DAY 724: Building the Foundation for Success

June 24, 2014
By bethmordecai
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DAY 724: Building the Foundation for Success

(6/24/14),

When I started in my role as rabbi of Beth Mordecai there was a lot I didn’t know. I didn’t know much about board meetings, I didn’t know what it would be like to run a High Holiday service with a cantor, I didn’t know how my ideas would be received by the community. Nearly two years and much experience later, I have a better handle on some of these questions though more often than not an answer to one question leads to seeking answers for many more questions.

There is one question though of which the answer has evaded me since I started — how can I successfully set up and maintain all of the tools in my possession and specifically in my office in order to be as effective as I can be in my role? Perhaps one of the reasons the answer to this question has alluded me is because the urgency of “getting to work” (i.e. building relationships, planning programs, teaching Torah, and growing our community) always took priority over the administrative preparation for that work. Yet, my experience over the last few years has taught me that buildings without a proper and maintained foundation will topple over themselves. What’s more, if I listen to the lessons I teach about Shabbat, I’d realize that the need to set aside time to focus on building the foundation for my work life is analogous to how setting aside time for Shabbat maintains our energy for our work life, our personal and family life, and our spiritual life.

So as I enter my third year as rabbi of Beth Mordecai with the knowledge I’ve accumulated over the past two years of what my foundation needs to look like, and with the conviction that maintaining that foundation is just as critical as setting aside time for Shabbat, I have invited a member of our community with experience in administrative work to help me spend the next two days finishing the work I started two summers ago — setting up the tools at my disposal to build the foundation for a future of success.

Kol Tuv,

Rabbi Ari Saks

Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal
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