BOD Retreat
The Sinai Synagogue Board of Directors held a strategic retreat Sunday, January 25, 2026, at the Jewish Federation of St. Joseph Valley, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in order to give themselves a chance to meet in person and to discuss the “Big Rocks” facing our shul in the next 18 months.
An important facet of our get-together was investigating the Values we hold most dearly for Sinai. Look closely at the photo below and see the clusters that formed from individual director’s minds. Interestingly, we surprised ourselves when we realized that no one wrote “education,” as we all felt that was a given, and everyone simply assumed someone else would write it!
Steffi Decker facilitated the meeting on a very cold and snowy day. Jeff and Ilene New, and Lionel Jensen attended via Zoom, as did Sara Marcus as she rode a bus into Chicago with her Notre Dame students. Also in person were Will Turbow, Iris Eisenman, Mark Richter, Donna Richter, Mike Kirsch, Dan Gezelter, Terry Feldbaum, Rabbi Friedland, Carey Gaudern, Ilana Kirsch, Ian Wulfsohn, Larissa Hertzberg, Andrew Hertzberg, and Dan New.
The aforementioned “Big Rocks” was an exercise: What three big rocks can you fit into a drinking glass? We put aside all the stones, pebbles, and grains of sand-sized issues we wrestle with each month at our monthly BOD Zoom meetings and focused on high priority subjects affecting Sinai’s future.
It was difficult, but we winnowed our top priority list down to the three biggest rocks: 1) Devising a strategic plan about what to do with our building; 2) Welcoming a new rabbi and developing a smooth transition plan to integrate the rabbi and; 3) Measurably increasing membership participation. Every one of these priorities is related to another and affect each other. They are neither singular nor exist in a vacuum but are interdependent.
Many weighty discussions were had, and lots of worthy points were made. The biggest win for the day, in my humble opinion, was that we connected on a personal level not experienced since before the pandemic, learned a little more about one another, and now understand ourselves a little better.
