Dear Fellow Congregants,
I am excited to share with you an update regarding our continued conversations with Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple. Yesterday, The Boards of Trustees of both Temples approved a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which reflects the areas of alignment which we communicated to you previously including unification in the following areas: a clergy team led by Rabbi Rob Nosanchuk, who will serve as the founding senior rabbi; a physical home located on the Beachwood campus that now houses The Temple-Tifereth Israel; a combined religious school and Early Childhood Center; all operations combined with one Executive Director; a unified Board of Directors and governance structure; and combining all financial assets to support the unified congregation.
The MOU expresses our vision of a shared future in which we come together to create an innovative, multi-generational congregation that warmly welcomes everyone and ignites engagement through robust offerings as a vibrant, spiritual community.
Thank you for the feedback you have shared in our town hall meetings, emails, and phone calls. From that feedback we have heard our members recognize the clear benefits of combining into a unified Congregation which I am sharing with you here: “Six Reasons to Become One.”
We are continuing to do important planning and due diligence work with Fairmount Temple to bring forward to you a more detailed plan for unification. We will continue to update you on our progress.
I hope you will be able to attend the Clergy Conversations event, this Sunday, December 3 at 2:00 pm at The Temple, which will be an opportunity to get to know clergy from both congregations, with building tours and shmoozing after. Streaming for this event will be available through our website.
As always, please reach out to me at any time with your thoughts or questions.
Sincerely,
Beth Dery
Board President, The Temple-Tifereth Israel