RABBI’S REPORT
SUBMITTED BY: RABBI ADAM F. MILLER One Family, Many Connections Four years ago, my rabbinate changed when I heard Dr. Ron Wolfson teach from his book Relational Judaism. Dr. Wolfson opened my eyes to realize that synagogues needed to move away from the transactional model that developed post-World War II. Instead, congregations should focus on the importance of the relationships that exist between individual members, as well as relationships with clergy, God, Torah, Israel, Jewish identity, and the community as a whole. Inspired by Dr. Wolfson, I returned to Naples and began sharing his ideas with our congregation – spawning the One Family initiative. This year we built on our foundation of relational Judaism. Rebranding Temple Shalom, “One Family, Many Connections,” we unveiled our exciting new logo. Most significantly, we ended our status as a “dues-based” congregation. Working as a team, our senior staff and leadership developed “L’Shalom” – our voluntary pledge system. With this new model, we place the emphasis on the importance of everyone’s relationship with Temple Shalom and our mission. We believe in the value of engaging the Jewish community, while transforming today’s youth into tomorrow’s mensches. We invite members to fulfill that mission with meaningful gifts from the heart. Investing in our congregation, we strengthen relationships with one another and brighten Temple Shalom’s future. As this transformation takes place, we remain committed to strengthening all relationships at Temple Shalom. Under the guidance of Dr. Anna Salomon, our adult education and Religious School thrived this year. The Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning classes are overflowing with students, including our first year of the core class curriculum. Religious School evolved with a Hebrew choice program, and joined a URJ Community of Practice to further enhance our ability to engage youth and their families. Cantor Azu added new musical Shabbat services and touched our souls with the remarkable Bimah to Broadway Encore. Member engagement efforts continue to grow with new programming, including a revamped Shabbat greeter program. 2016-2017 also demonstrated the power of our relationship with the surrounding community. After vandals damaged our Temple sign, we asked our interfaith partners and fellow citizens of Collier County to stand with us in solidarity against acts of hate. I remain in awe of what we accomplished – with nearly 1500(!) at Temple Shalom for a Shabbat of Solidarity – cars parked half a mile on each side up and down Pine Ridge. I hear regularly from members and non-members alike about how much that night touched them – with the message, “There is no us and them, only us.” We unified our community and demonstrated our role as leaders in Collier County. As we enter my 8th year at Temple Shalom, I am proud of how far we have come in my tenure. We reached this point through the sacred partnership that exists between our lay leadership and staff team. I remain grateful for the leadership shown by our presidents over that period – Don Shapiro, Yale Freeman, Neil Shnider, and now Debbie Zvibleman – who embraced leading our congregation through the transformation of L’Shalom. While we have come far, I am even more excited by the potential that we for the future. I feel blessed to be the rabbi of Temple Shalom – and look forward to another year ahead full of blessing for our community.
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