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Imagining the FutureJune 2006From the Desk of Rabbi CohonIm tirtzu ein zo Agadah… If you will it, it is no dream. -- Theodore Herzl Nurture
your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you
think. -- Benjamin Disraeli There is a common belief that here in Tucson as the temperature rises, the population declines. And while it sometimes seems that there is, in fact, a connecting doorway between Southern Arizona and Coronado Island, many of us actually stay in town over the summer. While the weather is, shall we say, warmish, it’s quieter in town, traffic diminishes, and the pace of life slides back towards what this once-sleepy Sonoran Desert city must have been like 30 or 40 years ago. Here at Temple Emanu-El we certainly continue to be highly and active and involved—our Summertime Chardonnay Shabbat services are extremely popular, our Hot Topics in the Hot Sun Adult Education Academy courses are very well subscribed indeed, and our Wandering Jews outdoor hiking and event group goes full speed, as does our Strauss ECE. But summer affords us the rare opportunity to also step back and think, plan, and envision what we wish our Temple to become. In the past several weeks I have found myself quoting Herzl—the father of modern Zionism—often. For the truth is that our synagogue can be anything we truly wish it to be. In the past seven years many of the most ambitious goals we dreamed up for our congregation in its initial stages of rebirth have been accomplished. It is a long and happy list: a thriving Early Childhood Center, an outstanding Adult Education Academy, creative excellence and great variety in worship and music, financial stability and increased resources, a sound and improving Religious School, a marvelous annual retreat, a committed Legacy Program, efforts toward Leadership Development, and the most effective Jewish Outreach in the entire region. These are proud accomplishments. But we need new dreams—new aspirations for service and excellence—in order to continue to flourish. Over the summer months I’d like to hear your thoughts on what you would like to see at Temple Emanu-El over the next five years, what ways you would like to see us change and grow, what kind of a temple you would like to see us become. Just to clarify, dreaming is not kvetching. We are, after all, Jews, and we will no doubt continue to find things we aren’t crazy about in our temple. But the purpose of freely imagining just what our congregation can become is to allow us to go beyond the small issues, and to look to those ways in which we can achieve good and great things that make our lives, our community, and Judaism better and more meaningful. Call me at 327-4501, or email me at rabbi@templeemanueltucson.org with your own dreams for our temple. And together we will make them real. L’shalom v’rei’ut, in peace and friendship, Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon A Note from the
Rabbi As
some of you may know, this has been a difficult period
of time for me personally. Although
Rhody and I
are now divorced, we retain the utmost respect for one another and for the
congregation that has been, and continues to be, our home.
We
thank you for your continued support and understanding.
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