to work on the presentation. Tasks for the next meeting were determined to be finalization of a feedback form for use at the Town Halls, a mock question and answer session, development of a charge for the governance and finance sub-committees and a final run-through of the power point.

Respectfully submitted,

Lisa Roday, President Congregation Or Atid

Brian Imburg, President Temple Beth-El

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TBE/COA Joint Statement

Meeting Date: February 22, 2010

The Committee for the Creation of a Conservative Congregation for Richmond (C4R) core committee met at Congregation Or Atid for two hours to continue discussions. The agenda for the meeting included reports by the co-chairs of each of the Ritual, Education and Location/Physical Plant subcommittees, a discussion about preparation for the upcoming Town Hall Meetings, (which included the creation of a Feedback Form for use by Town Hall Meeting attendees), and a discussion about the prospective timeline in the event the outcome of the Town Hall Meetings indicate that we should continue to pursue a new congregational community.

The Ritual Sub-Committee reported that they had discussions concerning their Town Hall presentation. Discussions about Kashrut resulted in their recommendation that the new entity would be completely Kosher as defined by Conservative Jewish standards, including a recommendation that only food prepared in the new synagogue kitchen, food prepared by approved kosher catering companies or hechshered products would be approved for bringing into the new synagogue. The Ritual Sub-committee also discussed their view that the new synagogue provide a warm and welcoming atmosphere for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people within the guidelines of Conservative Judaism and with Rabbinic guidance.

The Education Sub-Committee reported they were also preparing their Town Hall presentation. They have worked on defining the vision and mission for the religious school, using as the basis of discussion the themes of community, hands-on, experiential learning, family involvement, and student involvement. The group agreed they would recommend a process-oriented, hands-on school. Finally, the group began their consideration of whether or not the new religious school should be a Framework for Excellence school. The sub-committee plans to continue the Framework discussion in future meetings.

The Location/Physical Plant Sub-Committee reported they have prepared their presentation and have considered the pros and cons of each of three considered options: locating the new congregation at Grove Avenue and selling Parham Road, locating the new congregation at Parham Road and selling Grove Avenue, selling both Grove Avenue and Parham Road and locating the new congregation on a new site in the West End. The sub-committee stressed the importance of preserving and honoring all architectural, historical and memorial artifacts from both congregations no matter which option is recommended.

C4R affirmed the following time line for the next few months:

The core committee and sub-committees have worked tirelessly to ensure the congregants of both COA and TBE have the information necessary to evaluate whether or not to move forward with discussions. We hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to meet with us at the Town Halls, and/or contact us by email at C4Richmond@gmail.com.

Respectfully submitted,

Brian Imburg, President, Temple Beth El

Lisa Roday, President, Congregation Or Atid

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TBE/COA Joint Statement

Meeting Date: February 8, 2010

The Committee for the Creation of a Conservative Congregation for Richmond (C4R) core committee met at Temple Beth El Religious School for two hours to continue discussions. The agenda for the meeting included reports by the co-chairs of each of the Ritual, Education and Location/Physical Plant subcommittees, as well as a discussion about preparation for the Town Hall Meetings (see below for details). It was observed that as the group continues to meet, our energy is focused on “making the case for change”—in other words, creating a new model that will best serve Conservative Judaism for the next generation.

The Ritual Sub-Committee reported continued broad agreement on all areas discussed, having spent their last meeting focusing on issues related to interfaith families. The next meeting will focus on Kahsrut. It was agreed that the sub-committee co-chairs would get Rabbinic guidance on issues of Halakha from a rabbi at USCJ.

The Education Sub-Committee reported that they were unable to meet as a result of inclement weather, but were working to continue to gather information. The sub-committee’s main focus is to write a mission and vision statement for what the sub-committee members perceive would be the preeminent religious school! These statements will strive to capture what should be taught, how instruction should be delivered, what the atmosphere of the school environment should provide, and a view of what our children should be as “finished products” of the religious school. The sub-committee will also be considering some of the “nuts and bolts” of the logistics side of things and the feasibility and desirability of seeking Framework for Excellence status.

