Operation Reconnect: In Our End(s) are Our Beginnings
May 24, 2010
There was much ruach in the congregational meeting this past Sunday, May 16th, celebrating the culmination of the first phase of Operation Reconnect– this year’s enormous re-visioning project. Over a hundred people came together to socialize, vocalize, and energize our next steps in meeting the needs of our congregation. To reach this moment, the intrepid members of the Operation Reconnect Committee organized a team to conduct personal interviews with two-thirds of our families, scheduled six parlor meetings held around town to discuss the findings of the interviews, and planned the Congregational Meeting to present our agenda for applying what we learned to build Havurah Shalom’s future. With the initial inspiration of Rabbi Joey, and the steady guidance of our stellar consultant, Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, we have reached an end and many beginnings.
We learned through Operation Reconnect that Havurahniks are yearning for community. We want a stronger, even more welcoming and effective community that has many accessible ways in. We want relationships on a small scale and we want activities to be intergenerational. And we want the workings of our community to be transparent: people want to know how things work.
Havurah’s leadership and professional staff have already implemented important changes in response to the deep needs heard through our reconnecting with each other.
In the next few months, we will embark on the first few steps on our journey. Refreshed committees for Membership, Spiritual Life, Social Action, Education, and Music –led by chairs committed to setting clear priorities and reachable goals—will decide on the details of next year’s projects in each of their areas and begin making plans to bring them into being. The Steering Committee has prepared clear instructions, areas on which to focus, and lines of communication for each committee.
Reinvigorating committees might not seem like an innovation, but it is really a tangible way to build community. A huge insight from Operation Reconnect is that our work on such committees actually provides one version of the small group, intergenerational experiences we Havurahniks crave. Shoulder-to-shoulder, hand-in-hand is how we will refresh, rebuild, and reinvigorate our Havurah.
Now that we in Havurah Shalom truly know what we want and what we need, our members are already stepping forward to join in as we work together to make our corner of the world more fulfilling, more hospitable, more able to help others, and more satisfying to be a part of.
If you are a member of Havurah Shalom, we invite you to become a committee member in the area that most interests or moves you. Let the Havurah office know that you would like to participate in a project sponsored by one of the committees we’ve listed, or something else we haven’t. Or simply answer “Why, yes, I will join in!” when another Havurahnik calls you or writes you, asking that you be part of one initiative or another. Why? Because in our beginnings are our ends. We can only feel the warm grasp of community if we extend our own hands to make it happen.
If you are inspired by our story and you are not yet a member, we invite you to contact us to learn more about our participatory congregation.
Herman Asarnow and Rachel Shimshak, co-Presidents
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