Meet our President
Lorne and wife Louise are long time members of Temple Israel. Lorne has served as a member at large, chair of the constitution and governance committees, and as first vice-president at Temple. Lorne also sits on the boards of directors of the Ottawa Jewish Day School and of the Tamir Foundation.
He worked for 37 years in public education as a teacher, department head, principal, and superintendent and retired in 2008 having served five years as director of education (CEO) of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. Since then he has taught post-graduate courses in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. Lorne has also written a number of publications about education.
His most recent awards are the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization (OCISO) in 2008, the Excellence in Education Award by the Avon Maitland District School Board and District 8 OSSTF in 2005, and inscribed in the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada Record of Honour by J’nikira Dinqinesh Education Centre and Ottawa-Carleton Police Service for exemplary efforts in creating and implementing the Ottawa Board of Education’s anti-racism and ethnocultural equity education policy 1998.
Lorne and Louise have three adult children, Joshua, Diana and Naomi all of whom graduated from Temple’s religious school.
president@templeisraelottawa.ca
From the President
The Biennial Convention of the Union of Reform Judaism for 2011 in Washington, D.C. finished on December 19. If you have not attended a convention, your next opportunity is December 2013 in San Diego. Talk to anyone who has attended and learn why it is very worthwhile.
When we gathered in one room for Erev Shabbat, Shabbat morning, and Havdalah services, there were 6000 Reform Jews from 900 temples across North America, from the Caribbean, and from England. The instrumental and vocal music made the services uplifting, setting the mood, setting the tempo, and caressing the heart. Each of us was made to feel a part of something grand and it is good to know that Temple Israel Ottawa is in excellent company.
I signed up for the pre-convention Jewish tour of Washington and spent two hours in Washington Hebrew Congregation, a congregation that is over 150 years old and has 3000 family units. They have so many Rabbis, two of them have to share an office! The main entrance foyer (there are several entrance foyers) is big enough to house our sanctuary! And the renovation for their social hall, which can now compete with the finest hotels for social events, cost $24 million. To maintain my equilibrium, I also spoke with Presidents of Temples with 50 or 100 families who cannot afford to employ a Rabbi but have a Student Rabbi visit to lead services once a month. In between visits, congregants lead the services.
The other half of the tour (I think tour was a misnomer) was a two hour stop in the Library of Congress where we were addressed by librarians and administrators from the section that houses the Judaica collection. We were shown a siddur printed in Spain in the late 1400s and an identical one printed 20 years later in Morocco. It seems that when the Jews were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula, some of them went to North Africa. A Jewish printer took his equipment with him, opened the first print shop in Rabat, and reprinted the same siddur he had first published in Spain.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of RAC, the Religious Action Centre. I knew very little about this URJ-affiliated organization before the convention but learned how involved it was in the freedom marches in the deep south in the 1960s, and how it continues to fight for equality, religious freedom, and the rule of law in the Jewish state. Thanks to RAC, the morning after the ‘tour’, after going through security in the D.D.E. office building we were addressed by members of President Obama’s staff. At noon, after going through security in the Israeli Embassy, we had a deli buffet lunch (best kosher dills I have ever eaten) where we were addressed by the Israeli ambassador Michael Oren. The ambassador is a historian and was able to give a perspective to the topics in his speech and in his answers to questions. The topic of haredi extremism was one of the topics. In the afternoon, after going through security in the Senate building, we were addressed by several Jewish congressmen and women.
Once conference delegates had heard that President Obama would be addressing the convention, a hue and cry went up that the URJ was favoring the Democrats in the run up to the next presidential election. Of course, most American Reform Jews (the largest Jewish denomination in the U.S.) are Democratic supporters but never mind! So we also heard from Jack Cantor, Republican, who is the majority leader in the House of Representatives. Other key noters were Soviet Refusenik Natan Sharantsky, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Ehud Barak, and 87 year old Theodore Bikel. Theo was awarded the new Debbie Freedman Award for Contributions in Music and Theo responded by singing songs in Hebrew, Yiddish and Ladino.
But most of what I learned took place in one on one discussions and at the seminar sessions. I met with Les Rothschild, president of ARZA Canada to discuss why a relationship with Israel was critical for our Temple, and met with Laurie Banks, our URJ contact about service and information that URJ can provide us. I attended sessions on topics such as managing transitions (ask me about the marathon analogy) and dealing with conflict (in case we ever have any at Temple). And for the first time in recent memory, a session was devoted to temple presidents meeting with the top URJ officials. 200 temple presidents gathered in one room with the intent of establishing an ongoing council that will work with the URJ central organization to ensure that the URJ seeks, understands and serves the needs of its temple members, rather than the other way around.
The new URJ president, Rick Jacobs, spoke passionately about the need for engagement of youth, for only through our youth can Judaism remain a vital force in society. We at Temple Israel Ottawa have already been working on this and we must do more. From a senior citizen’s point of view, we are attracting more (relatively) young adults to positions of leadership on the board, on committees and on the executive. NFTY has 60 on its distribution list and regularly attracts 30 to 40 young people to its activities. But what is their involvement in Temple life after they leave NFTY?
The presence of 500 NFTY members at the convention made for a more energetic and lively gathering. Their cheering of speakers, their dancing in the aisles, their response to the music, all lifted our spirits and increased our own participation. Some of the many suggestions for reaching out to youth were: subsidizing attendance at summer camps (apparently the single greatest factor in future Temple involvement is regular attendance at summer camp), bringing our confirmands to a biennial convention, establishing a partnership arrangement with the JFO to help parents pay for a trip to Israel for their children, involvement with the local university Hillel clubs, and providing a participatory and/or leadership role for NFTY in congregational affairs. (The president of NFTY is already an ex officio a member of our Temple Board of Directors.) URJ will offer money for projects as well as help and advice on organizing activities.
Meanwhile, let’s keep communicating! Some many wonderful things are happening at Temple. So please continue to visit Temple’s website and read the Temple newsletter. If you have had an event or occasion, send us a photo or a story. Our newsletter and the Ottawa Jewish News are always looking for stories that celebrate individuals, groups and activities.
B’Shalom.
Lorne Rachlis
President
President's Address to the Congregation
Rosh Hashanah, 1 Tishrei 5772 / 29 September 2011
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