Season for Change

Season for Change

Dr. Richard Marcus | President, Board of Directors, Jewish Long Beach

It is the end of summer. This takes on different meanings within our different contexts, but for nearly all of us it is a time of transition. August vacations are over. Our kids go back to school. We begin reflecting anew on our work, our livelihoods, our dreams, and how we spend our time. Some of us mourn the impending loss of the warm sun, the beach, and the long days. Some of us eagerly anticipate the coming of the Santa Anas. This year our transition was marked by a once in a lifetime tropical storm and a concurrent earthquake – just to make sure we are aware that change is coming!

In the Jewish world, we share the same transition as everyone else in our community, but the season holds a more profound meaning. Elul 5783! It is a month of repentance. It is a month of reflection. It is a month of tzedakah. We think about those we have wronged, where we have missed the mark in our lives, and where we wish to seek greater fulfillment. Why? Because it will soon be Tishrei 5784! It is the month of creation. It is the month to become inspired. It is the month from which we find our strength to grow into the year ahead. With Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Repentance, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah, we go through soul searching and joy to learn more about ourselves.

This concurrence of calendars and transition is a time of tremendous reward. I will become overwhelmed by a new academic year. My daughter will become overwhelmed by the expectations of her new math class or history class. My wife will become overwhelmed by new responsibilities at work (because those always seem to come all at once in August or January). Yet, we have the tools to process them. We? have the opportunity to look at our time in the sun with a feeling of rejuvenation, our overwhelm with context, and our ambition with aspiration. I reflect on where we are coming from and where we are going and take incredible elation out of all that my family has experienced. Delight or pain, two steps forward or two steps back, stupid decisions or great ones, celebrating new life or mourning new loss, all of them are an opportunity to learn and grow.

Jewish Long Beach embraces the feeling of transition from summer to fall, from Elul to Tishrei. We legally became a merged organization of the Jewish Federation of Greater Long Beach and West Orange County, the Jewish Community Foundation, and the Alpert Jewish Community Center in January 2022, and that was just the beginning of our journey. We have spent over eighteen months cementing who we are, balancing this complementary mission of Building Community. We have surely opined the loss of certain aspects of our independent organizations, but together it finally feels like we have arrived at our shared identity. Like any responsible organization, we will always reflect on where we miss the mark (and let me say, as president, where I miss the mark), but we are starting to grow from our rebirth in new and dynamic ways. If Rosh Hashanah inspires us to do even better as people, so too does it inspire us to do more as an organization.

We are ready. We have ambitious plans for new infrastructure development and new programming. Our Diamond Gala on November 11 will focus on Celebrating 75 years of Building Community (join us!). Our Annual Campaign is in full swing, and our Building for our Future Campaign is well in the making. We have new instruments for grant-making and grant-giving along with new opportunities to meet our goals through more targeted support. Our tools for tzedakah have never been as adroit as they are today at helping people support what they believe in for our community.

I am not completely giving up on summer yet. I have more kayaking to do! But, I am also overjoyed by this period of transition. I am excited to observe and repent, seek and learn, reflect and grow. I hope you will take a moment to gather your loved ones and join me in this joy of the season.