Koren's Korner: May 2011

REMARKS TO THE TEMPLE EMANUEL BOARD OF TRUSTEES

ANNUAL MEETING – MAY 22, 2011

RABBI ANDY KOREN

When we read Torah, we use a “yad.” A “yad” is just one hand. This year, our Religious School theme was “Yad b'Yad” - Hand In Hand. Togetherness. Temple Emanuel is a congregation that exemplifies working together, connecting with others, providing a critical mass. Hand In Hand, we are a community.

Our Sunday Religious School had 137 students this year. Our classrooms were alive on Sunday mornings, but also on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons when dozens of our 4^th through 6^th graders attended Hebrew School. In a world so dependent on virtual connections, they come to Temple for person-to-person learning. And while they may not hold hands – that's a lot to ask from kids nowadays – they do partner up to learn with one another and from one another. Who else are their partners? Thankfully, we have a long list of people to thank for making our education programs such a success. Our amazing teachers, our dedicated staff here at Temple, our parents and Temple leaders. But I would be remiss if I did not mention the dozens of 9^th through 12^th graders – our Madrichim – who work here on Sundays and serve as role models. A 2^nd grader at Temple can look out and see what he or she will be doing Jewishly 10 years down the road. “Yad b'Yad” is the Jewish way of saying “it takes a village.”

Let's keep this in mind as I highlight what Temple's education programs have provided since this past September:

I want to start with Temple's youngest learners. Last year, Louise Van Schaack began in her role as Director of Temple's Early Childhood Engagement Center. Together – Yad b'Yad – with Barri Maxwell and the Early Childhood Engagement Committee, they have offered unprecedented programs and opportunities for families with children too young to attend preschool, already in preschool, or even beyond the preschool years. Yes, we have an Early Childhood preschool – it is thriving and growing. One of my favorites times each week is doing a festive Kabbalat Shabbat with the kids and their parents, singing and dancing, lighting the candles, and grooving to “Shabbat is here!” But there is so much more: from summer concerts, to parent education, to a playgroup called Mazel Tots. Louise and her team, especially teachers Rachel Shyloski and Emily Weingarten Rex deserve a big round of applause.
One other quick note related to Early Childhood Engagement and Hand In Hand. The growth of our weekday preschool has also meant a significant increase in the number of our families who send their preschoolers to Sunday school. In the past, our Sunday morning preK had at most a half-dozen students. This year, we have 12.
On Sundays and during the week, we continue to provide a quality experience for our grade-school learners. A few examples: our 2^nd grade does a play each year. The topic of their class is stories from the 5 Books of Moses. This year, their play focused on the Tower of Babel. Mitchel Sommers should know that there are some great upcoming actors in our midst. Our 3^rd graders who study Biblical prophets decorated our classroom hall with banners dedicated to the leaders and heroes of ancient Israel, among them Samson, Deborah, and Esther. Our 5^th graders hosted guests from the American Hebrew Academy during a lesson examining the similarities and differences between Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Jews. And our Junior Youth Group, headed by Vanessa and Lance Oldham provided fun monthly outings for many of our grade-school students.
My own children are in the 7^th and 8^th Grades. They have grown up at Temple Emanuel and I am so proud of what we have offered for them and their peers this year. We started the year with a Whitewater Rafting trip, provided social action opportunities throughout the year, studied the Holocaust and took a two-day trip to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC, and even spent a weekend at a NFTY retreat in Columbia, SC.
These things alone are impressive. However, our Middle School features a few programs unique to Temple Emanuel and critical for the growth of our youth into well-rounded Jewish adults. For the fourth straight year, we ran the Sacred Choices program for our eighth graders. This exploration of Adolescent Relationships and Sexual Ethics was expertly facilitated by Drs. Sheryl Siar and Deb Schoenhoff with assistance from other teachers. Sacred Choices for eighth grade boys and girls is a logical continuation of the outstanding Rosh Hodesh program we've offered for many years now for our 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade girls.
In addition to providing special programs for our early adolescent girls, we have continued to provide enrichment programs for middle school boys. We are one of the few congregations that does this. Earlier this spring, Moving Traditions, the organization that created the Rosh Hodesh:It's A Girl Thing curriculum announced that they were launching a new curriculum for boys. We applied for and were accepted as one of the launch sites for this program. Beginning next fall, we will open a new chapter in this area and I am most proud of the work that our congregation and school have done to be recognized in this fashion.
Moving on to high school – there is so much that we do, and do well, with our high school students. And yet, we seek to do even more, and to do it better. I am most grateful for the work of Dr. Deb Schoenhoff who has chaired our High School Task Force this past year. Thanks to the work of this task force, we will be bringing on two Youth Directors next year. Jessie Schlossberg – perhaps better known as Jessie Rosen Grandon – grew up in this congregation. She and her husband Andy will be taking on this critical profile in our community and we are all looking forward to working Hand In Hand with them.
This past year, we returned to New Orleans for the 3^rd straight year, this time traveling with Temple Emanuel of Winston-Salem. Our group numbered 23, including 17 teens, most from our congregation. As in past years, we rebuilt homes. Following the BP oil spill, we also dedicated a day to restoring sensitive wetlands. We will be returning to New Orleans this coming October to continue our work there. I am grateful to our chaperones and all of our partners for making this project possible. Temple Emanuel received a prestigious Fain Award our work in New Orleans. This award recognized our commitment to the idea of Yad B'Yad – specifically, working hand-in-hand with teens to make the world a better place.
This year we also returned to Washington with our high school students to learn about key public policy issues and to lobby on Capitol Hill. This past February, 11 Temple teens attended the L'Taken Social Justice Seminar hosted by the Reform Movement's Religious Action Center. We plan to do this trip again, partnering with Temple Emanuel in Winston-Salem and Beth David next January.
One last note about High School. Thanks to Drs. Sheryl Siar and Deb Schoenhoff, as well as other teachers, we held a session entitled Friends Don't Let Friends Die Drunk, highlighting the problems of binge drinking among teens and college students. I cannot say enough about how important this session for teens and parents was. We plan on offering similar workshops on critical issues in the coming year.
What else does Yad B'Yad mean? It means that we can be proud of our work providing critical resources for our kids with special needs, working to make sure that no Jewish kid gets left behind.
It also means that there are a number of our rising 9^th Graders who will be attending the American Hebrew Academy next year. Similar to last year, a large group of Temple 8^th Graders were recognized by AHA's Honor Society. Two were recipients of AHA's Honor Society Scholarship. And, from what I understand, four (and perhaps five) of next year's 9^th Grade class at AHA will be from Temple. They will join a sizable contingent of Temple youth who already call AHA their Alma Mater.
Yad B'Yad also means that our youth have enriching Jewish experiences during the summer. Camps Coleman and Judaea continue to be the summer Jewish homes of a good number of our kids. The opening of the Reform Movement's newest Camp – the 6 Points Sports Academy – here in Greensboro on AHA's campus has really been a game-changer. This summer, they are expecting 450 campers total during their 3 summer sessions. Please see me at any time for more information about any of the camps our kids attend. Personally, I am looking forward to my daughter returning to Camp Coleman for her 8^th summer there. I am also excited about being on faculty at the 6 Points Sports Academy again this summer.

