Ten Years: Where Have We Been And Where Are We Going?
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5767
Rabbi Joseph R. Black
Congregation Albert -  Albuquerque, NM

My Dear Friends,

Ten Years ago I stood in front of you - on Erev Rosh Hashanah - the first time that I addressed the entire congregation as your Rabbi. I remember how nervous I was that night. I looked out at the sea of faces and asked myself this question:

Who are all of these people?

I didn't know you. You didn't know me. How could I possibly be your rabbi? I had lived most of my life in the snows of Chicago and Minneapolis! I had no idea what it meant to live in New Mexico..... I didn't even like Green Chile!!!

And you looked at me as well. You asked yourselves: "Who is this Rabbi? Will he be able to share our simchas, hold our hands during our sad times? Will he be able to teach us and help us to understand ourselves as Jews? And what is the deal with the guitar?"

Time has passed and we've forged a relationship. We have learned how to work together - how to pray together - how to sing, laugh and cry. Together we have worked to make this holy congregation a bastion of spirituality, learning and hope. We don't always agree. Sometimes I make mistakes - sometimes our communication isn't the best - but, throughout the years we have come to understand and appreciate one another. We have shared so much together over the past decade! Our congregation has grown and flourished. And now, as I begin my second decade in Albuquerque - I find myself waxing nostalgic on this Erev Rosh Hashanah asking a different question than what I posed to myself when I first addressed you 10 years ago. Not: "Who are all of these people?" but, rather,

"Who do we want to be?"

Ten years ago, reflecting on the process of relocating to Albuquerque from Minnesota, I said the following on Erev Rosh Hashanah:

Moving to Albuquerque forced Sue and me to go through all of the "stuff" that had accumulated over the years in our basement and our garage - and determine what we wanted to keep and what we needed to discard. We actually were quite successful in getting rid of a lot of junk. Nonetheless, we brought several unopened boxes with us from our previous three moves and stored them in our garage. We were determined to go through them and discard the "stuff" we no longer needed.

Ten years have passed and, I'm loath to admit, we still have those boxes.....they haven't been touched since we brought them here.

Ten years ago, as I thought about all that Sue and I had to do to get ready for our move, I realized that, in many ways, preparing to change locations was a lot like getting ready for the High Holidays. When the moving van arrived at our house, we took an inventory of all our possessions. On Rosh Hashanah, our tradition teaches, we take an inventory of our souls. We go over the events of the past year and take a good, long, hard look at who we are. We ask ourselves: "What are the behaviors, thoughts and actions that I did this past year that are in keeping with how I want to see myself?" And we also ask: "What did I do this past year that made me ashamed? How could I have done better?"

We then resolve to change ourselves, our behaviors, our actions to better reflect who we are and, more importantly, who we want to be. In other words, we want to keep the good "stuff" in our lives and get rid of the bad - those parts of who we are that do not fit our image of who we want to be.

Ten years ago I spoke about the meaning of this Holiday Rosh Hashanah. I told you that the usual translation of the words, "Rosh Hashanah" is 'the Beginning of theYear'. But another way to translate it is "the beginning of change." Over the past 10 years so many things have changed here at Congregation Albert! We have new staff, new programs and new facilities.

We have many new members as well. At our last board meeting, we were told that we now have 727 member-households in Congregation Albert. Ten years ago, we were about 540 active member-households. Recently, one long-time member who is not a frequent Shabbat attendee remarked to me at services that she didn't recognize anyone in the sanctuary.

(I nodded my head politely when she said that but, inside I wanted to say: "You know, if you came more often, you'd know more people at services......" I restrained myself.)

But in addition to the many changes that we see around us - there are constants that are firmly rooted in the very being of our kehilla kedosha - our sacred community:

• We care for one another. We reach out to our congregants in need and provide them with a listening ear, a hand to hold, even Chicken soup and home-made Challah.
• We learn from and teach one another: at torah study and meditation, in the classroom and at retreats.
• Our youth program has grown tremendously over the last two years - largely as a result of careful planning by our Youth Task Force, dynamic advisors an active committee and our leadership's willingness to implement new programs.
• We pray together - on Shabbat and Holidays; in our homes and in our sanctuaries; we pray in the mountains and in our outdoor "Chuppah" garden. We share our simchas and sorrows - coming together to find God and community.

