President's Column

Widening Our Space

Each Spring, we celebrate Pesach in order to commemorate the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt – literally “the narrow place.” Today we find ourselves in another place of narrowness, constriction and isolation, as we face the current global health crisis. As Rabbi Marder has written, “Our challenge as a congregation is to separate physically from one another while maintaining a strong sense of loving community.” While our buildings may be closed, Beth Am is very much open, and our community has been quite active. This has been made possible due to the hard work, creativity and leadership of our program team, staff and board.

From the moment we learned about the potential risks and impact of COVID-19, the Beth Am team prioritized the safety of our congregants and staff by making decisions to suspend our on-campus program and operations. At the same time, the team recognized the importance of continuing to keep our congregants spiritually, intellectually and emotionally connected.

As a result, the program team has  reimagined how congregants can engage virtually with our congregation by developing a Virtual Beth Am section on our website within just a few days. Virtual Beth Am offers a variety of resources for congregants, including opportunities to experience virtual programming, support other congregants and the broader community, connect with our clergy and staff, and even get trained on using Zoom. Many congregants have been actively using these resources. In fact, we’ve seen increased participation, now that we are offering everything via Livestream or Zoom.

In these difficult days, the Beth Am team has been working twice as hard — offering existing classes and worship services and also developing new ways to keep our congregation connected. Our clergy and congregant volunteers have been calling every member of Beth Am to make sure everyone is ok and find out about problems and special needs. I have established a Crisis Response Team which has been meeting regularly to help the congregation navigate the impact of this health crisis, and we are raising money for our Social Action Emergency Fund as a source of support for members in financial distress due to COVID-19. I’m deeply grateful for everyone’s ongoing commitment and resilience during this challenging time.

Spring is also when our congregation’s Annual Meeting takes place — an opportunity for us to fulfill a central Jewish commitment: to come together as a kehillah kedoshah (sacred community). During this unprecedented time, this year’s meeting will help our congregation stay connected while we move towards achieving our mission, “to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8).

I hope you can attend virtually Beth Am’s 65th Annual Meeting, which will be held on Sunday, April 26 at 4:00 PM. Please join at betham.org/streaming, and if you have questions to pose, please email them to questions@betham.org during the meeting.

Andy