Kol Nidrei Address by Chairman of the Board Mark First
Mark First, Chairman of the Board
September 24, 2023 ~ 10 Tishrei 5784
Marc Becker, Chairman of the Board
Park Avenue Synagogue
May 14, 2019
As we come together for the 137th Congregational Meeting of Park Avenue Synagogue, I thought it would be interesting to reflect on other historical gatherings of our congregation and what some of my predecessors had to say. I was drawn to the 1960s and the administration of Joseph Katz, who is among the 16 chairmen who have preceded me.
There were two meetings in particular that are worth thinking more about: First is Katz’s 1962 address to the congregation, where he asked: “Are we in the great tradition of the Jewish synagogue?” Chairman Katz focused on three functions historically found wherever Jews set up an Ark containing a Torah: Beit Tefillah, Beit Midrash, and Beit Knesset – a House of Prayer, a House of Learning, and a House of Assembly. The second gathering under Katz’s leadership that stood out to me was a special meeting called to seek congregational approval for giving aliyot to women. A recording from our Rita and George M. Shapiro Audio Archive lets us listen to what Katz said:
Listen to excerpt from Joseph Katz on giving women aliyot.
Interestingly, these meetings are in juxtaposition to each other, one focusing on tradition and the other on change. And while they took place over half a century ago, I believe that together they go to the heart of who we are today and how we will continue to fulfill our mission. This past year, no different than our leaders and members in the '60s as well as the seven decades prior and the five decades since, we have strived to honor our tradition, yet to push progressively to address the issues of the day and our evolving community.
It is in this context of tradition and change that I would like to review our accomplishments and challenges this past year, which set the stage for the opportunities ahead.
Back to Katz’s question of satisfying our tradition as a House of Prayer. At the heart of who we are and what differentiates us from the other institutions we are involved with is our focus on ritual experience, and the core of our Beit Tefillah is our outstanding clergy. This past year, under the leadership of Rabbi Cosgrove and Cantor Schwartz, along with Rabbi Zuckerman, Rabbi Witkovsky, and Cantor Brook, we have provided ritual to our community in many forms: over 700 minyanim on our campus or in shiva homes, a Shabbat service in the Hamptons, dozens of weddings here and around the globe, and many brissen and baby namings. Our engaging Shabbat services draw large numbers week-in and week-out, with over 80 Bnei Mitzvah in the past year.
In October, after the tragedy in Pittsburgh, our members responded to #ShowUpForShabbat, coming in droves to pray together. There were also over 1,000 people watching on livestream that day, demonstrating our ability to use technology to create a House of Prayer even for people who can’t physically be present.
Music has been a key ingredient in the innovation of our ritual experience. Last summer and fall, we completed our Youth Mahzor and introduced a new album, “Heritage: Music of Jewish-German Composers.” The Havdalah concert extravaganza in Jerusalem in December was a highlight of the year and a tribute to the work of Cantor Schwartz and our music director Colin Fowler. Back at home, our cantors once again went viral, chanting Oseh Shalom to the tune of “Shallow.”
Our High Holiday services demonstrated the excellence of what we do, serving thousands of our members across the Upper East Side. The logistical challenges we faced given the renovation of our campus were met with a Herculean effort. Under the leadership of our Executive Director Beryl Chernov and Associate Executive Director Liz Offenbach, our amazing staff shone. Whether it was Membership Director Rachel Zorbaron going up and down the five flights of steps to make sure physical tickets were available at reception, or our facilities team led by Jason Santos putting in all-nighters, the passion and pride of our of our 90-plus staff members was on full display. Our members have also played their part during the construction, trekking to 71st street without complaint and giving up seats in the Sanctuary to members who couldn’t go up the stairs to the balcony at 87th Street. Our toughest obstacle this past High Holidays turned out to be capacity, as well as meeting the increasing demand for our Fifth Avenue service. We actually had to send people away, and while they say this is a good problem to have in the organized religion business, it is not something we are proud of. We have put in place a multi-pronged action plan to address this issue, including providing more seating and the addition of a reserved seating section.
I am proud to announce a major milestone in making PAS a House of Prayer for all, as we are finally addressing our bimah accessibility issue and providing easy and dignified access for those with mobility challenges. Over the summer, we will remove the pews to the left of the bimah and build a simple ramp so that one can move easily onto the bimah without using steps. This is long overdue.
While our leaders in the '60s addressed the issue of egalitarianism for our community, enabling aliyot for women here in NYC, this past year we took our community’s responsibility for egalitarian ritual to Israel, and provided a Torah scroll for use at Ezrat Yisrael, the egalitarian prayer space at the Kotel. This PAS Torah is on permanent loan to Masorti, the Conservative Movement in Israel. On the week following the dedication of the Torah, PAS members, including several women, were the first to have an aliyah with this Torah in its new home at the Western Wall.