The Location/Physical Plant Sub-Committee reported that they have done a thorough examination of the floor plans for each current Temple Beth El site, as well as reviewed written appraisals that were done of both properties last year. A demographic study of the age bands and residence locations of the membership from both synagogues has been done. The sub-committee has evaluated three options: locate the new synagogue at Grove Avenue and sell Parham Road, locate the new synagogue at Parham Road and sell Grove Avenue, sell both Grove Avenue and Parham Road and locate the new synagogue on a new site in the West End.

It was confirmed that each of the sub-committees are on target to submit their feasibility recommendations to the core committee of C4R on March 7.

It was again discussed that both synagogues have important decisions that they are postponing pending the outcome of this feasibility study. To that end, the committee agreed to staff the next two sub-committees, which are Finance and Governance/By-Laws. Although each synagogue president will be selecting sub-committee co-chairs and sub-committee members, the Finance and Governance/By-Laws sub-committees will only start working when and if the outcome of the feasibility study is that discussions continue. It is expected that that determination will be made on or around March 26. If discussions are going to continue, this will enable Finance and Governance/By-Laws to begin their work immediately after Passover.

Important Dates: On Sunday, March 21 at 9:15 am and Monday, March 22 at 7:00 pm, the members of Congregation Or Atid, Temple Beth El, and any interested members of the Richmond community are invited to a Town Hall Meeting to be held at the Weinstein JCC. Each meeting will be facilitated by a professional facilitator from United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. During each meeting, we will present the recommendations of the C4R committee as to the feasibility of creating a new Conservative synagogue for the Richmond community. In addition, there will be a question and answer session. It was agreed that it would be very helpful if questions could be provided to the committee in advance of the Town Hall meetings by emailing them to C4Richmond@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . During each Town Hall, there will be a “sound-off” section of the meeting during which participants will have the opportunity to make a statement, voice their support or otherwise comment on the process. C4R encourages everyone to attend; supporters, detractors and undecideds. And if someone is unable to attend, he/she is asked to reach out for the committee by email and to complete the feedback form which will be available on each synagogue’s website in the days just before the Town Hall meetings.

It was agreed that C4R would have a “debrief” meeting on March 23 to discuss and analyze the results of the Town Hall meetings, as well as the feedback forms. At the conclusion of the March 23 meeting, it is hoped that there will be a clear mandate—move forward with discussions or terminate discussions.

The recommendation of the C4R committee will be presented to the Boards of each congregation in April. If the recommendation is in favor of a new unified congregation, that resolution would go before a vote of each Congregation’s membership in May.

C4R continues to work with positive and cooperative spirit in seeking the best path to preserving a vibrant and thriving Conservative community in Richmond.

Respectfully submitted,

Brian Imburg, President, Temple Beth El

Lisa Roday, President, Congregation Or Atid

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TBE/COA Joint Statement

Meeting Date: January 25, 2010

The C4R core committee met at Congregation Or Atid for two hours to continue discussions. The agenda for the meeting included in person reports by the co-chairs of each of the Ritual, Education and Location/Physical Plant subcommittees, all of whom have met several times with their subcommittee members.

The Ritual Sub-Committee reported broad agreement on the areas to be discussed, including Services, Lifestyle Events, Interfaith Marriage, Gay/Lesbian issues, Kashrut, and Shabbat observance issues. It was noted that committee members would attend services at each congregation. It was observed that there is much commonality between the two institutions. Discussion included the use of music at services and the roles of women and children at services.

The Education Sub-Committee reported broad agreement on the areas to be discussed. They had in depth discussions during which they:

They report that they are working well together and finding much consensus.

The Location/Physical Plant Sub-Committee reported the cooperative spirit with which their members were working. The sub-committee members have toured the existing TBE facilities at Parham Road and at Grove Avenue and have made schedules of the attributes of each. A demographic study of the age bands and residence locations of the membership from both synagogues has been done.

It was agreed that the sub-committees will submit their feasibility recommendations to the core committee of C4R on March 7. It was also determined that the core committee will hold joint congregational Town Hall meetings to inform the congregations of the progress of the discussions, to answer questions, and to provide a forum for the congregations to express their views. The larger Jewish community is invited to attend. The meetings will take place at 9:15 a.m. on Sunday, March 21 and at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, March 22. The location of the March 21 meeting is yet to be determined. The March 22 meeting will take place at the Weinstein JCC.

