Weekend Celebrating
Rabbi Charles P. Sherman's
25 years
At Temple Israel
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Rabbi Charles P. Sherman's 25 years At Temple Israel |
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Rabbi Charles P. Sherman
25th Anniversary Celebration
Friday, November 30, 2001
Response
In the words of Baruch ben Shmuel: "Be praised, my God, for enabling me to be a teacher and leader in the House of Israel." My friends, you are looking at a very happy Rabbi. I have many of you to thank for that fact, as well as my God.
I am deeply grateful to our President, Harold Katz, who has chaired this weekend in my honor, as though Harold didn’t have enough to do serving as President and spear-heading our Capital Campaign Project. He was assisted primarily by the people on the bima tonight — Malcolm and Paula Milsten, and Jeanne Jacobs. The four of them have worked so hard preparing for this weekend — thank you!
I am grateful to all the presidents, officers and trustees with whom I have worked over the course of these past 25 years. I am not being falsely modest when I say that our accomplishments, some of which are recounted in the lovely program Jane Zemel created, have not been mine alone by any stretch of the imagination. This congregation is blessed with outstanding lay leadership, and I appreciate the true partnership which we have enjoyed over the years.
I believe that this is one of the best interfaith communities in the entire world. My own understanding of my faith has been enriched these past 25 years by my association with truly outstanding people of other faiths, which is symbolized tonight by the spirited participation of the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church Choir and by my dear friend and colleague, Pastor Jim Haner. I am flattered by the number of colleagues and co-workers in this interfaith work whom I see are here tonight; and I’m especially pleased that my dear sister, Sylvia Schmidt, traveled from San Antonio to share this simcha.
I am indebted to my teammates who work side-by-side, day-in and day-out with me at the Temple. Cantor Lefko deserves a lion’s share of the credit for tonight’s service and for Sunday evening’s Cantorial Concert, which I am eagerly looking forward to. I am truly honored that Nachama Skolnik Moskowitz, our first R.J.E. wanted to be here tonight to participate in this service. And I appreciate the effort Cantor Sebran made to be here. Harry is responsible for my love of quality Jewish music. My teammates over the past quarter century have taught me, supported me and inspired me.
I am proud that our children wanted to be here this weekend. Ruth, Daniel and Aaron have been integral parts of this Temple Family. You helped raise them and, again, it is not false modesty which makes me assert that you — my friends in the Temple Family — were as important a reason for Aaron and Daniel choosing the rabbinate as was I. They saw what it is possible for a good congregation to achieve.
And most of all, without any doubt, my accomplishments have been made possible by my life’s partner. Nancy simply filled all the gaps created by my commitment to my calling. She is often the unsung hero and, therefore, I want to remind you that Nancy Sherman has taught, for 16 years, the fifth and sixth graders in our Religious School. She is the senior member of our faculty in years of service. She served four years as President of the Temple Sisterhood and is now concluding her term on the national Board of the Women of Reform Judaism. But she has been a tireless Sisterhood worker here for 25 years. Nancy serves on the Temple’s Adult Education Committee and will be teaching a course next semester in the Institute of Adult Jewish Studies. She is here for services and programs almost as much as I am, and is a friend to so many in this congregation. She deserves a great deal of the credit for whatever I have accomplished during these past 25 years.
On the Shabbat Shuvah between our first Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur together, I tackled on the topic "What Can A Congregation Expect of Its Rabbi?" I concluded that sermon with these words: "I want to be the kind of Rabbi with whom people can feel comfortable and at ease, the kind of person to whom congregants can turn for counsel and guidance, a friend with whom people want to share simchas as well as tsuras . . . I hope that as time passes we shall indeed become an increasingly important part of each other’s lives."
We have. Therefore, I believe even more strongly than I believed then that there is no more meaningful and rewarding work than that of being a Rabbi. I truly cannot think of anything I would rather do than to be your Rabbi. Thank you, thank you for this privilege.