Hoping to continue to address the “issues of the day” as a House of Prayer, we formed a new ritual advisory committee. Rabbi Cosgrove kicked off a yearlong discussion addressing the tension in striking a balance between tradition and innovation. Under Rabbi Cosgrove’s leadership, our Ritual Advisory committee has worked and will continue to work collaboratively with our Inclusion Committee, Interfaith Committee, and Membership Committee as we move forward continuing to build an even more welcoming community.
So yes, Chairman Katz, we are indeed in the great tradition of Beit Tefillah, and true to our history, we simultaneously weave tradition and change to “meet people where they are.”
Under the leadership of Director of Congregational Education Rabbi Charlie Savenor, we have also been an exemplary Beit Knesset, a House of Jewish Learning for all ages. We engage our youngest members from very young ages. This year, a highlight for our YFE families was the first home hosted Shabbat family dinners, and we are now introducing a new Hebrew immersion baby class. Thank you, Jamie Diamond, for your entrepreneurial leadership. Despite the challenges of displacement, our outstanding early childhood program, under the direction of Pamela B. Schwartz, is thriving, with happy kids and standout exmission and admission trends.
Following the work of the Congregational School Visioning Task Force a couple of years ago, Jennifer Stern Granowitz and her team have successfully made Hebrew reading a higher priority for the earlier grades. There has also been a renewed focus on enrichment opportunities for families who want their children to have more than the standard program.
Niki Fleishman joined PAS as Director of Youth Programming and Engagement with an enhanced focus on promoting continuing involvement of post-Bnei Mitzvah students in the shul. She has done this through a variety of programs, from our decades-old teen-run Food Pantry to the teen Appreciation Shabbat with the Jewish rap star “Young Gravy.” Our College Connections committee sent High Holiday and Hanukkah packages to over 80 of our students, who remain part of the PAS community even while they are away at school. We also now have over four hundred 20s and 30s on our mailing list. We have been creating engaging experiences for them, and for the first time, there was a Next Gen Committee for the annual gala.
Mara Bernstein joined PAS as new Director of Adult Education and Synagogue Programming, and Rebecca Cushman joined as a Program Coordinator. They hit the ground running. Starting with our first Shabbat dinner featuring Ronen Bergman speaking about Israeli military intelligence, we rounded off a year of programming around Israel, including an evening with Tal Keinan and Bret Stephens from the The New York Times. Our educational theme for the current calendar year – “Wandering and Wondering,” mirroring our community’s temporary displacement from our building – was kicked off at the Lehman Maisel Family Shabbaton with an exciting program including the dynamic speakers Sir Simon Schama, CBE, Bari Weiss, and Dara Horn.
Under Rabbi Witkovsky’s stewardship, the study circle learning model has been enormously successful – demonstrating that some of our most engaging ideas can be a revival of past ones. Demand for the continuation of these small study groups, as well as formation of new study circles, reaches across the entire congregation. There are currently 24 study circles, including two dedicated to young adults, one to new parents, one centered around the archives, and one in coordination with JTS.
Another area of educational progress for PAS is our efforts in interfaith learning. Under Rabbi Zuckerman’s leadership, we are expanding our “Pathways: Introduction to Judaism” class. Demand was so high we had a class of 23 students start in August, instead of waiting until fall.
To address our growth and ambitions in Study Circles and Interfaith Education, and our hopes for our 20s and 30s, as well as other demands in adult learning, we recently created the new position of Rabbinic Fellow. I am excited to announce that on July 1, Rabbi Steven Philp, newly ordained at JTS, will join our community. Himself a Jew-by-Choice and currently an intern at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, Rabbi Philp will bring fresh perspectives to our House of Learning.
PAS has also been at the forefront of travel education, an area in which we continue to have huge success. Our trip to Israel with over 450 people was a massive effort, which we believe to have been the largest synagogue trip to Israel by a single congregation. It included our first ever PAS Board of Trustee meeting in Tel Aviv, with special guest Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Demand was so strong for the adult learning trip to Russia planned for next November, that we added second bus. We launched our first international teen travel this year with a dozen teens joining Niki and Rabbi Cosgrove on a trip to Spain.
While I have barely scratched the surface, the breadth of my review of our educational programs makes it pretty clear that we are indeed an exemplary Beit Midrash, embracing both the traditional and the progressive and in some cases, making the progressive traditional.
Let’s look at PAS as a Beit Knesset, a House of Assembly, where – as Chairman Katz said – Jew meets Jew, and the social and spiritual needs of the individual are satisfied. To help this happen, our Inclusion Committee recently revised their mission to “ensure that every individual and family in the PAS community has the opportunity to participate fully in all aspects of synagogue life.” We will be hiring a part-time inclusion specialist to help further integrate this value into our culture.
Our House of Assembly is strengthened by our Arms, constituent groups that have been traditional in synagogues for over a century, but an area where PAS leadership has embraced an entrepreneurial approach. From our Young Couples Group’s “Mixology and Mingle” party to the Women’s Network opening event at the West Side Comedy Club to the Men’s Club Hanukkah Knicks basketball game, our Arms have brought people together in community in engaging ways.
