Senior Rabbi Search Updates

Still Listening

Fellow Congregants,
 
A lot has happened since our note of August 10: 

• We continue to receive thoughtful responses to the “Invitation to Provide Input,” as well as many requests for individual meetings. Please be sure to share your thoughts about our next senior rabbi by Thursday, August 31.
• The Search Advisory Group and the Search Committee held a joint meeting focused on listening skills.
• The Search Advisory Group immediately put that to use as they began their listening meetings with various constituencies. There will be a general listening session Wednesday, September 6 from 7:00-8:00 PM (details will be published shortly).
• We created a Brit to guide our work, and we reference it at every single meeting. It is available for download (pdf), and also available on our Senior Rabbi Search page at betham.org/senior-rabbi-search (login required).

Next on the horizon:

• Continued input from congregants, either 1:1 or in groups led by the Search Advisory Group.
• Pulling together congregant input with Hazon insights to create a description of the senior rabbi we seek.

We expect our work to slow down a little during the High Holy Days, as we come together as a community and reflect on the past year and the year ahead. After that… full steam ahead!

This week’s Torah portion entreats us, “you must not remain indifferent:” even if it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable, we have a positive responsibility to help our community and those around us (Deut 22:1-3). We are grateful that so many congregants have heeded this call and stepped up with ideas and hard work.

As always you can send comments or questions to search@betham.org — we are eager to hear from you. Our next update will be shared on Thursday, September 7, when we will share what we are hearing from congregants regarding what we’d like to see in our next Senior Rabbi.

L’shalom,

Ben Lloyd, Loree Farrar and Deb Radin
Senior Rabbi Search Co-chairs