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President's Remarks at Annual Meeting
June 1st marked the date of the 157th Annual meeting of Washington Hebrew Congregation. The Albert and Shirley Small chapel was filled with congregants, clergy, staff, distinguished Avodah award recipients past and present, the Silverman family, distinguished Silverman family award recipients past and present, outgoing board members, incoming board members, past presidents of our congregation, our beloved Rabbi Emeritus Joshua Haberman a nd Maxine Haberman, and our new Assistant Rabbi, Noah Fabricant.
Despite the challenges presented by the economic climate, we have had a wonderful year. We have continued a broad and diverse range of programming. WHC has maintained our commitment to Community Service and Social Action, preserving old traditions and entertaining new ideas. We have initiated our monthly Musical Shirei Shabbat Service and have enjoyed listening through our enhanced sound system. We have enjoyed the many contributions to our Temple family and staff made by our Rabbi and Educator in Residence Michael Farbman and Olga Markus.
We are delighted that our search for an Assistant Rabbi concluded successfully and we welcome Noah Fabricant and his fiancé Ali Harwin to our Temple family. We worked hard to refine and adjust our budget in a fiscally responsible manner and built a budget for the next year without raising dues. We began to focus on work at our Alabama Avenue Memorial Park. We shared in a wonderful celebration honoring our Rabbi Emeritus Joshua Haberman on the occasion of his 90th birthday, 50 years in the Rabbinate, and 40 years of remarkable service to Washington Hebrew.
And, after two years of serious efforts to explore, design, draft and bring the Long Range Strategic Plan to fruition, the plan was unanimously approved by the Board of Directors in May. This was an enormous effort made possible by the hard work of a very dedicated committee, under the steadfast leadership of David Berz. In addition, the success of this effort is largely due to all of you-for your input on the survey and for your input on the draft. We look forward to using the Long Range Strategic Plan as our roadmap to the future and I know it will it will take us from strength to strength.
These significant achievements would not be possible without the efforts of dedicated lay leadership. I express sincere appreciation to our Officers and Board of Directors. In addition, I express gratitude to outgoing board members, Robin Cooper, Stanley Elman, Sharon Farber, and Elissa Oshinsky for their years of dedicated service and for their enormous contributions to Washington Hebrew. We welcome the following newly elected board members: Jeffrey Bergman, Robert Burman, Daniel Caplan, Todd Deckelbaum, Andrew Marks, Amy Plevin, Albert Small, Jr., Suzanne Sunshine and Jeffrey Weiss.
We were honored to present the Carlynn and Larry Silverman Family Towards Excellence Award to an outstanding member of our congregation who has demonstrated excellence in so many ways. Carlynn Silverman and Amy and Barry Dickstein presented the Silverman award to Ken Marks. The Avodah Awards were presented to honor special individuals in our congregational family who contribute so much to Temple life and to the Jewish community at large.
The Avodah Awards were first presented in 1995 and we enjoyed the presence of many past Avodah Award recipients, including: Josephine Ammerman, Hy Bronrott, Florence Brody, Stanley Elman, Roger Lebbin, Alvin Neuman, Linda Sennett Newman, Judy Protas, Celia Risen, Jeffrey Slavin, Paulette Walker, Larry Walker, Marcia Weinberg, Elsie Wolf and Nancy Zeidman. The 2009 Avodah Awards were presented to Joan Dodek, Sandy and Howard Kouzel, and Lynn Morgan. We are enormously proud of these deserving recipients.
The tremendous turnout at the Annual meeting demonstrates our congregational community's overwhelming support and dedication to Temple life. That community support, partnered with the steadfast commitment of the clergy, staff and lay leadership, has prepared us to meet challenges, embrace opportunities and devotedly usher in Washington Hebrew's 158th year.Â
L'Shalom,
Lauren S. Racoosin
Temple Appreciates Service of Outgoing Board Members
At the Temple's Annual Meeting on June 2, Washington Hebrew Congregation President Lauren Racoosin oversaw the installation of the new Board of Directors and expressed appreciation on behalf of Temple to each of the outgoing board members for their years of dedicated service. Following are her remarks.
Robin Cooper
Robin has been an active participant in Temple life for many years. Over the years, Robin's enthusiastic participation has included serving as President of the Couples Club, volunteering on the Early Childhood Committee's Parent's Committee, the Youth Committee, and the Religious School Committee. She has been Vice Chair of Edlavitch-Tyser Family Relations Forum and Chair of the Volunteer Participation Committee. She has been especially helpful in reaching out to new members and to assisting in our efforts to have Board members reach out as well.
Sharon Farber
Sharon's energy and passion are limitless, her interests diverse and her contributions to our Board and Temple life have been enormous. Over the years, Sharon has been involved in the Religious School and Caring Committees, has been an active participant in the Empty Nesters, and serves our Membership Committee. Sharon made significant contributions to our Interfaith Outreach efforts, chairing our Outreach Committee for many years.
Elissa Oshinsky
Elissa's dedication to the Temple is enthusiastic and far-reaching. She has served on the Community Issues Social Action Committee, as a Board member of Sisterhood, and as Co Chair of the Volunteer Participation Committee, to name a few. She is a tireless volunteer and selflessly serves as chair of the Abram Simon School Committee. Elissa has been the driving force in the enormous effort to send Simon kids to Camp Moss Hollow.
Stan Elman
An active member of our Congregation for decades, Stan has served on the Board of Directors for 12 years. He has been a member of the Membership Committee for over 40 years. He has been a member of Brotherhood for over 50 years, having served as its President and in its Usher Corps. He has served as President of Prime Timers at least three times and has been instrumental in helping in the High Holiday ticket office for many years. Stan has contributed so much to Temple and to the wider community he was honored with Avodah Award in 1997. Stan has been the driving force in our annual holiday participation in the Toys for Tots Campaign, single-handedly collecting toys and bringing them to the collection site.
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