Rabbi Jordan's Annual Meeting Remarks

Erev tov.  Good evening.  It is so nice to see everyone here this evening, both here in the sanctuary and on Zoom, for this annual meeting of Congregation Dor Tamid.

          This week, we read the combined Torah portions of parshat behar and parshat behukotai, where finish the book of Leviticus and find Moses behar, on the mountaintop.  And it is on the mountaintops that we have the ability to gain perspective.  In the Torah, Moses ascends the mountain to hear God’s teachings, it is also where he will ascend to look out into the promised land before he hands off the leadership of the people to Joshua.  It is among the mountains, behar, that David finds comfort, where he can exclaim, esah einai el he-harim mei-ayin yavo ezri, ezri me-im Adonai oseh shamayim v’aretz.  I lift up my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come.  My help comes from God, the maker of heaven and earth.  Behar, and it is on the mountain that we stand today as we finish this year and look forward to the next.  For it is up on the peak of the mountain, behar, that we have the ability to look to that which came before and that which is yet to come.

And on the mountaintop is truly the perfect metaphor for our annual meeting each year.  For it is from this lofty position that we can look around and gain needed perspective, on the year that was, and what is to come.

This has been a truly remarkable year as we celebrated the chai, the 18^th anniversary of our community with our Chai for Chai program.  Through these 18 events, that ranged from services and holy day observances, to the gala fundraiser, from educational opportunities about our congregation’s history to our Second Annual Cares Day, this program of events was a wonderful opportunity to connect with CDT and, as you can see by the hundreds of ribbons which tied on to the Chai to my left by those who participated all year, the number of engagements during this even was phenomenal.  So, for one last time, happy 18^th birthday CDT. 

This year also included a number of special worship opportunities.  First and foremost, we returned to our own sanctuary to celebrate the High Holy Days for the first time since before the pandemic.  It was truly lovely being able to return to our building, being accompanied by our High Holy Day band, our adult choir, which hadn’t sung together since 2019, and our brand new youth choir, Kol Sasson, who provided a wonderful addition to our worship experience, not only on the High Holy Days, but at other points throughout the year.

Shabbat services were enriched by participation from students at different points during the year, by the, always popular, musical shabbatot, and by different speakers throughout the year, including members of our Sisterhood and our member Hershel Greenblat, who shared his story as a survivor of the Holocaust.

Our holiday observances throughout the year were definitely memorable as well.  From a packed house at our annual Chanukah party, accompanied by wonderful music from Mike and the return of the “gelt drop” by the Johns Creek Fire Department to the “Golden Graggers” on Purim, we truly celebrated our ritual high points this year.  And to top it off, on the last holy day we celebrated, 109 people joined together at the Standard Club for a wonderful second seder. 

This year saw a reimagining of our religious school program.  We began a new Judaics curriculum, designed in a spiral so that the entire school was focused, in ways that were appropriate to their age and grade level, on the same topic.  These topics, which included the study of Torah and Tanach stories and lessons, Jewish values, and holidays, were re-enforced during our weekly t’filah and shirah, our service and song session, that was led by Mike and me.  Our Hebrew curriculum was updated as well and, I am proud to say, that we saw an extraordinary amount of learning and progress.  If you joined us for t’filah and shirah, you could attest to the beauty that is 100 young people singing together in Hebrew.  We also saw our 9^th and 10^th grade classes move to Wednesday nights this year accompanied by CDTTY pizza dinners, which help re-energize and grow our youth group.  We are hoping to grow on this trend next year and also expand JDTYY and our informal youth offerings for younger kids as well.  All of this was made possible because of the amazing dedication of our Vice President of Education, President-Elect, and Interim Religious School Coordinator, Rachel Allen.  Rachel, it has been an amazing opportunity to work with you this year and, as I have heard from parents, students, and teachers, our school was run phenomenally this year.  Please join me in thanking Rachel.

