A few years ago, while sorting through some of the archives of Temple Emanuel, and marveling at some of the history (including terrific photos and a collection of the old Shofar editions, going all the way back to typed-up pages from 1966), I flipped to one of the first issues — December 1969 — and found a message from then-President, Paul Levine:
“Last year after considerable, careful thought we put out a mini-leaflet which we feel is true to the spirit of our congregation. In it we described ourselves as “… a new temple for creative judaism”. It was no accident that “temple emanuel” and its description appeared in lower case letters. This device signified to us that the institution was no more important than its congregants… An institution such as ours must serve the needs of its members. But the rabbi, officers and board are not all-wise in guessing the needs of the members. Realizing this, last summer Rabbi Winer, together with an officer or board member visited nearly every congregant’s home to solicit views and ideas. Many worthwhile innovations followed. One or two ideas flopped. But if we profess to be “a new temple for creative judaism” we must continue to be willing to change where desirable. Therefore, I solicit your ideas and your help in carrying them out. Our temple is a very precious concept. Let’s care enough to have it serve us properly.”
Having stumbled upon this paragraph by accident, I have been returning to it, day after day, month after month, and pondering the legacy of our early “pioneers”. While we no longer spell Temple Emanuel’s name in lower case letters, we remain committed to the principles of “creative Judaism”, and especially to our identity as a community, rather than an institution. We remain governed by committed lay leaders who do not presume to be all-knowing, and continuously encourage ALL members to share their vision, as well as their energy, in making TE the kind of a community we all need it to be.
The last two years of living through a pandemic has reminded us all of the importance of this pioneering spirit of TE’s founding members. We had to learn “new tricks” as we all adapted to services, religious school, education and even social gatherings online. With vision and foresight, we were also able to continue our efforts to expand our building and upgrade our lobby and kiddush lounge into much more welcoming spaces, preparing us for the joy of re-entering our building once again. We were (and remain) creative, even as we work hard to preserve the essence of our community: a welcoming Jewish space where everyone gets to explore their own Jewish journeys. A place to educate the next generation of Jewish children. A synagogue. A place to belong.
As we enter the year 2022, we get a chance to celebrate a milestone that most of our founding members likely could not have imagined – the 60th anniversary of Temple Emanuel! We will celebrate this year with an amazing treat – a visit from one of the most inspiring composers of contemporary Jewish music, Noah Aronson (make sure to save April 2 as the date of our next Shir Magic concert)! We will have a family and religious school celebration of our 60th on May 15th, and the celebrations will culminate, God willing, with a Gala on October 29th. I can’t wait to celebrate this exciting milestone with you all!