Congregation Ahavath Chesed (The Temple) is the center of Reform Judaism in Jacksonville and on Florida's First Coast. The Temple is a Beit T'fillah (House of Worship), Beit Midrash (House of Study) and Beit Knesset (House of Assembly). Ours is an inclusive congregation, welcoming traditional and non-traditional families, couples and individuals from various backgrounds. Your family is always welcome to join ours!
At the Temple, you'll find lively worship, our Temple Institute of Religion with learning opportunities from infant to adult, the largest synagogue library in the Southeast, an active Sisterhood and Brotherhood, our Caring Congregation and social activities for everyone.
Every year at the High Holy Days, we reflect on our past and envision our future, always hoping and planning to do better than the year before. So, too, in January, hope springs eternal that maybe this will be the year when we lose that weight, reconnect with long-lost friends and celebrate our favorite teams winning championships. For our beloved Jags, make that next January, in 2013, at the earliest. For all of our annual hoopla of hopefulness, how often do we reach the goals we set? How often do we set goals that are actually within our reach?
Hope is important, as it lifts our spirits at this colder time of the year. We look forward to better weather, better health and a better life, but how often do we help ourselves to realize those dreams, as opposed to setting ourselves up for a fall?
Self-improvement is not a quick fix and just as we didn’t become who we are today without a lifetime of practice, so, too, we can’t expect to change overnight. That’s not to say that we can’t do some planning to get us on the road toward a brighter tomorrow.
Take a moment and think of one thing you’d like to work on in the year ahead. Health? Relationships? Finances? Spirituality? It is tempting to imagine what life would be like, were any one of these areas to reach our ideal image of success.
But, if we can only picture the end, we run the risk of disillusionment that will surely come without instant gratification. Instead, think again of that one thing, but then pick one smaller aspect of that larger goal, something well within your reach. Don’t imagine you’ll drop fifty pounds overnight; work on losing five pounds and see where things go from there. Similarly, don’t promise yourself that you’ll be at Temple every Friday night and Saturday morning from now on; instead, pick a service, a class, or a program that looks great from the long list of opportunities this month and make a plan to be here. Then, pick another after that. Engage and you will find the Temple engaging. Come regularly, and you’ll feel like a regular.
Commit to Lifelong Learning and you’ll find yourself to be a more learned Jew.
My hope and prayer for this New Year, is for each and every member of our congregational family to find the inspiration and uplift to make your hopes and dreams become reality. To get there, I hope you’ll make a plan, take small steps, find them worthwhile and stick with your pursuit of happiness for the long run.
Becca, Leah, and I wish you and your families a very Happy and Healthy New Year ahead.
Lifelong Learning
Getting Empowered At Temple By Jo-Ellen Unger Director of Education & Youth
As parents, employers or coworkers, we know it is always important to model the behavior we’d like to see in others. I got to go to class!
Last fall I had the opportunity to study with Dr. Jonathan Woocher of the Jewish Education Service of North America (JESNA). Dr. Woocher presented the concept of “prosumerism, ” the theory that individuals and families are simultaneously consumers and producers of their own experiences.
Dr. Woocher spoke of the need to “re-embed Torah into life.” While I am a huge proponent of Jewish education, I know Dr. Woocher wasn’t merely suggesting we all become more knowledgeable about the Five Books of Moses, although the opportunities to do this exist for all ages at our synagogue. I believe he was thinking more along the lines of connecting learning to doing – Torah as a blueprint for daily life. It is the ethics and values system which need to be re-embedded in our modern existence.
It is easy to click “like” on Facebook, send emails in all caps to connote anger or frustration, hit reply to all on an issue that should be resolved between two people, or to make generalizations about others to feel better about ourselves. It is not so easy to send a handwritten note, to pick up a phone, or to identify a challenge and present a positive solution…yet, that is exactly what we are taught as Jews. Re-embedding Torah could mean simply to recognize that we are one family, connected by a shared sense of history and common goals of survival and growth.
Dr. Woocher presented a number of concepts which, in many ways, reflect our understanding of Temple. Temple’s committee structure is designed to empower members to get involved in ways they find meaningful. The Tikkun Olam Committee (formerly the Social Action Committee), the new niche model of the Education Committee, worship, special programs and music committees, all have new faces and re-newed investment this year. Collaborative efforts between committees have led to fun program opportunities and more engagement. Congregants are speaking out and stepping up. The result is more positive individual experiences at Temple and marked improvement in the health of the congregation as a whole.
There is always room for you to share your enthusiasm. Visit our website at www.thetemplejacksonville.org, click community then committees to find a list of the areas in which congregants are focused. Let us know where you might wish to put your energy.
Kol Yisrael aravim zeh lazeh– all of us are responsible for one another.
