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WRJ NORTHEAST DISTRICT KOL HADASH AWARDS 2010
SOCIAL ACTION AWARD
WINNER
Temple Israel Reform Congregation of Staten Island
BACK TO BASICS CAMPAIGN
Our nearby communities have large immigrant populations and these people work hard, but for low wages. Our goal was to help our neighbors in an innovative way, one that had not been addressed.
All during the year we collected cash, or even better, new, packaged underwear. We asked for men's, women's, and children's panties or undershirts, socks, bras, slips, and stockings. Size didn't matter; there was always someone who was that size. We kept a box in the lobby of the synagogue labeled "Back to Basics" where congregants dropped off packages of underwear. The cash supplemented/rounded out the donated underwear. Just before Christmas we brought the underwear to the food pantry for distribution.
The recipients were always grateful. They rarely got brand-new clothing donated, and used underwear cannot be donated. Yet these essentials are costly to a family with children.
Publicity was minimal, just the box in the lobby, a reminder in the monthly bulletin, and a reminder at Sisterhood meetings.
Other sisterhoods can learn from our experiences that sometimes it is the basics that are most appreciated, not the glamour.
HONORABLE MENTION
Temple Beth Am, Williamsville, NY
RONALD McDONALD HOUSE
WRJ of Temple Beth Am adopted the Ronald McDonald House of Buffalo as a Social Action project in 2007 and continues to provide support to this day. Not only is a monetary contribution made yearly, but everyone also spends the year collecting toiletries, laundry products, linens, diapers, books, toys, games, and soda can pop-tops by the pound, are turned in for cash by the Ronald McDonald House.
The program goals are to provide the accessories needed by a family on a daily basis while they are far from home and unable to provide these items for themselves, due to intense involvement with a sick or injured child at the local hospital. A collection point was established in temple for the collection of the larger donated items - laundry detergents, linens, toys, etc. Sisterhood members were asked to keep a receptacle in their homes to collect pop-tops from soda cans. When traveling, members collected toiletries from hotels and deposited them in the collection barrel. Every July, the contents of the barrel are delivered to the local Ronald McDonald House. Publicity includes e-mails to WRJ members, announcements at WRJ events and to the congregation as a whole, requesting donations of said items for the Ronald McDonald House to be collected in the barrel located in the lobby of our Synagogue. The biggest obstacle was finding a container large enough to contain all the items donated by our very generous congregation.
SPIRITUALITY AWARD
WINNER
Sisterhood of Temple Beth Shalom, Needham, MA
SPIRITUALITY RETREAT
For the past twelve years, 35 to 40 of our sisterhood members have gathered together for a weekend to celebrate our annual Spirituality Retreat, which officially starts late Friday afternoon and ends at noon on Sunday. The primary goal is to offer a weekend for our members to experience a much greater level of spiritual fulfillment than we do in our everyday lives and to truly bond in a women-only setting filled with music, prayer, study, laughter and friendship. For many, it epitomizes the meaning of sisterhood.
The retreat takes months of planning. Many decisions have to be made: selection of the venue, theme, programming, supplies, and meals. Planning for the following year begins as soon as the retreat is over! The programming piece is the largest and most involved part of the planning process, as it includes programs on Friday night (after Kabbalat Shabbat and dinner), Saturday afternoon (in addition to morning services and Torah Study), Saturday evening and Sunday morning. From the beginning, we had hired an outside facilitator. For our 12th retreat, we decided to forgo the facilitator and instead tap into the talent of our own clergy and membership to create and facilitate our program. We are very fortunate to have both our female rabbi, Michele Lenke, and our senior rabbi's wife, Emily Perlman, as highly invested members of sisterhood who were willing to take on major leadership roles. Our very dedicated co-chairs and extremely enthusiastic committee were also very helpful.
We noticed that the word "ritual" is inside the word "spirituality". Ritual can and often does lead to spirituality and from there we developed the theme for the weekend of "Exploring Spirituality through Ritual and Relationships". Time and thought were given to develop goals for each aspect of the weekend to incorporate the theme of ritual while striving to achieve the determined goals. Many goals were the result of feedback from previous retreats. The goals for the 12th retreat were:
-Participants feeling that they are bringing something home.
-Opportunities to connect with friends and create new relationships.
-Opportunities for self expression and sharing.
-A balance of intellectual, emotional and social experiences.
-A balance of structured and non-structured time.
The committee also developed goals for each individual part of the program. The theme of ritual was explored and developed during every aspect of the weekend through prayer, Torah study, discussion, introspection, music, creative writing and art. A primary goal was to gain an understanding of ritual and the role it plays in both our secular and religious lives. "The Torah: A Women's Commentary" was used to explore the ritual of Torah study and how this practice can be a richer experience using the many views offered in this amazing resource. We shared beautiful Shabbat evening and morning services, which is a highlight of creating a spiritual atmosphere. Numerous programming activities gave us the opportunity to talk about the meaning of ritual, to share the rituals we currently engage in and to think about creating new ones.
