I am deeply honored to serve as President of the Board at the HEA. I am constantly amazed by how many people in the community are touched by our shul in one way or another. The more I visit the HEA, the more I see how the building is busy virtually every day with school, services, music, adult classes, or a million other things. We serve a lot of constituencies with diverse needs and the clergy and staff serve those diverse groups with amazing skill and grace.
I encourage all of you to find your group; find your community within the broader community that is HEA. Come learn with us, join us on Shabbat morning, bring your kids or grandkids to a children’s service or come to morning minyan. The skill and care employed by the staff and clergy to bring meaningful educational, and joyful experiences to all of us is inspiring.
Our clergy and staff are stable and performing extremely well. Caryn Osterman has taken on the role as Finance Director and has worked extremely hard to bring our accounting and financial procedures up to date. Our internal financial procedures are solid, we have an excellent handle on our financial picture, and we are headed in the right direction. We are actively interviewing for a new Executive Director, and we will update the congregation each step of the way. I hope to be able to announce a new Executive Director soon. Our membership numbers have increased in the past year and continue to climb toward our pre-pandemic high. Our lay and professional leadership will continue to face the challenges ahead together--focusing on membership development, fundraising and assessing our dues structure.
One of the major opportunities facing our shul, and every shul, is to deliver real value to members and to prove the value proposition of membership to all of you. We recognize that there are many options available to you, and we are committed to proving to you that being a member of the HEA is of real value to you individually, to your family and to the community. My wife, Ellen and I, have been blessed to watch our children grow up in the shul, and now we get to experience the joy of seeing our grandchildren in shul! For my family, HEA is a place for simchas—a place where happy memories begin. I believe HEA can be that kind of place for you too.
I am genuinely excited to begin my term as President of this vibrant synagogue community. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
