The People of Israel Are a Complaining People…
Yet Now We Have One Less Thing to Complain About

As the summer comes to a close, so does our reading of the book of Numbers. Throughout this fourth book of the Bible, we rebel – against Moses, against Aaron, against God, against anyone who will listen. This book is so full of complaints that I like to call it sefer hakvetch – the book of kvetch.

The reality is that it is not only in the Bible that we complain, but also in our lives. For as Jews, we care passionately about our community and about our congregation. And at Temple Beth El, we listen. We are blessed to have a deeply devoted staff who work extra hours each week and over the weekend, as they worry about whether every detail is right for the many simchas we celebrate.

One of the greatest sources of criticism I encountered in my first year as Senior Rabbi of Beth El was our communication. “We send too many mailings,” you told us. “We do not adequately make use of our website. We are technologically way behind the times.” Even with our gifted staff, in using obsolete tools, they could not keep up. Our systems were so outdated that our Executive Board wanted me to offer a prayer for healing or even write a eulogy for our failing membership management system.

Brotherhood answered our prayers by raising the money, and over the past month, our staff has trained on a new database system. Just as the book of Exodus describes in painful detail the materials that went into the building of our Temple in the desert, we too, need to have the small details of our database in line so that we can effectively communicate with you, keep track of the significant moments in your life, and notify you when the groups in which you are interested are having events.

Oddly enough, our new computer system can help us to build community… our database has the ability to store pictures so that all our staff can know you not only by name, but also by face. Our database has the ability to store your professions so that we can make referrals or help people in their job searches, thus fulfilling the highest level of Maimonides’ ladder of tzedakah by enabling an individual to support him or herself. Our database has the ability to store your Hebrew names, so that we know them when you need them: at b’nei mitzvah, at weddings, and at other points of life.

The High Holidays will soon be approaching. Now is our time for addressing our weaknesses. We hope that in the coming year you will help us to get it right by updating your individual or family information when requested, so that we can better communicate with you, connect with you, and enable you to feel an even stronger part of our Beth El family.