The lay-led concept was the largest challenge for our committee, as it required significant additional work, time and thought, but ultimately this was its most significant achievement. One example of overcoming this challenge dealt with how to handle Torah study without an experienced facilitator. Rabbi Lenke prepared five volunteers in advance who each led a small group of participants. The participants were "matched" to the group leader based on the leader's level of expertise. NOT having an outside facilitator contributed to a more intimate feeling because so many attendees played an active role in the weekend, creating a real sense of ownership. Earmarked retreat funds for an outside facilitator were used to provide full scholarships for a number of women to attend the weekend as financial circumstances would have otherwise prevented them from participating.
HONORABLE MENTION
WRJ Sisterhood of Temple Am Echad, Lynbrook, New York
WOMEN'S SEDER
How do you become a community? How do you bring together the members of different congregations? You start with the women! For the past four years the women of what was then Temple Emanu-El of Lynbrook and the women of the former Temple Sinai of Long Island have jointly hosted a Women's Seder. In year three, the women from the Reconstructionist Temple joined and hosted at their synagogue. For Passover of 2010, we hosted at our newly merged congregation, formed from legacy Temple Emanu-El and legacy Temple Sinai. Temple Am Echad, the Reform Synagogue of the South Shore was born. We also added a fourth hostess group, Central Synagogue of Nassau County. During these past four years, we gained enough confidence this year to create a totally interactive service. In addition, we added a song leader along with two other singers from hostessing temples. The service was led by the women who complied a Haggadah from various sources. There were 150 women of all ages from the four participating groups as well as from other congregations; Reform, Reconstruction, Conservative and Modern Orthodox. What an inspiring joining!
This project was initiated in the winter of 2007 and is ongoing. The original committee consisted of six (6) women. As a new Sisterhood joined us they each added two (2) women to the committee.
PROGRAMMING AWARD
WINNER
Holy Blossom Temple Sisterhood Toronto, Ontario, Canada
UNIQUE LIVES TRANSFORMED
This program was initiated in September 2008 and first held in February and March 2009. Unique Lives Transformed, a two-part program, featured four women of note and their journey through life. Each woman was unique and motivational in her own way and all were creative, positive thinkers. In April 2010, Unique Lives Transformed was repeated with an additional two women of note and their journey through life.
Our goal was to inspire our listeners to accompany our speakers on their inspirational journeys as their lives were transformed for the better by challenging life's circumstances. All attendees were privileged to hear these four outstanding women and were moved and encouraged by their emotional stories. We learned that no problem is insurmountable with hope and determination. When we were planning the program, we hoped to reach a wide demographic audience and the numbers far surpassed our expectations. It is a program worth repeating. Unique Lives Transformed was publicized within Holy Blossom Temple and in our local Jewish weekly newspaper. An e-mail blast was sent to all Sisterhood members. We are pleased that over the three evenings that this program took place more than 160 individuals participated. We benefited from the program by learning that we can grow as people by overcoming life's many difficulties and challenges. We are repeating the program in 2011.
HONORABLE MENTION
Temple B'rith Kodesh Women of Reform Judaism, Rochester, NY
PASSOVER PALATE PLEASERS
Our event, Passover Palate Pleasers, held on a Sunday morning, began with our Temple's Executive Director presenting a delightful talk on "Passover Foods from Different Jewish Cultures". At the end of the talk, audience members shared their experiences and memories. This was followed by a sampling of the foods, presented by 11 people, including the speaker. The tastings were delicious and enjoyed by everyone. The program was part of our Temple's Sunday morning Kollel. Each year WRJ sponsors two mornings in conjunction with temple. Events like this keep WRJ in the forefront of our congregation.
An email sent to all WRJ members solicited enticing recipes they were willing to share during this event. The response was amazing as more people than expected graciously responded to participate. The beauty of this program was that it was not difficult to organize amd was easy to put in place, and so many people had a part that nobody was overburdened. Publicity was in our 2010 January, February, and March Temple Bulletins. Our own WRJ bulletin, WRJ Connections, had articles in the Winter 2009-2010 and Spring 2010 issues. The event was also listed in the weekly prayer book trifold insert a few weeks before the event. It was announced at WRJ and Temple Board meetings, as well as at events prior to the Sunday morning program. There were no real obstacles to overcome.
The cost was minimal. Food was purchased for the bagel nosh during the oral presentation, as well as small sample cups for the tastings. Utensils, napkins, coffee and tea are always available during the Sunday Kollel. This was an enjoyable program both cerebrally and gastronomically and everyone took pleasure in this experience. The enthusiasm was so high that there was talk of repeating this format for another holiday. Other Sisterhoods can benefit from this experience since it is easy to replicate. People are eager to attend joyous holiday celebrations, especially when food is involved and this is a good way to draw people to a program.
There is no limitation to the number that can participate, so that can vary. You only need one coordinator/chair to send out an email describing the event including date, time and location and requesting volunteers to prepare the food and provide copies of the recipes. The coordinator sends confirmations to the participants, generates the publicity and creates a document with all the recipes. Reminders were sent to the food preparers a few days before the event. During the event, a sign-up sheet was available requesting names and email addresses for those who wanted recipes, which were sent shortly after the event. A few paper copies were available for anyone without computers. Thank you notes were sent to the participants.