Respectfully submitted,

Brian Imburg, President, Temple Beth El

Lisa Roday, President, Congregation Or Atid

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TBE/COA Joint Statement

Meeting Date: January 11, 2010

The C4R and the members of the Ritual, Location and Education Sub-Committees met at Temple Beth El, Parham Campus for an hour, during which each member of the core committee and each sub-committee introduced themselves. We welcomed the sub-committee members and shared with them the mission statement of the C4R. In addition, we outlined for the sub-committee members the “road map” that the C4R had created for them, namely:

The sub-committee members were reminded to set up a meeting calendar that would enable them to meet regularly for the next 8 weeks and meet their March 31st deadline for a final report. It was also stressed that the spirit of collegiality that has marked the C4R discussions should be practiced by the sub-committees, too.

The larger group meeting adjourned after an hour and the sub-committees each met for another hour.

Each sub-committee reported that they had productive and positive meetings and looked forward to continuing their work together in the coming weeks.

Respectfully,

Brian Imburg, President, Temple Beth El

Lisa Roday, President, Congregation Or Atid

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TBE/COA Joint Statement December 14, 2009

The committee’s task for this meeting was to develop an agenda for the orientation of the sub-committee members to be held on January 11, 2010 at 6:45 pm. at Temple Beth El Religious School at 601 N. Parham Road. The first three sub-committees are Ritual, Youth Education and Location/Physical Plant. Co-Chairs from the core committee, one from TBE and one from COA, have been selected for each of the sub-committees. The core committee continues to work cooperatively and once again completed the meeting tasks ahead of schedule.

An agenda for the January 11 meeting was developed as follows:

Future meeting dates for C4R core committee were set for 1/11/10, 1/25/10, 2/8/10, 2/22/10, 3/8/10, and 3/22/10.

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TBE/COA Joint Statement from the meeting of 11/30/2009

The committees first task this meeting was to formulate a mission statement. This is a directing piece of work that keeps us focused on what we are trying to accomplish. That statement is:

Our committee will determine the feasibility of creating a new congregational community to meet the cultural, educational and spiritual needs of the Conservative Jewish community in Richmond.

The committee was to spend the entire two hour session on crafting this statement, but we finished in about a half an hour. This is a testament to the good working relationship of the committee. The committee then constructed a framework for sub-committee work. The high points of that framework are:

The tasks for each sub-committee will be to determine where the congregations are similar, where they differ, and any new functions they would like to see. The committee will work to overcome the differences and then build a prototype of their ideal operation so the core committee can incorporate it into a model of a new organization.

We will continue to meet biweekly for the foreseeable future. Our next meeting is 12/14/2009 where we will develop an agenda for the sub-committee orientation meeting of 1/11/2010 for the first three sub-committees Ritual, Education and Location. Their timeline is to produce a product by the end of March.

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TBE/COA Joint Statement

The members of the joint Temple Beth El and Congregation Or Atid committee to explore the feasibility of creating a new conservative congregation for the community of Richmond met for the first time on Monday, November 16. Representatives from United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism were also present to help facilitate the meeting. They were Jo-Anne Tucker-Zemlak, Executive Director of the Seaboard Region, Bill Bresnick, President of the Seaboard Region and Naomi Yadin-Mendick, President-Elect of the Seaboard Region.

The meeting was characterized by collegiality as members of the committee took this initial meeting opportunity to get to know one another.

The committee set some ground rules and broadly discussed why each member was interested in serving.

It was agreed that all communications about the committee’s work would be joint statements from the committee. It was also agreed that both synagogues would publish the same statements on each synagogue website. Each congregation will put a link to the other’s website on the congregational website.

The committee will meet every two weeks for the foreseeable future. Both synagogues have other decisions on hold pending the outcome of the committee’s work so it is in the best interests of both organizations for the committee to work with deliberate speed.

