Options Kehilat Shalom Considered for the Future

Strategic Options for Kehilat Shalom's Future

Q. Why not stay as we are?
A. When Kehilat Shalom was 300 families we were able to support our infrastructure and program. Our shrinking number of members, Religious School children, and ECC children has created a structural deficit. Even with planned cuts to staff and program our income does not support our operation. The status quo is not sustainable.

Q. Do we really need to sell our Education Center?
A. At this time, the Education Center costs us about $70,000 a year to operate (part of the mortgage, utilities, etc.) The sale of the Rosenberg Center (anticipated to be over $1m) should enable to vastly reduce or pay off our mortgage for both buildings. Sale of the facility would mean the sad loss of our Early Childhood Center. We would need to rent space for our Religious School, if we opt to remain an independent congregation.

Q. Why not sell our present location and move North?
A. Our professional estimate of the value of our combined facility is around $4m+. Paying off our mortgage would leave us, depending on the actual sale amount, with $3m. With the cost of land and the cost of construction, our present numbers would not be able to afford constructing a new facility. At this time with the number of Jews in the Northern Part of the County, this was perceived by the Strategic Planning Committee to be too great a risk.

Q. After we sell our Education Center, could we remain in our present location?
A. With this sale, the influx of cash would enable to pay off our mortgage. With our present number of families, even as membership shrinks and ages, our financial balance sheet would be positive for around another decade.
This is a viable option. The Board, though, looking at the projections strongly felt that in this scenario, as we continue to grow smaller: our programs and activities will become moribund. School classes will become too small to have grade classes. Daily Minyan will become unsustainable. Shabbat & Holiday services will have very small crowds.
Some of our leaders are confident that a new rabbi and a new location with a revitalized Religious School could give us a boost in affiliation to extend the scenario of independence for more years.
If we vote not to create the new community, this option would be fleshed out and implemented.

Q. Why doesn’t Shaare Torah sell their facility and move to Montgomery Village?
A. In our conversations and research, we believe the continued growth/construction in the Lakelands, Route 28 corridor north, Crown Farms and Science Center offers a strong probability of Jewish families seeking to affiliate with a Conservative synagogue in those areas.
The Planning Committee also believes that the Lakelands area can serve as a hub/center for creating a dynamic center to serve all Jews in the Upcounty area.

Q. Can’t we keep both the Lakelands and the Montgomery Campus in a new community?
A. The cost of the mortgages and the operating expenses of two synagogue facilities are not possible within our present combined membership base.

Q. Why not sell both campuses and build a new one in Germantown or Clarksburg?
A. While there is a multi-million dollar equity in the Kehilat Shalom campus, Shaare Torah facility being recently constructed does not have sizable equity.
Also, we are not sure there is critical mass at this time in Clarksburg or Urbana to support a new facility with the probability of present members who would not travel to a northern location.

New Community Part 2 - Communication

Before I write what I had intended at the end of my last blog... I want to remind myself and everyone who reads this ... how important open, honest and heart-felt communication is regarding our future.
There is no one who can look at where Kehilat Shalom is going without pain and sadness. But we can talk about our pain and talk about our options without rancor. That is the central focus of this summer.
We are talking with Shaare Torah about our options for the future, the challenge doing things differently and being two successful separate communities. No one is sure that we can bridge our difference although we are hopefully that people of good faith and intelligence can create a vibrant community together.
We are also talking within Kehilat Shalom and trying to answer everyone's issues and raw feelings.
Change is hard. Losing something beloved is hard. We do have real choices and only together can we make the right choice.
If you contact us and we don't get back to you... PLEASE let someone else know. The most important thing we have to do this summer is listen and answer everyone's concerns.

New Community Recommendation Part 1

While I know that not only synagogue members read my blog, I want to reflect over a couple of postings about the strategic direction of Kehilat Shalom. For the past 7-8 years the congregation has been slowly shrinking. We knew that few families, if any, were moving into Montgomery Village, but we had hoped that the growth rate in Germantown and Clarksburg would sustain our community.
Starting nearly three years ago, an 'expanded' Executive Committee started doing "Strategic Planning." Most of our efforts were tactical - especially focused around Membership retention and outreach. Last summer, thousand of postcards were sent to residents of area including and around Montgomery Village about our Early Childhood Center. We gained 9 new families - but only two were Jewish children. An even larger mailing went out to an expanded area at the beginning of this year, but generated only tiny interest in our Nursery School. From these mailings, we have come to understand that there is not interest among the families that exist in our area, to participate in the programs and activities of Kehilat Shalom at this time.
Our Religious school has gone in my (15) years at KS from 311 to under 100, the ECC from a peak of 96 to 40, and our overall membership from a high of 358 to 260. The trend has been a net loss of membership of 10 members annually over the past decade. We do project some growth from the Clarksburg/Damascus area, when building resumes after the recession is complete, but not the kind of expansion which would give us a strong future. We don't envision any other construction or demographic changes leading to large "Jewish" growth in our part of the county.
The decision of the Board is already complete to sell our School Building in the summer of 2012. [It costs us $70,000 a year to operate our smaller facility] We anticipate that the cash from the sale could pay off the mortgage for our entire facility and leave money for some of the repairs that will be needed in the next 5 years.
This is the first realistic option for Kehilat Shalom. We can remain in place for at least five years with sufficient cash to support our present plant and program. As our membership ages and continues to shrink - there will be a point in time before the balance sheet becomes negative, when (we believe) critical mass will probably be lost and our school, social life, and worship become moribund.
Since no one can realistically plan beyond a five year window, this scenario is the first one offered to our congregation for the foreseeable future. This option offers continuity and keeping our wonderful Sanctuary/Social hall for the near future.
Next blog will be on the options we've considered to be non-feasible.

