Temple Israel Ottawa

Committees and Board Announcements

* more committees to be added

Constitution Committee

From Board Manual 1.4
The Constitution Committee is responsible for recommending amendments and advising on all matters relating to the Constitution of Temple Israel. To achieve this mandate, the Constitution Committee, on behalf of other committees, - recommends amendments to the Constitution - reviews or redrafts amendments - advises other committees and the Board on procedures and compliance to the Constitution - advises on the preparation of the Policy and Procedures manual and - supports other committees as requested. Passed Oct. 25, 2007 at Board of Directors meeting:

Governance of our Sacred Community
Leadership and the structures by which a community governs itself are expressions of values and a commitment to Godly action in the world. Boards, committees, policies and practices become a reflection of our priorities, which in turn reflect the values articulated by a communal mission statement supported by the entire community. We have to learn to recognize that methods of leadership and articulated forms of congregational governance are components of living our lives in holy ways.

 

Youth Committee

Youth Scholarship Fund
I’d like to take a bit of space in this week’s bulletin to thank the many members and friends of Temple Israel that have supported the Youth Scholarship Fund. For those who aren’t aware of this fund, its purpose is to encourage our youth (roughly the age 14 – 25 cohort) to engage in formal programs that nurture a deeper connection to the Jewish community and develop skills that will help them become the leaders of our community in the future. It also serves as a support mechanism for youth members of our community whose limited family resources are a barrier to engagement in the programs we run today through Frosty and the wider National Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY) movement in the Northeast Lakes (NEL) Region. Here are some examples of how your donations have helped our leaders over the past few years:

Once again – thank you for your continued support of the Youth Scholarship Fund.
Allan Silburt
Chair- Youth Committee.

 

Exploration of Interfaith Marriages
Update on Next Steps and Upcoming information session

In his 2010 Rosh Hashanah sermon, Rabbi Garten invited the congregation to begin an exploration about the performing of interfaith marriage. The Rabbi and Board asked if I would help develop a process to facilitate this conversation and I was pleased to agree to help. It is as part of this process that Rabbi Olitzky of the Outreach Institute came to speak to us on Monday evening February 7, 2011.

The Temple has many precedents in conducting respectful conversations about interfaith issues, the most recent of these was the discussion and subsequent approach to burial of interfaith couples. 

For those who haven’t yet posed questions, or who have specific information they would like to see addressed during our information session, we invite you to send your questions to interfaith@templeisrael.ca. (We will also post a series of resources and links on the web site so members of the congregation are able to explore what is happening in other communities.)

Following the information sessions, we will provide a summary of the questions and answers and will then establish a small group/task force who will propose an appropriate path for facilitating a congregational discussion. We appreciate the many individuals who have taken the time to speak with us and to members of the Board and the Rabbi.   We hope to continue these discussions as we learn together, share information and generally learn more about the variety of information and approaches available to us as we continue our exploration.
Sincerely,
Nora Sobolov

Background on the Interfaith Marriage Process
To facilitate the exploration of performing interfaith marriage, the Board of Directors of Temple Israel has proposed to establish an Interfaith Marriage Task Force with the following mandate: to guide the congregation in responding to the changing social context and emerging questions related to interfaith marriage.
Temple Israel has evolved significantly over the past decade with changing demographics, shifts in affiliation patterns, more children being raised in interfaith families, and growing concerns about Jewish continuity. According to research done by both Hebrew University and in the Ottawa community, there has been a significant rise in intermarriage within the community. Between 1995 and 2005, the rate of intermarriage rose from 28% of married Jewish households to 45%. Ottawa has one of the largest number of intermarried couples in North America and many are not affiliating with any congregation.

The Union of Reform Judaism and the Canadian Council of Reform Judaism have been directing considerable resources to try to understand how these influences are shaping our movement and how we can respond to the new outreach and integration roles we are being called upon to play in our communities. Eight years ago the Role of the Non-Jew Task Force explored a many issues and recommended a number of policy and practice changes to better welcome and integrate non-Jewish family members. (The task force report is available upon request). This past year, we challenged ourselves to further explore and identify barriers to our being an inclusive congregation. Within this context, the issue of performing interfaith marriages (by our congregational rabbi within or outside Temple Israel or by another officiate inside the Temple building) has resurfaced as a question to be explored.

Some excellent resources can be found at the following web addresses:
The Jewish Outreach Institute  www.joi.org
Interfaith Families  www.interfaithfamily.com

More information will be made available through links on the Temple web site.

 

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