In past years, I have shown a video at this point in my presentation. I am not going to do that today but I do want to encourage you to come to the Closing Assembly for our Religious School which will take place in the Main Sanctuary immediately following this meeting where you can see a short video that summarizes all that I have talked about and more.

There is one program, new to our community, that will not be on that video. By now, most of you have heard of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School. For decades, Melton has stayed away from smaller communities. Thanks to a grant from the Covenant Foundation, we were able to launch a Melton program here in Greensboro. This is a joint venture – Yad B'Yad – between Temple Emanuel and Beth David. This past year was our first year and we did not know what to expect. Would there be interest at all? We thought we would be lucky if we got 20 or so students. The amazing thing is that we had nearly 50 students studying Melton with Rabbis Guttman and Havivi this year. We are looking to expand next year, offering Melton's Core Courses as well as a program for parents with young children called Foundations of Jewish Living. If you are interested in Melton, please speak with me. More importantly, plan on being at the Greensboro Jewish community's celebration of Shavu'ot on Tuesday night, June 7^th at Beth David beginning at 7 PM. The first part of the evening will feature two Melton classes. There truly is nothing better than experiencing this yourself. As exciting as it is to report on youth education, I cannot stress enough the value of adult continuing education and I encourage you to consider become a Melton student this coming year.

Yad B'Yad – it truly does take a village. None of what I spoke of today would be possible without tons of hard work from a long list of people. This morning, special thank-yous go out to:

The Temple Emanuel Education Committee, the volunteers and parents who have given so much to make everything work so well. Thank you to everyone who brought snack, organized programs, and did what needed to be done to make things run smoothly. Sincerest thanks go to Amy Epstein, who as chair of Temple's Education Committee has done so much in such a short period of time. I look forward to continuing our work this year, Yad B'Yad.

Thanks to our teachers, madrichim, b’nei mitzvah tutors, specialists in art, music, and library, adult education instructors, and youth advisers for sharing their many talents with our community.

Thanks to the Temple Brotherhood, especially for helping us start the year in grand fashion with a great lunch, for another great Purim carnival, and for hosting this afternoon's end-of-the year picnic. Thanks to the Sisterhood for their ongoing support.

A special thanks to my assistant Mary Lou Robison who does everything to make my complicated days simpler and all of our education programs run so smoothly.

Thanks to Temple's maintenance crew for taking care of the essentials that make us look good.

Temple's warmth and heimish feeling is due in large part to the love and care of our incredible administrative staff led by our Executive Director Laura Bonasia. Many thanks to her, Brenda, Amanda, Natasha, and Jessie.

For eight years now, it has been my privilege to serve as one of your Rabbis. I am so thankful that I will be part of this Temple for the next 5 years. One of the reasons is that I get to serve God and this holy community Yad B'Yad – together – with one of my own teachers. Earlier this week, Rabbi Guttman left me a few papers in my office in-box. Staring at me was an essay I had written in 1988 as I was applying to Rabbinic school. I guess that I sent him a copy way back when and he held onto it ever since. In that essay, I devoted a whole section to how Fred influenced me when I was his student during the summer of 1984. What does it say of our relationship that he had that on file for the past 23 years? I will say this - every day I count myself lucky to work with you. My gratitude for you friendship, leadership, guidance, direction, and care, not just to my family and me, but to our entire community, has no limits.

And to our Temple family, Michal, Avishai, and Shiri, join me in thanking each of you for all of the blessings that you have shared with us. This past year was truly amazing and we are so grateful for the warmth and help given by so many as Shiri, our youngest, was called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah this past November. Thank you for all that you have done. We are so lucky to call Greensboro and Temple Emanuel home.

Let's conclude with the blessing for Torah study: Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu la'asok b'divrei Torah.

Thank You God for making Torah study the true occupation of our people and for guiding us to bring Torah and the love of Judaism into our communities and our homes. AMEN

Koren's Korner

Friday, May 27, 2011

Temple Emanuel Greensboro Religious School video

Thursday, May 26, 2011

TE Education - Annual Report 2011