Congregation Albert has changed over the last 10 years - most of it for the better. Change is difficult - but it is also inevitable. I've said this many times from this pulpit. It is a well-known fact that if we don't closely examine and manage the process of change that is occurring in our midst there is a real danger that we will be swept up in it's wake and become resentful and self-destructive in the process. I've seen it happen in other congregations - and it isn't pretty.

In order to better understand and manage the impact of change, our congregational leadership has been involved in an extensive program of strategic analysis. Over the past two years many of you have participated in this process: filling out surveys, coming to congregational meetings and presentations.

Taking an honest look at our congregation has not been easy. Sometimes it has been tedious. We have had to both celebrate our strengths and confront some challenging realities. There are many things that we do very well. There are other areas in which we are lacking. We know this and are committed to working together to address any and all concerns that have arisen during this process and that may arise in the future.

During the course of our study - led ably by Marina Rabinowitz, Susan Keith, Lou Barsky and Allan Sims, among others - we discovered that no two members of our congregation are alike. Each of us has different expectations, experiences and reasons for becoming part of our congregational family.

• Some of us became members because of a desire for education. We wanted to grow as Jews. We wanted help in teaching our children about Jewish life, history and values.
• Others have joined the congregation in order to deepen a connection to God. They were searching for holiness - for tradition and belief. They want to explore unanswered questions about the role of the sacred in their lives.
• Some of us look to the congregation to help us perform vital tasks of tikkun olam - repairing the world. The process of G'milut Chasadim -performing acts of loving-kindness - becomes a touchstone by and through which we measure our involvement in our congregation and community.
• All of us have come here to find and build a community.

For some, membership in Congregation Albert is a lifeline - a guarantee that there are people who care about their well being. We provide an extended family for those of us whose relatives do not live in New Mexico. We're not always successful in fully integrating every member of our congregation - some people still feel on the fringes - we know this. It concerns us deeply and we are actively pursuing ways to address and solve this problem.

The truth is that for most of us, there are a variety of points of entry into Congregation Albert. Whether you have come here to pray, to learn, or to get involved in repairing the world - or even if you just bought tickets for the High Holidays, you are part of our family. And we need to celebrate the many ways that our members, friends and visitors can and do make a difference.

Now I know that this isn't new. And yet, it is vitally important to "name" the various ways that our members see their connection to our community. Once we realized, stated and sanctified the many portals through which each of us enters into congregational life, we also realized that it was our responsibility to create opportunities to highlight the varied aspects of engagement and involvement. As a result, we have decided to dedicate an entire year to each of the main doorways through which our membership enters into congregational life.

Our theme is as follows:

Al shelosha d'varim ha olam omeyd - al ha torah, v'al ha avodah, v'al g'millut chasadim.

The world stands on three pillars:

• Torah - or study
• Avodah - or worship,
• G'millut Chasadim - acts of loving-kindness.

Everything that we do as a congregation flows from one of these basic methods of interaction with the world around us. Like a three-legged stool, none can stand without the other - each point of entry supports the other.

What we propose to do is to create a triennial cycle where we will focus a large percentage of an entire year's programming in our congregation around one of these themes.

• On a year where we are focusing on Torah, we will dedicate a substantial amount of time and resources to Educational initiatives.
• On a year where we are focusing on Avodah, we will examine issues pertaining to our liturgy and our prayer life,
• On a year where the main theme is Gemillut Chasadim, we will focus on ways that we, as individuals and a congregation, can make a difference through acts of loving-kindness and social action.

We also will be asking committees and auxiliaries in the congregation to do the same when and where it is appropriate.

This year's focus will be on Gemillut Chasadim -acts of loving-kindnessess. There are many reasons for this - chief among them is the fact that there is a general feeling among our membership, leadership and staff that we have not been doing enough in this area for several years and that we need to upgrade our congregational social action profile.

Starting tonight, with our annual TASTY food drive, we will be creating opportunities throughout the year to allow our membership to make a difference in the life of our community and our world.