The next meeting will be held at TBE on November 30 at which time the committee will discuss a working mission statement for the committee, common goals and vision, and the creation of sub-committee task lists.

It is anticipated that the sub-committees will begin their work right after the New Year. Ritual, youth education, and physical plant/location will be the first three sub-committees to be activated.

Congregants are encouraged to provide feedback to any member of the joint committee. Your thoughts, ideas, concerns and suggestions are gratefully appreciated. An email address expressly for the purpose of getting feedback has been created. In addition to contacting individual committee members, you can email C4richmond@gmail.com.

The members of the Committee for the Creation of a Conservative Congregation for Richmond (“C4R”) are:

Please provide your input so that we can best understand the sentiments of the congregants.

B’Shalom,

Lisa Roday, President, Congregation Or Atid

Brian Imburg, President, Temple Beth El

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Lisa Roday and I met with William Bresnick, president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and had a frank discussion of what we wanted to see come from these talks. We used the document that he provided (and is available to you on the USCJ website) titled Tzemed Hemed, Finding the Right Fit. Using this document, we rank ordered the areas of concern into this order:

We both feel that the first group will be the most vexing and that is why we want to tackle them first.

We agreed to have a committee of 14 people with Lisa and I being Ex Officio members of the 14.

The Beth-El members serving on that committee are:

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Lisa Roday and I will be meeting (via phone) with William Bresnic this Monday (October 26, 2009) for our first session.

 

I think we will be leveraging technology through out this entire process.

 

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This is the email reply we got from Or Atid in response to our letter.

 

October 16, 2009

 

Brian Imburg, President

Temple Beth El

3330 Grove Avenue

Richmond, Virginia 23221

VIA Email and Regular Mail

 

Dear Brian,

Our congregation has spent considerable time discussing your September 11  letter. We feel that it forms a positive basis upon which to begin a dialogue about the future of Temple Beth El and Congregation Or Atid, particularly whether or not the future includes a newly created entity for Conservative Jews in Richmond. I suggest that you and I get together with representatives of United Synagogue, either in person or telephonically, so that we can explore how to best begin our “conversation”.  I think an agreed upon framework for our discussions will be very helpful.

I look forward to talking with you soon and to working with you on this exciting potential venture!

 

Warmly,

 

Lisa Roday

President

Congregation Or Atid

 

Cc: Executive Committee, William Bresnick, JoAnne Tucker-Zemlak

 

William Bresnic and JoAnne Tucker-Zemlak are officials of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. We are going to lean heavily on them for direction and advice as we break trail on our merger talks. Apparently this is not the first time that two congregations have merged, so there is a road map and some lessons learned that we can study before we start the substantive portion of our talks.

 

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This is the letter that Lisa Roday (Congregation Or Atid’s president) sent to her congregation in response to our letter.

 

L’Shanah Tovah!  I wish you and your family a sweet, prosperous and healthy New Year. I apologize for intruding into your weekend celebration, but felt that this couldn’t wait.

 

On the afternoon of Friday, September 11, a letter from Brian Imburg, president of Temple Beth El, was delivered to me by hand at my office.  I immediately scanned the letter electronically and emailed it to the members of the Executive Committee with instructions that the letter be printed, copied and made available to the members of the Board of Governors, who were scheduled to meet on Sunday, September 13.  I then left for Connecticut to attend the weekend long festivities surrounding my niece becoming a Bat Mitzvah.

 

Unbeknownst to me, in addition to the letter being hand delivered to me, it was apparently also sent by mail to a wide group of individuals who included some members of the Board of Governors, some congregational families, and even some non-members of COA. I have been advised that by the time the members of the BOG convened on Sunday morning, several members had received the letter in the mail the day before and that many were upset that TBE had not communicated “through channels”.

 

A discussion among the members of the BOG apparently ensued, the outcome of which was a motion that was passed with 15 members voting for, none voting against and two members abstaining, stating:  

 

"Instead of giving TBE definitive Yes or No regarding merger talks, BOG requests that contact from TBE for all conversations of any sort be directed through COA EC."

 

After that discussion ended, the BOG apparently went into closed session. Just after the meeting concluded, I was called in Connecticut and told generally about the meeting and that the BOG had made certain recommendations during a closed session and that I would be receiving those recommendations later that evening by email.

