Summary of March 2021 Board Minutes

March 11, 2021 Meeting Minutes

Consent Agenda presented by Nikki Morris Presented and Approved.

1. Approval of February board meeting minutes from Terry Hirshorn
2. Community Committee report from Eileen Dwell: Volunteers stuffed and delivered to Center City members Mishloach Manot bags, which included recipes for  a Sephardic Purim cooking and Ashkenazi Hamentashen. The Committee hosted a zoom coffee with each of the rabbinical candidates’ spouses.  The committee also is planning an inter-generational reading program to launch in May, which will pair each of 6 boys and girls (ages 8-10) with a senior congregant to read them a book of interest. The listeners will be provided with questions that should stimulate conversation.
3. Tikkun Olam Committee report from Rosalie Kurz: Rebecca Krasner  and Rosalie will meet with people from Mazon to see if we can work with them.  We will be dropping dinners to Bethesda Project for them to distribute to their homeless clients. Later this year we will have a speaker about sustaining food.  The Anti-racist reading group continues.
4. Governance Committee report from Deena Kobell: The Governance Committee has, in accordance to the bi-laws and with the approval of the Board President, named a nominating committee to draft a slate of candidates for the June Annual Meeting.  Deena Kobell and Greg Kanter will Co-Chair.  The other members are Arlene Fickler, Ilana Trachtman, Jennifer Weiner and Sherri Cohen.
5. Ritual Committee report by Larry Kessler: To increase the pool of Zoom Torah readers, the Rabbis will determine the weekly Torah portions to be read more in advance so there is more time to prepare. Then we will actively seek new readers of Torah through e-Cong and Shabbat announcements.  We are preparing for High Holidays, and assuming we will be in the sanctuary.  We plan to hire a prayer leader for the High Holidays.
6. Youth & Family Committee report by Anne Albert: Rabbi Max organized a very successful Mishloach Manot project for Purim. Neziner will confirm seven students from Hebrew High on-line with components on May 13 and May 15, when students will present their projects.
7. Building Committee report from Michael Radbill: After interviewing five candidates, Hugh Boyd was chosen as the designer for the new kitchen. Since Michael Radbill moved permanently to the Poconos in mid-February, kitchen committee member Bob Fleishman agreed to oversee this project.  The Chimney repair was completed in December, 2020.  A new, larger tallit closet is being built behind the bimah, where the old church organ and prayer books were stored. The organ, left from previous resident church, was removed. We thank Bruce Robins for suggesting this and helping to make it a reality.  It should be ready by the fall.  We are in the Proposal Stage of repairing the iron work on the 18th street ramp.
8. Sisterhood Committee report from Susan Zeelander: Cara Levinson spoke to Sisterhood about visioning and the members were impressed and thought the process could also be productive for Sisterhood.  Sisterhood has been contributing food and clothing to the larger Philadelphia community, much under the leadership of Eileen Dwell.

Discussion items presented by Nikki Morris

1. Executive Director’s report from Rebecca Slavin-Phillips: Rebecca has taken courses at conferences, as well as courses for an advanced degree in non-profit management. The membership video is looking great. We have hired a back-up person in technology for David Haas. We got a major donation to fix up the Sanctuary. The Kitchen project is moving along. We tested the paint, but found no lead which is good news.  We have chosen a contractor.
2. Clergy Report by Rabbi Annie: We continue to work with POWER to facilitate community engagement. Some members are learning how to expedite community engagement and justice, through an on-line course. We now want to formally join the organization. We also recommend that we hire someone to lead the High Holiday services, aside from the two regular rabbis. We will have a “back to shul taskforce” led by Larry Kessler, to consider what we need to do and when.
3. Membership report from Sharon Greis: We are in the final stages of preparing the membership video. The process of editing has also been an educational experience. We have a new member Jill Freeman who will join this committee or the Community Engagement Committee. We also picked-up Cara’s suggestion of a current member to act as a buddy to new members.
4. Development report from Suzanne Litke: Non-Annual Giving to date includes completed and open pledges giving us significant total contributions. Annual Giving is also on track. The grand total of unrestricted gifts is quite significant!  Rabbi Abe is grateful for all the committee, staff, and membership work that made this possible.
5. Finance Committee report from Brian Bushee: Last year we had reserves that have since been increased, both in cash and investments, and it should easily carry us through the rest of this fiscal year. We vote on a new budget in June at our Annual Meeting; we won’t increase fees for schools, but plan to give the teachers a raise, which would have little effect on the total budget.
6. Visioning update from Cara Levinson & Gary Bramnick:  What is visioning? Start with engagement to learn how we would like to see the synagogue in the future, and how can we get there. Many synagogues use consultants (e.g.: USCJ). We are following what consultants do, without hiring them. Now after three community discussions, over 100 congregants have participated in the process. Presentations and feedback from Sisterhood, youth groups, and other congregant constituencies have added to the data. The committee will digest all the data in April and bring a summary to the board in May.  We noted that when asked, many people will accept a volunteer activity assignment, so we should be proactive in recruiting volunteers for committees. The Board of Advisors, consisting of past presidents, were asked to create a list of people who would be good to ask to volunteer.
7. Marketing Committee report from Bonnie Goldberg: Her report gave us statistics about marketing, which proved that Yes, we are engaged.  Now we have to think about how we can take advantage of the good things of pandemic, as we slowly roll back to the new normal.
8. Keshet report from Gary Bramnick: How can we make sure that LGBTQ members are involved in the synagogue life? We may need more formalized support and have the clergy sign on. We should write letters to our senators. We, as a religious institution, should actively support the Equality Act.
9. Rabbi Search Committee report from Ivy Weingram: This was covered in an email letter from co-Chairs Ivy Weingram and Marianne Ruby Emmet to the congregation on March 17.
10. President’s report from Nikki Morris: Rebecca Bushee was just amazing in her presentation at Shabbat services. Rabbi Max did a great job for the Purim fund-raiser.  For the Kitchen, after speaking with our selected architect and contractor, we may have to raise a little more money. We are proud of congregation’s support of all the rabbinical candidates. Eileen has contacted wives of all the candidates for coffee via Zoom to make them feel welcomed and comfortable with our congregation.