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2007 High Holiday Appeal Speech

Jay Friedman, President
Congregation Shir Hadash
Los Gatos, CA

Shana Tovah,

Let me take a moment to extend a warm welcome to our current members and especially to our newest members joining us for the first time, as well as to our guests including students affiliated with Hillel. L’shana Tovah Tikatevu – May all your names be inscribed and sealed for a joyous new year.

Also, a huge thank you to our volunteers who have worked so hard to make these High Holiday services possible. It’s an amazing amount of work to orchestrate everything that needs to be done, from traffic control & security, to sound system set-up, choir practices, ushering, preparing mailings, and a zillion other tasks. We all appreciate your dedication.

Those of you who regularly attend this Erev Rosh Hashana service know the president gets the honor of all honors, which is giving this High Holiday Appeal. Yes, it is considered an honor – I have the proof. Along with all the other volunteers from this past year who received a high holiday’s honor, I too received a letter from myself offering me my congratulations.

I know some of you wish I would pass on this honor. Some of you are saying to yourselves, “I already give enough”, or maybe you are saying “you are always asking me for money – genug, it’s enough.” And others are saying “times right now are just too tough financially to do more.” Answering these four questions, I feel like its Passover.

I’d like to tell you a story. Last year, my Aunt, Irma Colen passed away. It was just six months after my mother died. Even worse, my aunt’s funeral was on my 50th birthday in Los Angeles. At this juncture in my life with the loss of these two significant people, I needed to reflect deeply about what is of value in my life.

My Aunt Irma was a huge benefactor to the Venice Free Medical Clinic in Los Angeles and the University of Judaism. She raised millions and millions of dollars for them both. She held countless fundraisers for her charities and for her political friends. I saw she cared deeply for her causes.

It was 1968 and I was 12 years old. Aunt Irma was organizing a huge fundraiser for Alan Cranston’s first senatorial campaign in California. That year we were deeply embroiled in the Vietnam War. Civil rights protests were breaking out around the country. Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were both assassinated. Richard Nixon was elected president. Apollo 8 took the first men to ever see the dark side of the moon. And, it was the year I learned my first lessons about fundraising for something you care deeply about.

That year while at a family event at Aunt Irma’s home, there was a buzz of activity about the upcoming fundraiser she was organizing and asked if I could help. Sure, I told her but empathetically added, “I could never ask people to donate money.” She immediately put me to work on one of the most important campaign tasks... sharpening pencils imprinted with “Alan Cranston for Senator”.

After what seemed to be thousands of pencils to be sharpened, then came the lecture. Aunt Irma said that asking and giving were just two sides of the same coin. If you truly believe in the values of the cause, then asking for a donation is really about educating others in what those values are. People will give because the values of a cause align with their own personal values. Those who already give understand what those values are; they just need to be reminded occasionally. Aunt Irma asked me that if there is a cause I believe in deeply, then if I don’t ask, who else will?? Finally she told me to get back to work since she needed the pencils so donors could fill out their pledge cards!!!!!!!!!!!

This is where I want to begin. Each of us values Shir Hadash for different reasons. Like me, many of you probably initially joined to give your children a Jewish education. You may also have been looking for something for yourselves, such as the solace you may gain from worship. Or maybe you were interested in the study of Torah, Jewish culture and values. Maybe you joined to forge a stronger connection with the Jewish community, or to find new friendships or maybe to find a place that welcomes all types of families. Others joined Shir Hadash to express the voice within us urging us to fulfill the prophetic mandate “to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and heal the sick.”

And if you are like so many of our members, after awhile you found that Shir Hadash has so much more to offer than what you were initially seeking.

Where else can your tax deductible contributions pay you back dividends, dividends that are immeasurable in enriching your own lives – through worship, study, and connectedness. We also have an amazing spirit in giving back to the community through social action and social justice. A couple of months ago, I started tallying how many ways each of us earn dividends as members of Shir Hadash, both receiving from and giving to the community. I’m up to 122 ways and I know I’ve missed many. I’m hoping to come up with 613, the same number as there are mitzvoth, before the end of my term. Take a look at the flyer you’ll receive in the mail and suggest others your family has received to help me make my goal.