I want to highlight one program in particular that, I believe, has the power to deeply affect many of us. About a year and a half ago, I was approached by the leadership of an organization called the Interfaith Hospitality Network (or IHN). I was impressed with their presentation and I brought it to the attention of our congregational leadership. The IHN is part of a national program that was created to deal with the issue of vulnerable families without housing in our nation. A few facts:

• On any given night, there are 750,000 people on the streets of our nation, with somewhere between 1.3 and 2 million people experiencing homelessness over the course of a year.
   
• In Albuquerque, the estimated number of homeless men women and children is about 3,000 a night.
   
• Today, families make up about 36 percent of the people who become homeless.
   
• The typical homeless family consists of a young unmarried mother with two or three small children.

The Interfaith Hospitality Network was created to help address the national problem of families who have lost their housing. Here's how it works:

We will be joining forces with eleven other congregations in our community:

• First Presbyterian,
• First United Methodist,
• Immanuel Presbyterian,
• Montgomery Church of Christ,
• Saint Andrew Presbyterian,
• Saint John's United Methodist,
• Saint Paul's United Methodist,
• Saint Timothy's Lutheran,
• Sandia Presbyterian,
• Shepherd of the Valley Presbyterian and
• First Congregational United Church of Christ.

These congregations have been part of the Network for several years already and have found it to be a powerful and rewarding experience. Basically, what we will be asked to do is to open our congregation for one week - three to four times a year - and house no more than three families at a time who are in transition. These families explode the myth of what homelessness looks like in our community. These are not mentally ill drug addicts. They are young men, women and children who are living on the edge - one paycheck away from disaster. Whether through illness, injury or job loss, they have found themselves without a place to stay. Through a variety of social agencies in the city, they are referred to the IHN where they are carefully screened. The Interfaith Hospitality Network does not only provide housing : IHN Social workers work closely with each family - helping them to find affordable housing, daycare and jobs. They give them training and counseling. Most families are part of the network for no more than three months. Each host congregation in the network provides a safe place to sleep, food, companionship and a caring community that provides comfort and stability during a period of great stress and vulnerability. Our job is to coordinate the transformation of three classrooms in our Education wing into temporary housing for one week. We also cook meals, provide activities for our guests, play with the children and drive those families in need of transportation to and from the central day facility. Families arrive at the Temple at 7:00 at night and leave before 7:00 in the morning. The Network provides us with beds and a van for transporting our guests.

Our Congregational Leadership has explored and is very excited about our potential participation in the Interfaith Hospitality Network. I spoke about it at our congregational meeting last May and we have shared it with our Board of Trustees and Committee chairs as well. In order for this program to work we will need many volunteers. Most volunteer positions require a minimum of effort. Some require more. The Network provides training for all participants. They have a 24 hour social worker on call. We will need drivers, cooks, and cleaning crews. We will need volunteers to stay overnight at the Temple, set tables and play with the children and help them with their homework. We will need people to supervise and coordinate our participation in the program. We are told that most congregations in the network require anywhere from 80 -150 volunteers to make the program successful. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a program that is not only doable, but essential for our congregation.

Following services tonight and throughout the High Holy Days, we will have sign up sheets available in the rotunda and the Kalmus Lounge. We also will have information posted about the network. If you have any interest whatsoever in exploring the possibility of volunteering for the network, please sign your name. No one is being asked to make a commitment at this time. We have not yet "officially" joined the network, but it is highly likely that we will become a part. Everyone can participate in some way - regardless of age or ability. We also will be soliciting participantion through the bulletin and our website. Your response to this request will, in large part, determine when and if we decide to participate. I urge you to sign up and show your support.

5767 will be a year of Gemilut Chasadim - a year of Loving Kindness; a year of embracing the potential within us all to make a difference in the life of our congregation and Community.

As I begin my second Decade as your Rabbi, I am thrilled to be able to watch the changes and growth that continue to make Congregation Albert a remarkable, holy Community. I know that we can make a difference in the life of our community and our world through our commitment to Torah - Study, Avodah - Worship and Gemilut Chasadim - Acts of Loving-kindness.

Whenever we end one chapter of Torah and begin another we say the words: Chazak Chazak V'nitchazeyk - May we be strong. May we be strong. And may we strengthen one another.

May the New Year, 5767, be a year filled with growth and opportunities to experience God in all that we do. May it be a year of peace.

AMEN. L'Shanah Tovah.