Passover is over

It's Isru Hag (the Day after a major holiday)!! I've still got to get the matzoh out of my system, but it was a nice yuntif. My son was home for both seders. We had normal "crowds" in shul for all the days of the holiday. I don't lead the 2md Night Community Seder, but the reviews on both the food and the service were excellent. My 5 minutes in the Passover Playdate with the ECC children - was energizing. Torah readings and sermons went OK. Overall it was the downtime that I needed. I'm not yet myself, but at least I got some physical rest (and read two books for me.) Now I have to get my body back into shape after 4 months with minimal exercising.

I'm almost back

Well, it's 6 & 1/2 weeks since my mother died, three and half since my sister-in-law's passing and just over a week since my "uncle" passed away. In addition to several deaths within the Kehilat Shalom extended community - it's been a rough stretch. I've handled this amount of grief before in my 30 years as a rabbi, but never with three so close to home.
Looking back, I know I've been incredibly fortunate. The last death of someone truly close was my father's mother, which occurred in 1986. My father is doing amazingly well. I feel closer to my sisters ... who are beyond wonderful. Diane is doing pretty good and Tali's truly happy at School (and celebrated his 21st this past Sunday).
It's still hard to concentrate - I am really only productive for an hour or two a day. Minyan in the morning and the evening is a real comfort; as is all the support I've received and the slack people are cutting me. I find I'm looking forward to upcoming Bnai Mitzvah and weddings - trying to relocate the "balance in life" that I've almost always had and have lost in the past month. (And I'm really glad the cracks in the SW 737s were discovered after ... all the flights I've been on recently)

Preparing for my mother's passing

I've made two visits to New York in the last week. My mother was diagnosed with severe liver disease near the end of the summer and last week was placed into the "Comfort Care" program at her Nursing Home in Montrose, NY. I was able to see her in the middle of last week when she was still conscious and it was wonderful to have her... despite extreme weakness, still be herself. There was a lot of good closure as we reflected on the love she gave and received throughout her life.
By Friday she had lapsed into semi-consciousness and we really thought the end was imminent. But she's still here and it's Wednesday. My family arrived Saturday night to help my dad and sisters with the vigil. She, still, after being moved every two hours opens her eyes and seems to blink in response to our talking to her. Then she glazes over and seems to sleep. We know she's still in there and so we keep talking and knowing she's listening to us. The time becomes even more precious, as difficult as it is.
So I'm back in Maryland for a few days, calling my sisters every couple of hours and finishing the loose ends for the funeral. I'm mostly numb already, with moments of clarity and brief moments of great sadness. I've been blessed, on so many levels and ways, by my mother through my 58 of her 82 years but I'm really going to miss her repeating herself, her indignation, her modesty, the forbidden-ness of cursing around her, and mostly her unconditional love...

An Amazing Pastoral Moment

I paid a visit yesterday to a 93 year old member who is going into hospice today. I've known him for about three years since his son died. He's a really sweet, wonderful soul who despite the death of his first wife, which made him a single parent of two young boys and more recently the premature death of both of his sons, has an amazing, optimistic approach to life. We talked about his last days, things he'd like at his funeral, and then with relatively little prompting spoke about the joys of his life: his family growing up, hard work, his children and especially his wife of now 45 years. It's always amazing but when a life is full and rich (even with the lows) there is sometimes a calm acceptance. This kind man feels his life is complete and is accepting of whatever comes next.
Then the conversation flowed into what he wished had happened differently. He spoke about his sometimes rocky relationships with his own sons, which were fortunately partially healed before their untimely deaths. And then he started to talk about his regret that he wasn't close to his grandchildren; the personalities and experiences which made those family relationships so difficult. In this moment, the doorbell rings and his 40 year old grandson comes into the room. After introductions the conversation continues including the grandson ... both articulate regret, understanding of the realities of the past, and their love for each other. There was not a dry eye in the room.
Many people never find the words to say their sorry, if they had to do it again... they would have tried it another way and that they still truly love. You hear stories of those who are able to heal relationship just before the end. I got to share in one yesterday that has several more weeks of good conversation, precious times together and unconditional love.