Summary of May 2021 Board Minutes

BZBI Board Minutes for Blog

May 13, 2021 meeting, 7:00 pm

Community Committee report from Eileen Dwell:  We launched an inter-generational reading program, chaired by Liza Hillel and Heidi George, whom you should contact if interested in joining. A survey for the BZBI Community has been developed to get input from congregants for developing curated small groups get-togethers that represent the diverse community of BZBI.  Carmie Levine and Gwen Freedman are co-chairing this Mispachot effort.  A Committee of three, Gail Kroop, Jill Freemen and Eileen Dwell are making calls to BZBI Families who experience a death, illness, birth of a child or other significant event in which we can be of some support.  If you are aware of someone who is ill please reach out to Rebecca Krasner, Eileen or Phyllis Kramer.  We will have another virtual Volunteer Appreciation Day on the Thursday on Chanukah, with the theme that volunteers light the way and brighten the BZBI Community.

Ritual Committee report from Larry Kessler: We have offered a contract to Eitan Kantor to lead High Holiday services.

Marketing Committee report from Bonnie Goldberg : The year in review content for the HH in synagogue distribution is in the development stages.

Membership Committee report from Sharon Greis: The Membership committee has met and developed a guide for establishing the Buddy system to welcome & support new members as they join BZBI. The buddy will maintain contact with the new member throughout the year in various ways of inclusion and invitation to synagogue activities, Shabbat observance, Rabbis’ classes, special events and holiday celebrations.

Adult Programming Committee from Ivy Weingram: We continue to offer varied adult programing through the year. Check your weekly Shabbat announcements or the BZBI website to learn about future events.

Tikkun Olam Committee from Rosalie Kurz: The meeting of the Anti-racism book club will be at the end of June when we discuss Voter Suppression in US Elections – an anthology of essays about elections, including one by Stacey Abrams.

Discussion items presented by Nikki Morris

Clergy report from Rabbi Abe: We are working on the plans for a return to synagogue for all services, with zoom access as well. There will be a zoom screen in sanctuary, with closed captions.  Our plans appear to be halachah approved, e.g. screen sharing. Our hybrid services will be a work in progress over the summer as we try to meet the needs of everyone as best we can.

Executive Director’s report from Rebecca Slavin-Phillips: Membership renewals will go out at the end of May, coinciding with the membership video.  Kitchen renovations have begun; and should be completed by the HH.  The Tallis closet plans have been approved and should also be completed by HH.  The calendar for next year is on-line.

Development report from Suzanne Litke:  Our AG and other contributions have been generous during this strange year, though they represent only 37% of our congregants. We will work to reach 50% participation through letters and calls, as outside funders weigh participation when considering grant requests.

J Proud report from Eileen Dwell: We are working to become a member of J Proud, a sub-group of Keshet, in which we were involved some years ago.  We will gather work that we did for Keshet  in 2016 to help us in our application.  Galia Godel from Jewish family services will help us with the process.  This initiative is part of a larger picture of inclusion of all people.  We do have a pride Shabbat in June. We want to bring our teens into this discussion as well, so Rachel Beck will also be involved.

Youth & Family Committee report from Anne Albert: We are going to change our pedagogical strategy in Neziner this year.  Students will still be in age-related classes, but will move to different groups for Hebrew learning, based on skill. Registration will be mailed soon.

Rachel Beck, our Teen Program Coordinator, wants to expand our USY group to be city wide.  She has contacted many area synagogues and they are all excited about it.  We think this will help engage our teens in this program, post-pandemic.

We are entertaining a proposal to participate in a national program to train Jewish educators in Makom techniques (open ended approach to Jewish texts, encouraging student questions), of progressive student-centered learning.

Visioning Update from Cara Levinson and Gary Bramnick: The overarching BZBI Vision statement was presented: “Members are uplifted spiritually, connected socially, engaged intellectually, empowered as members and leaders, and all are confident in the congregation’s financial security.”

The slide show then outlined the seven “columns” which support our community (Spiritual, Financial, The Building, Leadership, Youth and Family, Adult Education, and Technology and Accessibility) each of which was further defined.  The full results will be presented at the June Annual Meeting.

Budget report from Cara Levinson: Cara presented the budget, as a preview of the final budget which the board will vote on at our June meeting and will be presented to the congregation at the Annual Meeting in June. As in most years, we’ll have a much better idea of our income in September when we have hard numbers for enrollments in ECE and Neziner.