I’d like to share with you a few personal dividends I’ve gained and others have received.

Last summer, not long after my Aunt had passed away, my son Michael had major surgery. It required him to be in the hospital for five days. Every day, at least one of our clergy came by to checked on him, which greatly raised his spirits. I see them do the same thing hundreds of times each year for others, to give people comfort, to cheer them up, and to offer prayer.

On another occasion a few years ago, while living here, I worried that my mother in LA could no longer care for my father at home. The clergy connected me with Jewish Family Services in Los Angeles, to do a home visit and assess their situation.

Last year, after a debilitating illness, my mother told the doctors she just wanted to die. Rabbi Aron helped me gain understanding of the Jewish point of view toward life support.

As a family with special needs children, we’ve connected with other Jewish families at Shir Hadash, and we’ve shared our experiences through our common Jewish bond.

But my family is not the only one to receive dividends.

Sometimes it’s just the simple things. Recently, the clergy helped find a home for an elderly parent’s dog that she cared for deeply but which she could no longer care for herself.

As a congregation in this community, we organize numerous charitable events such as our Health Fair that served over 5,000 individuals, and serving meals at the Armory for the homeless, or cooking for our shut-ins. Our social justice committee is pursuing better health care solutions through political action for those least able to obtain insurance.

After a recent suicide of a Los Gatos High School student this summer, our clergy spent time with several of his Jewish friends who came to services looking for comfort and then helped them through this most difficult experience.

A few months ago, I asked Rabbi Aron to quantify the pastoral care they give. In one month alone, they responded to 68 illnesses, consoled 5 families after recent deaths, and discussed lifecycle issues with 51 other families. They provide this care 24/7.

Take a moment, think about the dividends your own family has already received from Shir Hadash and about those dividends you’ll likely receive in years to come, or for those we offer as a charitable institution to the community. When you get home, compare them to the 122 I listed.

Our challenge is that it takes money to deliver many of these dividends.

This year, our operating budget for Shir Hadash is $1.5 million. This reflects a modest 1.6% increase over last year, well below inflation. Over 80% of our expenses pay for our teachers, our clergy, and our small staff. Only 60% of our budget is funded by our fair share dues. To continue delivering dividends to our members and our community, we need the financial resources to support our activities and programs that we value so much. Indeed, it has been your generous responses to this Annual Appeal at the time of the High Holy Days that helps fill that gap in our budget. We are not alone in this quandary. Virtually every synagogue in this country encounters struggles with this gap.

Last year $30,000 was raised from our High Holy Day appeal. This year we ask for a modest family gift of $108, with the goal of raising $36,000. Of course, some of our less financially able congregants will not be able to contribute this much, and that’s just fine, because those who are more fortunate inevitably step forward and donate to cover the share of those who cannot. Through your collective generosity, we can fill the gap.

So, I urge you to support the dynamic and caring community of Shir Hadash. We offer comfort to the bereaved, support for the ill, an opportunity for the young, education for the curious, charity for the needy, and social justice for us all.

I know my Aunt’s teachings about both sides of the coin have resulted in many good deeds. I offer you one side of the coin in stating the values of Shir Hadash. I hope that you will offer the other side of the coin as you see Shir Hadash’s values aligning with your own and in the measure of the dividends you gain, as well as for the recognition of the good work Shir Hadash does in the community. When you receive your pledge card in the mail, don’t forget to look at those 122 dividends, then find a sharpened pencil, and generously complete your pledge.

We hope to establish a legacy so that years from now our children – and their children – will remain connected in a meaningful way with our faith, to live jewishly, and to build a better world, one blessed with peace and good deeds. That my friends, is the promise of this High Holiday season.

L’Shana Tova Tekvatenu – may you and your family be inscribed for a happy, healthy new year.