President’s Message

Bob Spector Shalom Chaverim,

I hope the first month of 2022 (Shevat 5782) has brought you good health both physically and spiritually. The full force of winter is upon us. I am writing this column during an 8inch snow fall over New Year’s weekend and we have temporarily closed our building due to COVID-19. I hope by the time you are reading this message our weather is much calmer and our doors have been re-opened. I am calling this message: A SIX-MONTH REVIEW: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY.

I can’t believe that I am already six months into my role as President. The summer started with our doors open to all and our summer ended with us having in-person High Holiday services (the GOOD). But the Delta variant raged on and took too many lives of our friends and loved ones and continued to economically cripple many members of our CBS family and extended community (the BAD). Due to the pandemic, many members who normally would be volunteering within our congregation and beyond have not been able to in order to stay safe (the necessity of this circumstance is the UGLY).

We have gone from mandating masking to mandating proof of vaccination. While I understand and accept that for the greater good this was the right decision, it was made with a great deal of internal conflict. One of my struggles (perhaps even a flaw and or curse) in my current role is that I always see the gray. I am guided by the moral imperative to keep our CBS community safe, but this decision does not come without a cost. At the time I am writing this message to you we are not able to welcome a number of our congregants in our building because of their vaccination status. In my 27 years as a member of Congregation Beth Shalom I never imagined that I would ever see this day (the BAD). I know that many of you are very appreciative of the CBS leadership for making this decision and I so appreciate the supportive messages I have received. However, I ask that you do not celebrate a necessary decision that results in the exclusion of some of our members being unable to enter our building. It is becoming much easier to vilify those who are choosing not to vaccinate. Politics and changing rules based on an evolving science (as we learn more about the variants) contribute to creating increased confusion, mistrust, and tension among most of us. I suspect that as we approach the two-year mark of this pandemic, I am not alone in feeling worn down by having this virus influencing and/or controlling so many of our daily decisions. While I am not apologetic for the decisions we have had to make regarding access to our building, I am sorry that we have not been able to welcome all because of these decisions.

With this said, I end this message with my belief in the GOOD. We are an amazingly kind and caring community. We will continue to be supportive of and invested in helping those in need. We will continue to move forward together. I would like to end with sharing with you, our mission. I along with our CBS leadership and staff are committed to being ever mindful of these ideals as we continue to navigate these uncertain times.

We seek to enrich the lives of our congregation through ever-evolving ideals of observance, life-long learning, and acts of kindness from this generation to the next.

We are committed to meeting the spiritual, educational and social needs of our members through the practice of Conservative Judaism in an all-inclusive manner.

We seek to encourage involvement and create a sense of belonging by serving our community, the Jewish people, and the State of Israel.

L’Shalom,

Bob