Summary of November 2021 Board Minutes

BZBI Board Minutes

November 11, 2021 meeting, 7:00 pm

Marketing Committee report from Bonnie Goldberg:  The Marketing committee is continuing the focus on making updates to the BZBI website.  This will be an ongoing process.

Membership Committee report from Sharon Greis:  The New Member Shabbat will be combined this year with the BZBI Yesod Virtual Shabbat Dinner.   The membership chair will be conducting “exit’ interviews or personal phone calls to former members who have not joined this year. Shel Bernick is helping with formulating a simple 3 question interview to obtain information about reasons for not renewing their membership.

Community Committee report from Eileen Dwell:  It was another busy month for the committee.

• The Community Engagement Committee has a robust committee of 11 members.
• Intergenerational reading program is back up and running and all reading pairs have been able to connect.
• The first meet-up of the Mishpahot group took place on September 12 from 11:30-1:00 at Commerce Square with a very good turn out.  Since the weather is getting colder, plans for a get together are on hold.
• We are still 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.
• We have reinstituted our Kiddish Committee.  We now have a grab and go kiddish following weekly Shabbat services.
• The BZBI Mah Jongg group started on Wednesday, October 20 at 5:00 PM to allow people who work as well as Neziner parents to stop by for some play with lessons and all levels of play. The plan is to meet every Wednesday.
• Knitting group continues to make hats and scarves for housing insecure folks.
• While our new kitchen is being built, our Stocking up volunteers deliver catered meals to congregants in need.
• Yesod dinners continue on the third Friday. New members have been specifically invited to join the regulars.
• Volunteer appreciation will be held virtually on Thursday, Dec 2, during Hanukkah. We will again be using the theme that volunteers light the way and brighten the BZBI Community.
• We have been approved for a tree on the 18th Street side of the building.  There will be a festive tree planting for our tree, “Etzie,” on Sunday, November 21 at 10 am.  Additionally, the City Department of Streets has prepared the pit for our tree, which has been dug deep enough to give a proper burial to some religious books.  Rabbis Abe and Abi will also conduct the burial of these books as we plant our tree.

Youth & Family Committee report from Anne Albert:  YFE plans its annual Chanukah latke fund-raising project, which goes with the ECE sufganiyot fund raiser. Enrollment has reached 52, with 2 or 3 joining after vaccinations. There is an online Hebrew enrichment class on Thursday.  The committee is exploring some way to connect some parallel parent learning to this. The Makom Accelerator is bearing fruit already creating more student engagement. Participating in the full training are Rabbi Max, Rachel Beck, Meirav Steinlauf, and Ilana Cohen, with Rabbi Abe and Rabbi Abi taking part peripherally

Israeli Engagement report from Sheldon Bernick: A short video for children and adolescents  about archeology in Israel is available to Hebrew school and could be sent as a link on the e-Cong to families.  By Prof. Rapheal Greenberg of Tel Aviv University Use this link: https://youtu.be/ZcIuKsGOj_Y  to access this video by Prof. Raphael Greenberg of Tel Aviv University.  February 4-5 (Friday-Saturday) we will have presentations by David Marcu CEO of Israel Elwyn on Disabilities and Care in Israel.  He will give a D’var Torah on Disabilities in Judaism.

Human Relations Committee report from Gail Kroop:  We have advertised the position of Director of Membership Engagement and Programming on several sites, and the search is progressing nicely.

Clergy report from Rabbi Abe & Rabbi Abi: Rabbi Abi is working on creating new daveners, and changing the Friday night service a little to bring in new musical energy, and eventually new musical energy into Shabbat morning service as well. Rabbi Abe reports there has been a lot of feedback about minyans and after reporting to the Ritual Committee, we will move forward with changes. Adult education is up and running.  The Rabbis are both teaching several classes.  We have a continued involvement with Center City Kehillah; e.g: December 1 candle lighting in Rittenhouse Square.  The rabbis met with our High Holy Days leaders from this fall, and recommend we rehire them for next year as well.

Executive Director’s report from Lynne Balaban:  Both AED machines have been bought and sponsored by congregants. We also received a small check from a local film crew who used our dumpster area for two hours last month to film a scene for a movie. Arielle, Sara and Lynne are working to decide the best usage for the ARPA funding we are receiving.  The grant can be used for several specific areas including incentive pay.  Lynne attended the first of several training sessions related to applying for the Homeland Security Grant which is new for us, and will require a security assessment.   We are also exploring the opportunity to apply for ERC funds. These funds could cover salary and healthcare benefits for 2020 and 2021 that the PPP didn’t cover. She is meeting with staff about two new benefits:  retirement plans through the JRB as well as FSA, which provides for pre-tax dollars to be put aside for child care, parking, transportation and health costs and is open to all full-time employees.  She was invited to join a Jewish security preparedness program, a 12-hour course for emergency training covering all kinds of emergencies.  The Federation is underwriting the program for us.

Development report from Suzanne Litke:   Our current Annual Giving receipts are ahead of last year. Proceeds from the Volunteers Appreciation event on December 2 will go to AG. Suzanne had a conversation with a large donor with regard to a new stained glass window in the kitchen, and had plans to contact others about maintaining the rest of the stained glass windows.  We are working to put together a 10-year plan for the endowment campaign that we all recognize the synagogue needs.

Ritual Committee report from Larry Kessler:  Ritual committee agree that Eitan Kantor and Rebekka Goldsmith should be rehired for next year so we can work on a contract earlier than usual. Next year, when holidays are later, Rebecca may be more involved during Elul, leading us up to High Holy Days. The contract details will need further discussion.

Finance Committee report from Daniel Cohen:  We have good news this month with regard to growth in membership and development. We are on track for development (AG) to cover almost half of the budget. Expenses are on track.  We may have small surplus, largely due to our favorable Early Childhood Education revenue but that may be off-set by extra-budgetary expenses such as out-sourced professional services for legal and HR needs. Our second PPE loan was forgiven.  Lynne Balaban and Mike Hoffberg are drafting a Financial Conflict of Interest policy for the synagogue.

The Finance Council reviewed and discussed our stock donation policy and endorsed leaving our current policy in place. We sell all the stocks and use those funds to reinvest.

President’s report: Rosalie Kurz is stepping away from the Board, so we need a chair for Tikkun Olam as well as Adult Education. She is drafting a call for committee volunteers.