3 months it is ..... and counting.....
Says it all, really....
But who’s counting?
Not only that, but who COUNTS?
OK. It’s 3 months since the BSBI vote - we’ll come back to that count in a moment.....
It’s been 3 months we have been holding services in the AHA / JCC area..... and that includes week-day services over Pesah that were as warm and well-attended as our Shabbat services. For BSBI, that is an anomaly - weekday festivals downtown (last Purim excepted) are depressing. Except if there is a Yizkor service, attendance at services for a week-day festival is minimal.
So, to the next question - who counts? In a congregation, the membership counts. In fact, those who really count are the active members, the committed members, the ones whose regular presence gives life to the activities of the congregation. Do I hear someone saying, "We need more programming?" We have 52 days of scheduled programming every year - Shabbat services. If you attend Shabbat services at any of our 3 current locations, you are supporting, you are benefitting from, you are contributing to, the atmosphere and success of our programming. In my book, this counts.
Now, back to the BSBI vote. (Sorry if I am jumping around - maybe I am "hopping mad"). Let’s have a re-count. Not a re-vote, a re-count. At the January 06 meeting, the first vote regarding BSBI’s optimal location was as follows:
Rutledge 91 - JCC 85 - South Windemere 36 - not sure 5.
Let’s phrase it in terms of "Is Rutledge the optimal location?"
Yes = 91
No = 85 + 36 = 121
The count shows a majority of BSBI membership recognize that staying downtown is "not optimal". This counts, and everyone knows it.....
What we are involved with here is a contest in the market-place of ideas. And we live in a country where the essential belief is that "right" should prevail. That is usually meant in regard to justice, but it also is true in regard to ideas. In America, we not only believe one should do the "right" thing, but democracy and the market-place are about things that are "right" succeeding. If you have a product, and you take it to market, and it succeeds, that is usually an endorsement of the product. BSBI has a product. We are testing it in the market in very real, tangible and positive ways, and it is succeeding.
1 comment:
I believe it should be noted that the people that attend the west ashley minyan do so to be near their home , school , and families as do those attending so. windermere. Both groups also place less priority on the building and more on what is in their hearts. The current leadership of our congregation should recognize this will as real and sustainable as it is their fiduciary duty to help their members foster traditional orthodoxy .
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