President's Remarks
Jonathan Howard
Rabbi Streiffer Installation / 10-19-07

Thank you.

How does one follow such speakers as Rabbi Warshofsky, Rabbi Schindler, and Rabbi Streiffer?

The answer is: “VERY BRIEFLY!”

Rabbi, as you noted in the bulletin (and here tonight), Mark Warshofsky and you are both from Louisiana. Now I only know about five people from that state, but two of them are talented rabbis, so I’m starting to think: Why bother schlepping to Jerusalem, when I can go down to New Orleans to study Torah?

On behalf of Temple Beth El, I want to express our gratitude to Rabbi Warshofsky for coming here this evening to share his learning and, I suppose, to make sure that we, as a congregation, are worthy of his star pupil.

Rabbi Streiffer, we will do our best not to let your mentor down – or you. You know, many people are under the impression that our search committee selected you and that was that. That is really only half the story – for you had to pick us as well. We were glad that you did this past summer. Now, that the holiday season is behind us, we are even more delighted that you wanted to join us.

As you know, a person’s name is taken very seriously in Jewish tradition. For example, in tomorrow morning’s Torah reading, God tells Avram that from now on, he’ll be called Avraham, as a sign that he will become the “father of many nations.” Similarly, Sarai has her name changed to Sarah, meaning “princess.”

So what’s in your name?

After we conducted our interviews with candidates for this position, I looked back at my notes: It said “Micah Streiffer HUC”… And next to that, I had jotted down that, midway through our interview, you gave us one answer in particular that had Rabbi Schindler, Cantor Bernard, Susan Jacobs and me, all spontaneously look at each other with that knowing smile that said, “Yes, this is the one!”

Then, over the following few days, in the midst of some absent-minded doodling. I kept writing down “Micah Streiffer HUC.” Obviously, you were on my mind, as this was one of the key decisions of my term as president of the congregation… However, it was not always smooth sailing during the process but we learned that you were unflappable, organized and had the ability to adapt to unexpected circumstances. As you may recall, your total trip to Charlotte was scheduled for about 36 hours. Your plane was eight hours late, Sara Schreibman who was responsible for the scheduling and touring was lying in a hospital bed. Upon your arrival, you calmly told everybody you would prioritize the agenda and see whatever and whomever was necessary without missing a beat.

You also were asked to provide the Dvar Torah the next day for those on the Board of Directors interested in meeting you and asking questions of you. That next day, the tragedy at Virginia Tech stunned us all. We were all impressed by how you reworked your D’Var Torah through your music and guitar providing a D’var appropriate for the events of the day.

And of course, your music is one of the unique ways in which you define and express yourself in terms of both your Louisiana roots and your Jewish roots.

Your name, Micah, is also significant. In Hebrew it means, “Who is like God?”

As Jews, our mission is to devote our lives to imitating God’s ways – through mitzvot. As a rabbi, your role is to lead us on that mission -- to help us find God in our lives, as the ancient prophet named Micah did, and to teach us how to become more like God in our actions.

Fittingly – for your name, Micah; for your title, Rabbi; and for this special evening of your installation at Beth El, “the House of God,” – I’m delighted to present you with this beautiful artistic rendition of the verse, “Justice, Justice, Shall you pursue.” And I might add that it was specially picked out for you by your new colleague and mentor, Rabbi Schindler.

We are also delighted to also have the opportunity to formally welcome your wife, Shoshana, and your sons, Rami and Noam, to our Temple Beth El family. We wish you and your loved ones much health and happiness as you settle down and become an integral part of our community here in Charlotte.