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High Holiday Kol Nidre Appeal Remarks
by Frank Boches, Co-President
September 27, 2009
Greetings to all of our members, friends, and those of you who are here at
historic
B’nai Israel Congregation for the first time. It’s so nice to see such a large
crowd for
the High Holy Days, especially so many young adults. Each year I remind you that
we're proud to have the largest Modern Orthodox Young Adult Group in Baltimore.
There are many people to thank for making our High Holy Day services so
meaningful, so beautiful, and so spiritually uplifting. Our clergy--Rabbi Alan
Yuter,
Cantor Eli Kepecs and Cantor Shmuel Krawatzky, and our superb page turner, Fred
Shoken. Our dedicated office administrator, Charlotte Stein, who single-handedly
and
skillfully took care of our reservations and seating, and the countless lay
people who
worked so hard to make everything come out so perfect. What a superb team we
have
here at B’nai Israel! By the way, if you have the time and inclination, we’ll
find a place
for you on this outstanding team.
We also want to thank all of you who have chosen to daven with us. We hope you
have
found at B’nai Israel a welcoming, friendly, and supportive atmosphere and
comfortable religious services no matter what your background. We pride
ourselves
on being a place where Jews of all backgrounds can feel at home. And we never
turn
anyone away!
With so many folks opting to move into the downtown area, we continue to reach
out to
the literally thousands of Jewish people who live in the various Baltimore
Harbor
communities and introduce them to our synagogue. Outreach efforts can be costly
although we were able to obtain a grant with the assistance of the Associated.
We
know that if we are to survive we have to attract young singles and young
couples to
our congregation; many of us are in our 70’s and 80’s and we need some younger
folks to get involved and take over the reins. Yet, if we wish to attract young
people, we
have to offer dynamic, appealing programming. At the same time we must continue
to
service and support our longtime loyal and devoted members including many who
live
uptown and quite a few who are seniors like me.
Our unique location downtown, close to hotels, offices, hospitals and
universities,
enables us to cater to the needs of businesspeople, those visiting the sick and
both
local and international tourists and students. Folks from out of town enjoy our
warm,
welcoming and beautiful environment on Friday night, Shabbat and the Yom Tov
services. Rabbi Yuter has spoken often about developing a daily Minyan to boost
B’nai
Israel’s role as a religious focus for city workers and students from nearby
colleges
and universities. A noble goal for this new year, is it not?
B’nai Israel’s wonderful religious activity in a historically significant
setting makes it
an ideal showcase of Baltimore’s Jewish Heritage. Today BI is a distinct
attraction of
the walking tours of historic Baltimore, and, as a building on the Historic
Register, is
visited regularly by many school groups and on the itinerary of the historic
places to
visit encouraged by the surrounding hotels.
All of this is wonderful but we face several difficult problems. I reported last
year that
that unless we have a social hall or multi purpose room for programming,
classes,
celebrations, and perhaps even a nursery school, we’re limiting ourselves as to
what
we can do and accomplish. A shul without a social hall is at a terrible
disadvantage
and so we continue to explore options. I wish I could report progress but
unfortunately
I can’t. On a positive note, I can report our establishment of a Sisterhood that
has
made a very positive impact on our operations--especially by taking over the
responsibility for the Shabbat and Yom Tov Kiddushim.
The truth of the matter is that our synagogue struggles to obtain the financial
resources to maintain both the traditional basic needs of our own congregation
in
addition to the other roles I outlined. Although the wider Baltimore Jewish
community
enjoys the benefits of B’nai Israel’s existence, very few outsiders contribute
to it
financially; this places a very heavy burden upon our congregants.
We literally survive from day to day on what money comes in throughout the year
and
from appeals like the one this evening, basically from people like you. Once in
a while
a super generous donor comes along and that certainly helps. We have no
charitable
gift annuities or trusts that we can tap into. And no financial angel has come
forward
who could shower us with unlimited funds at our beckoned call.
As I reported last year, for a long time we were the recipient of a sizable
grant from the
Weinberg Foundation to help with our operating expenses. But in the past two
years
this grant was slashed drastically and it has now been phased out.
As you might expect, our more than century-old building is deteriorating. Cracks
in the
walls, foundations that are structurally suspect and in need of shoring up, so
many
surfaces, like window sills, requiring repair and painting. It’s a mighty
challenging job
and very expensive just to keep up with the repairs and keep our doors open.
On top of all this, If you’ve attended our services regularly, you will know
that our aging
Torahs are in very bad shape. On three occsions this year, while reading from
the
Torahs, we have discovered errors as a result of peeling letters and have
subsuquently had to get these errors corrected by a scribe. This is a serious
problem!
Our cemetery is also in need of so much attention. Unfortunately, families that
gave us
$25 for perpetual care 50 or more years ago expecting it would provide
maintenance
forever, probably never dreamt of or heard of the word inflation. Recently we
resurfaced part of the access road, did some painting and made other necessary
improvements and are in process of installing surveillance cameras which,
hopefully,
will deter vandalism. This costs money and a lot of it.
So given our ever rising expenses, our aging building, a cemetery with pressing
maintenance requirements, and the need to continue to reach out to young adults,
students, and the Jewish community downtown and elsewhere, who else can we turn
to for help but you. My friends, dues and the sale of High Holiday seats alone
cannot
cut it for us or for any synagogue for that matter. We need additional funding
sources
such as our annual appeal this evening.
Two years ago when I had the honor of addressing this Congregation at Kol Nidre,
I
mentioned that our goal was to double our High Holiday pledges from the previous
year’s $5,000. We were very successful as our Kol Nidre appeal brought in almost
$12,000. Last year I publicly dreamt of raising $20,000 but we fell just short
of it with
about $19,000--still a wonderful increase. This year who knows what we can
raise. All
I can tell you is that we very much need your assistance. Please help us keep
B’nai
Israel alive and vibrant.
We at B’nai Israel have a vision for the future--this revolves around a four
pronged
strategy of, first, undertaking a major fundraising peroject during the year
that would
help us to more easily meet our financial obligations; second, expanding our
core
membership, especially singles and young couples, by continuing to provide
unique
and innovative programming; third, developing and enhancing the historic and
heritage value of the shul as a Baltimore treasure; and, fourth, exploiting our
unique
central location and close proximity to hotels, hospitals and the city
residential
developments--we are Baltimore Jewish downtown.
With your help, we look forward to B’nai Israel’s future with hope and faith
that the year
5770 will be one blessed with peace, prosperity, and good deeds. Please don’t
let us
down. Online fundraising, personal fundraising pages, email signatures, social
networking sites, these are just a few of the “new” methods for fundraising.
Make your
pledge now the old fashioned way as our ushers circulate to collect your cards.
May we all be inscribed for a Happy, healthy, and successful New Year.
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B'nai Israel Congregation