Speaking of religious school, many of you, I am sure, are wondering what will happen next.  Led by Rachel, we assembled a phenomenal search committee as we began our search for a new Director of Jewish Life and Learning.  This new person will take on the combined roles of Religious School principal, adult education coordinator, and program director.  While we did not find our permanent person yet, I am confident that, as we continue looking, we will find the right person who will help CDT grow and succeed.  I want to thank those who served, and will continue to serve on this committee: Leslie Fox, Janet Mann, Denise Deitchman, Landy Gonzalez, David Bloom, Tyler Chenault, and our teen representative, Olivia Fishman.  At the same time, we are currently working on our plans and programs for next year and I am happy to say that we already have thirty percent of our projected students enrolled for next year.  If you have not yet enrolled your students, please make sure to do so as soon as possible so that we can properly plan for the first day of our 2023-2024 school year which will be on August 20.    

As we conclude this fiscal year, I am approaching my sixth anniversary serving as the rabbi of Congregation Dor Tamid.  And looking down from the mountaintop, not only at the last year, but the last six, makes me smile.  We have truly come a long way and done some great things.  And it has taken many people’s time, energy, creativity, and dedication to make everything we do possible.  We are truly in a wonderful place as a community.  This year, we began our Sanctuary Circle program where members had the option of giving at levels higher than the standard membership commitment.  This program was designed to give those who were the able the opportunity to give at a higher level in order to ensure that all of the members of our community would be able to join CDT regardless of their ability to pay at a certain level.  Furthermore, I have been overjoyed at the amount of volunteering I have seen this year from so many people.  So many people stepped up and helped in so many ways this year in Religious School, with onegs, events, programs, and fundraisers.  It was truly a wonderful thing to see so many people committed to making our community as strong as it can be.  From all standpoints, volunteer engagement, event and service participation, educationally, and financially, I truly believe that we are stronger than we have been at any point in my tenure as your senior rabbi and I truly believe that we will only grow from here. 

I know that Leslie will spend some time thanking our board members and committee chairs, and I do echo her gratitude.  But I also want to make sure she gets thanked for all of the hard work she puts into making CDT as great as it can be.  Leslie, it has been a fantastic experience working with you over the past three years.  From countless Zoom meetings and phone calls during the height of the pandemic to the many hours we have spent together in meetings in my office and with the board and committees, attending programs and worshiping in services, I truly feel like I had a partner and a friend.  We have truly done some amazing things to grow our community, socially, spiritually, and fiscally.  I know that we won’t be spending as much time together anymore, but I will still look forward to your continued presence this year on the board, your attendance at Torah study and your enthusiastic “woos” during services.  Our community would not be where it is today without your dedication, your commitment, and your leaders.  I would like everyone to please join me in thanking Leslie Fox.

Also, I want to take a moment and thank our staff.  Our executive director, Stacey Jahanfar, Cantorial Soloist, Mike Zuspan, and communication coordinator, Ginny Allen, as well as all of our teachers and b’nai mitzvah tutors, all put in so much time and effort behind the scenes.  They all do such a wonderful job each day serving our community.  Please join me in thanking them as well.

Serving as the rabbi of Congregation Dor Tamid is truly a blessing.  I have been granted to extraordinary privilege of being able to serve this community and to be connected to each of your families.  Whether at the highest points- weddings, b’nai mitzvah, brit milah and baby namings- or at the lowest points- sitting with you at the bedside in the hospital or walking through the valley of the shadow with you- and everywhere in between, I truly love being able to call myself the rabbi of such an amazing community.  And I want to thank each of you as well.  During the upcoming year, I have been granted by you, my CDT family, with the gift of time.  From mid-December through January, I will be away on sabbatical.  While I will take more time to discuss this with you as the sabbatical becomes nearer, this will be an opportunity for me to expand my scholarship, re-energize my rabbinate, and bring back new ideas, services, and programs to the community.  I want to thank you ahead of time for this opportunity and I know, with the amazing staff and lay leadership we have, that our community will be in good hands while I am away. 

We are on the mountain, looking out to the future, and I have to say, the future looks bright.  Sure, there will be some bumps along the way, but together, we will journey together to a stronger place: stronger financially, stronger programmatically, and most importantly, stronger in our relationships with one another.  At the conclusion of our Torah reading this week, as we conclude the books of Leviticus, it is customary to chant the words, hazak, hazak, v’nitchazek.  Be strong, be strong, and let us strengthen one another.  As we come down from the mountaintop into the next year together, we pray that God will help us go from strength to strength and that together, we will strengthen each other and strengthen our Congregation Dor Tamid.  Amen.