FROM THE CHAIR

Firstly let me introduce myself for anyone who doesn’t know me. My family and I have been members of TLSE for some 34 years. I grew up as a member of the Settlement Synagogue in the East End, my father and I both having been lifelong members of the connected Oxford and St Georges youth club. I have previously served on the council of TLSE (then HPS) as treasurer for a number of years. Lisa is heavily involved with helping organise and run the shul monthly Lunch Club. Our son Daniel is involved with the choir and is regularly seen at the Organ for HHD and other services (he’s the one sitting at the keyboard playing it, not the one often found under the Organ effecting ongoing repairs!). Adam until recently was regularly helping with tech on shabbat services (he’s now somewhere in south east Asia, part way through a sabbatical world tour), and Rachel has regularly played as flautist at services. Daniel and Rachel are also part of the “Friday Night Rock Service” band. Our family also run the regular Joely Bear Blood donor days in memory of our son Joel.

I have been chair of TLSE since the AGM in August 2022 where a (almost) totally new board of Trustees was elected. It would be very easy for me to use this column to dig over old ground as to what got us to the position we found ourselves in last August, but dwelling on the past will achieve nothing. The sad fact is that we lost the services of Rabbi Tanya and we now must plan for a future without her.

I have said before that the old saying that every cloud has a silver lining is most certainly true of our situation. As a direct consequence of our inherited problems, I am now chairing a board of Trustees somewhat uniquely (in the history of TLSE) positioned to take us forward. Uniquely because for the first time in my memory we have a full complement of Trustees (12) all with specific responsibilities.

So what are the core principles we by which we are taking TLSE into 2023? My summation of these are as follows:

Openness / transparency

o All discussions at Trustee meetings are minuted and available for all TLSE members to inspect online. (This by necessity must occasionally involve redacting any highly sensitive or HR related matters).

o All Trustee meetings are open to any members of TLSE to attend and observe o Every Trustee has an important role to play o We have done away with any concept of an executive that effectively runs the shul. Previously a small group of Trustees effectively ran all day to day decisions and reported to a monthly Trustee meeting. That has been changed. All Trustees have an ongoing role for decision making within their portfolio of responsibility.

Trustee responsibilities.

My target is, with the board of Trustees, to re-energise TLSE into the close knit community Lisa and I first encountered all those years ago. One of our first actions was to secure the services of Rabbi Gershon and I believe we are very lucky to have been introduced to him. Anyone who has been to any services with him cannot help but appreciate the enthusiasm he brings to TLSE.

The monthly Chavurah suppers have been re-started and have proved a great success. These are typically on the first Friday of each month, so please try to join us wherever possible.

If you check our facebook pages you will be able to appreciate the impact that Lauren Good has had in bringing our social media presence up to date. Next up is a revamped website due for release imminently.

For the future, I have been working with Rabbi Gershon and our Trustees on our medium and long term, and we have a number of initiatives that we are planning to drive us forward. One that is close to me is that we will be pursuing a green, Eco policy. We are looking at joining Eco Synagogue, and the short term challenge for me is to find an “Eco Champion” from within TLSE to drive this initiative forward.

We are planning occasional Whine and Cheese gatherings for the community to come together and voice opinions of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of TLSE. (Apologies, I love the old Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns!)

I believe that one of our biggest challenges is community involvement. Without sounding too much like the famous Uncle Sam WW1 US persona, “We Need You!” Our real challenge is to get you, the community, to want to be involved. TLSE should not just be a place for a small group of energised and enthused Trustees to make monthly decisions. We need the community to be energised and enthused, to find something within TLSE to be involved with and engage with, and for TLSE to become again the active, enthusiastic and involved community I joined some 30+ years ago.

In conclusion, the new Trustees have made huge progress in a very short period of time, but there is a great deal more to do. Please feel free to email me with your opinions (chair@TLSE.org.uk) but also please be prepared to voice your opinions and get involved!