 

As promised, when I arrived home at midnight that night, there was an email waiting from the secretary of the Executive Committee, and BOG, Merle Kahn, which included the BOG’s recommendation that I address the letter from Temple Beth El on the High Holidays as follows:

 

"We received a letter from TBE. They have approached us about a possible merger. We are not currently in discussion regarding merger with TBE. We invite you to talk to any member of the EC or Board regarding your concerns, questions or comments." (emphasis in original).

 

Given the importance of the issue, I agreed with the BOG’s position that the congregation be informed about the existence of the letter prior to any discussion with TBE beginning.  I also agreed with the BOG’s position that soliciting input from the congregation is critically important to avoid any perception that the BOG is acting without direct consultation from our congregational members.

 

As many of you know, I related pretty much word for word the forgoing recommendation from the BOG yesterday during my State of the Congregation report. I added a phrase about gossip in the aisles of Ukrops based upon a conversation I had there on Thursday evening, when a member of TBE approached me and said, “I hear we’ve been meeting about merging the temples.” This led me to conclude that clearly the rumor mill was active and, as it often is, inaccurate.

 

Apparently certain members of our congregation have interpreted the BOG’s recommendation as indicating that we have no intention of discussing the issue of merger with TBE. To the contrary.  Although I was not present at the BOG meeting on Sunday, based upon my conversations with people who did attend, it was the BOG’s intention to convey to our membership that no discussions were currently taking place and that we wanted feedback from our congregant’s before we started such discussions.  I would have thought the congregation would have been delighted to know that their BOG felt that such an important matter should have congregational input.

 

It would appear, however, that my remarks caused quite a stir yesterday.  I have been advised that certain members are apparently very angry both at my remarks and at me personally.  While I cannot understand such vehemence, I am concerned about what is clearly a misconception.  Today, at a not-too-well-attended second morning of Rosh Hashanah, I attempted to clarify the BOG recommendation to make three things crystal clear: first,  that we have been approached by TBE about a merger.  Second, in deference to first discovering the feelings of our congregants on this important issue, no discussions are currently taking place and third, we are encouraging and seeking feedback from our congregants…the more of you, the better…by email, phone, whatever.  Such feedback should be directed to me, any member of the EC, or any member of the BOG.  My email address is giants83@msn.com, my phone number is 754-3777 at home, and 839-2687 (cell).  Contact information for the members of the EC can be found on our website at www.oratid.org.

 

In the interests of completeness, although this email is already quite lengthy, I think it’s important that the congregation read for itself the complete contents of the letter from TBE.  That will avoid any misunderstandings that might come from the letter being misquoted or paraphrased.

I quote it in its entirety:

 

< This is where they inserted the letter we sent them>

 

Again, I apologize for the length of this communication and for intruding into your weekend.  I regret that the sanctity of the holiday was marred by divisiveness.  If I inadvertently created confusion about the BOG’s intention, I’m sorry. I didn’t foresee that their recommendation might be misconstrued. I look forward to comprehensive, respectful and inclusive input from our membership about TBE’s letter.

 

I look forward to hearing from you, and to seeing all of you next week as we observe Yom Kippur as a congregational family.

 

Lisa Roday

President

Congregation Or Atid

 

 

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As we at Beth-El try to determine our future both in terms of location, programming and liturgy, the ongoing question of “What about Or Atid?” constantly comes to the surface. The board of Temple Beth-El believes that Conservative Judaism would be stronger in Richmond if there were one unified Conservative congregation. Unification does not dictate that either congregation would loose it’s identity to the other, but that there would be a mixing of the two congregations and that the best of both would offered to all congregants. To that end, the board of Temple Beth-El sent this letter to the board of Congregation Or Atid.

 

“September 11, 2009

 

To the members of the Board of Congregation Or Atid,

 

Temple Beth-El sends you our congratulations on the recent sale of your property on Parham Road.  This is an exciting milestone for your congregation as you plan for your future.

