The Voice | June-July 2020

TO THE PROMISED

Land

By: Josh Bender, Executive Director

Almost a year ago to the day, at Beth El’s 2019 annual meeting, the congregation adopted a new mission statement based on and inspired by three core Jewish values: Torah , Chesed , and Kedusha . In a changing world, where the relationship Jews have with their synagogue is constantly evolving, it was and continues to be of the utmost importance for our community to continually reflect on who we are and who we want to become. That unified vision for our community guided us through a year of unprecedented growth, including the most successful Annual Appeal in the congregation’s history. But when we adopted the new mission statement last May, we never expected just how much we could come to rely on it. This year, for the first time in the congregation’s history, Beth El did not convene for the annual meeting. The reason of course was the COVID-19 pandemic. From the very beginning of the outbreak, Beth El, bolstered by our mission and vision, acted decisively and instantaneously, closing our physical campus to the public, cancelling all in-person programs, and launching our Beyond the Walls virtual initiative, the extensive virtual synagogue community we created in the earliest days of social distancing to deliver content and gatherings around the clock, seven days a week throughout the quarantine. While we could never have anticipated the specifics of our new reality, we crafted the synagogue’s mission and vision specifically to help us rise to and meet any challenge, whether expected or unforeseen, personal or communal, local or global, spiritual or physical. The COVID-19 crisis disrupted our lives in ways many of us have never experienced. Our synagogue - one that operates seven days a week, 365 days a year - immediately grappled with an existential threat to our very purpose: to serve the community. Without access to Let’s be clear: our unified culture empowered us to act.

our physical building, congregants wondered how Beth El would remain relevant or even solvent. Not only has Beth El survived this pandemic, I would dare say it has thrived. Our sacred community met this challenge together, galvanized by the wisdom of our tradition. Indeed, the core values which have ensured the continuity of the Jewish community and people for millennia, anchored and connected our Beth El family through the deeply disconcerting uncertainties of social distancing. At the center of our kehillah are the values that define us and inspire our work no matter where we find ourselves. At the end of the day, our essence exists “beyond the walls.” Despite our beautiful campus, with its magnificent sanctuaries and gathering spaces, we define our identity as a synagogue community through the values we aspire to live every day. The Jewish value of Torah continues to bring us together and guide our path. Though we could no longer gather in the Gorn Chapel for daily minyanim , virtual prayer services allowed us to daven together as a community, as the Torah commands. We continue to absorb and engage with the history and lessons of our tradition’s collective wisdom, through weekly Torah readings, as well as transformative virtual educational experiences, organized by the Center for Lifelong Learning and the Soul Center. Our preschool and hebrew school students, under the care of our dedicated educators, have continued studying Jewish tradition through distance learning.

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The Voice of Beth El Congregation