Our membership also continues to come together to give back, with a highlight this year once again being our Vicki K. Wimpfheimer Mitzvah Day. Our Bikur Cholim committee brought back a past practice and delivered the flowers from the gala to community members in need of a “pick-me-up.” And the Tikkun Olam committee partnered with Temple Emanu-El for Project Prom, helping more than 250 low-income young women in NYC high schools be outfitted for their perfect night out.
Giving back goes to the heart of who we are as Jews and it is a signature value here at Park Avenue Synagogue. Each year, we follow the tradition of honoring two congregants at Simhat Torah who have made outstanding contributions giving back to our community. This year’s honorees, both of whom have exemplified the very best of what it means to be a selfless leader at PAS and in the broader Jewish community, are Marc Silberberg and Erica Friedman. Mazel tov, Erica and Marc!
As I have outlined, PAS is a vibrant community and to make that possible requires a first rate infrastructure and administrative team. Regarding our physical infrastructure, the renovation of our building next-door continues at a rapid pace. We expect be ready for the fall move-in date. As we prepare for our return to 87th Street, the transition team is working through the myriad of issues that need to be addressed. I will give more details in the fall about the formal re-dedication of the 87th Street Building but please save the date of the afternoon of December 8.
I also want to address security. While it has unfortunately become more topical, it has always been a major area of focus of PAS, and it is essential to constantly assess and adapt to any changes based on the current environment. For obvious reasons, I can’t share the specifics, but I can assure you that there are several layers of security, using technology as well as manpower, some of which you see and some of which you do not. Unlike many other synagogues across the country, we have significant financial resources to address this issue. As Chairman of the synagogue and someone who personally spends a ton of time here and whose family and friends do as well, I can say that I strongly believe we are doing everything we reasonably can to safeguard our campus.
Moving on, Development is clearly necessary to make everything I already have described happen. Our membership continues to be extremely generous to ensure the health and vibrancy of the institution. The Kol Nidrei Appeal is having another record year, having raised over $3.3mm. As Mark First will lay out in his Treasurer’s Report, this success has enabled us to have record low dues increases for the second year in a row. We recently held our 15th annual gala honoring Sheri and Jimmy Rosenfeld and family with the theme “We are all Family! Kulanu Mishpacha!” Our once-in-a-generation capital campaign, A Synagogue in Action: Building the Future, continues to make strong progress, as we focus on making sure our space project is completed on time and up to our standards of excellence.
I have talked about a lot of programs that cost money and the progress we have made to be able to afford them. The person instrumental in keeping track of it all is our Director of Finance, Geet Engel. Thank you, Geet. Under Mike Masullo’s direction, we are working to consolidate our membership, financial, and development records into an integrated database.
On a more strategic level, we are conducting a “refresh” of our brand, website, and communication mediums. Maggi Heffler, our Marketing and Communications Manager, has been instrumental in working with lay leaders on this exciting initiative. The rebrand will enhance the outstanding existing efforts by our Publications Editor, Marga Hirsch, and Director of Design, Lawrence Conley. On the back of this branding initiative, we will also be launching a process to develop a strategic plan enabling PAS to continue to balance tradition and change and pave the way for the generations to come.
At Park Avenue Synagogue, it is all about our people. I have highlighted some of the great work done by our staff, and what has been made clear during my first year as Chairman is that we certainly have the dream team in Judaism. Thank you to our incredible staff for your hard work and passion and love of our community! With people as our biggest asset, a major focus of our administration will be investing in our people. To that end, we have created a Human Resources Committee made up of laypeople and professionals, and one of our first actions was to hire the first-ever Human Resources Manager at PAS. We welcome Zawnia Dehaney.
Helen Keller said, “alone we can do so little and together we can do so much.” It is the partnership between the amazing staff and lay leadership that is our secret sauce. I would like to thank all the lay leaders who have put in countless hours to work side-by-side with the PAS team to make our community truly extraordinary.
It is no surprise then, that in a year where we were concerned about surviving a transition of space and a change of administration, we are not only surviving, but thriving. Thank you to our Officers, my partners: Mark First, Mark Hirsch, Lizzy Markus, Nan Rubin, Craig Solomon, and Amy Steiner. And, of course, a huge amount of gratitude to our President, Natalie Barth, for her selfless leadership. To the Officer Group: My friends, I told you it would be an interesting journey, and I hope you have found it as rewarding as I have. It is an honor and privilege to serve our community with you. And on behalf of the congregation, thank you!
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said:
“Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ...Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”
This past year, I have been amazed by our wonderful and spiritual community. I take none of you, nor our community, for granted. Chairman Katz would be proud, as we are indeed living in the great tradition of the Jewish synagogue and paving the way for progress in the years to come.
Thank you. The floor is now open to any questions people may have.