 

As you know, for several years there has been talk among members of both of our congregations, as well as other interested members of the community, about the future of Conservative Judaism in Richmond.  The sale of your property necessitates a search for a new spiritual and physical home for Congregation Or Atid.  At Temple Beth-El, we have been wrestling with the issues brought about by operating in two locations, and we recognize the need to consolidate our operations at either Parham Road or Grove Avenue.  As you can well imagine, there are many factors involved in making such a decision, including the nature and benefits of each facility, their locations relative to where our congregants live now and where they will be living in the future, and the financial implications of each.

The Board of Temple Beth-El believes that a merger of the congregations is in the best interest of both, and that such a merger represents the best way to ensure the long-term survival and growth of Conservative Judaism in Richmond.  We believe the time is right for this discussion as both congregations are faced with making difficult, long term, and far-reaching decisions concerning their facilities and the futures of their respective congregations.

 

It is important to understand from the outset that Beth-El’s Board of Directors is approaching this issue as a merger of equals, not the absorption of one congregation by the other.  We believe that only by coming together on equal terms can the possibility of a successful merger be realized.

 

The following items, which are of utmost importance in forming the ritual and practice of any new religious institution, will be determined by a committee made up of an equal number of persons from both congregations and presented to their respective memberships.  By writing this letter, Beth El’s Board has committed to provide people to serve on the joint committee, and to support the final outcome of the committee’s work.  These items include, but are not limited, to the following:

The Name of the Merged Congregation

A new name will be chosen for the merged synagogue.  In addition, sensitivity will be shown with regard to various named portions of our existing temples, recognizing the donors who have contributed to our facilities.

 

Ritual Practice

We realize that each congregation will bring ideas to the table regarding services and styles of worship.

 

Personnel

We expect a review of both congregations’ practices and the creation of a new policy with regard to the hiring of clergy and support staff.

Jewish Education

Both of our congregations take great pride in the work we do in educating our youth, and both recognize the crucial role of formal and informal education for adults as well as children.  Beth-El recognizes the pride and accomplishment of Or Atid’s achieving the Framework Of Excellence certification, and we believe that the merged school should maintain that certification.

 

Lay Leadership

Beth-El is committed to approaching this as a merger of equals.  We are also committed to having the new congregation be one that has truly merged, putting aside such designations as “former Beth-El member” or “former Or Atid member”.  However, the disparity in membership units between the existing congregations raises some issues.  We are sensitive that there may be a concern that, post-merger, the voice of “former Or Atid members” may be lost in the crowd and that Beth-El’s former culture my prevail by simple virtue of “former Beth-El members” having more votes and more representation in lay leadership.  Therefore, in our new By-Laws, we are committed to developing an approach to the elction of officers, members of the Board and committee chairs of the merged congregation that will ensure that, for an agreed-upon period of time, equal numbers of former members of each congregation will have the opportunity to serve in leadership roles.

 

Location.

Temple Beth-El is on the verge of making a decision regarding our two campuses.  If Or Atid’s Board votes to support the creation of a new merged congregation, Beth-El’s Board will suspend our relocation/consolidation deliberations until the leadership of the new congregation is seated.  At that time, the new board can decide the appropriate next steps in this process.

 

We have tried to address those areas that we know concern us, those that we have heard concern Or Atd, and those that common sense tells us would concern any two congregations contemplating such a merger.  This list is certainly not exhaustive, but will be a good starting point.  We hope, however, that the scope of issues we have outlined above demonstrates that Beth-El’s Board is approaching these discussions with no preconceived conditions, and with the intention to enter into open discussions with Or Atid about a merger of equals.

 

We ask that you give this matter sincere and full consideration, and that you let our President, Brian Imburg, know in the coming weeks whether or not there is a desire on the part of Congregation Or Atid to enter into such discussions.  The Board of Temple Beth-El request that you respond to our offer no later than the close of business on Friday, October 9, 2009.  We will postpone our location decision until then, but we will need to proceed on our own at that time if Or Atid has no interest in this discussion.

 

Either way we thank you in advance for your consideration, and with the members of Or Atid all the best in the New Year.  We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

[signed by Brian Imburg]

For the Board of Directors of Temple Beth-El, Brian Imburg”