Hi. I’m Dan Sperling and this is my first Bulletin article as the new president of B’nai Moshe. I know what you’re thinking. Déjà vu! ... he’s back! No, that was my dad – Steve Sperling – who was president before Kerry Greenhut. I guess that makes me a “legacy.” I’m confident that I’ll be able to successfully carry the torch of leadership from these and earlier past presidents, but I’ll let the congregation be the ultimate judge of that. The few times I thought about what sitting down to write this first article would be like, I imagined that I would struggle with what to say. Now that I’m finally sitting down to do it, I realize that there are many things for me to talk about … and I’m actually not sure where to begin. I think I’ll start with my introduction, so you know who your new president is.

Neither my wife, Lisa, nor I grew up at B’nai Moshe. I spent my time at Beth Achim and Lisa was raised at B’nai David – both in the Metro Detroit area. We have two wonderful children: Josh, a senior at Walled Lake Western, who is headed off to the University of Michigan in the fall; and Jenna, a sophomore at Walled Lake Central, who was just honored at our 100th anniversary celebration as co-representing our future. Our kids DID grow up at B’nai Moshe. In fact, they’re the reason we’re here. Jenna’s baby-naming was done by Rabbi Pachter in early 1996 around the time that Josh began attending Tot Shabbat … and we’ve been building relationships and putting down roots here ever since. B’nai Moshe has truly become our extended family.

For my “day job”, I’m the Senior Director of Strategy Management at Con-way Freight. (Trust me, it sounds a lot more important than it is.) I joined there 4 years ago after 15 years in consulting. Prior to that, I had received an Aerospace Engineering degree and an MBA – both from the University of Michigan. (I guess that makes me a Maize and Blue Rocket Scientist.) Note that I’m still an avid Wolverine fan and football season ticket holder, so you may see some past presidents sitting in my seat on the bima on some fall Shabbatot. Unlike some of my Wolverine brethren, however, I’m very tolerant of Spartans and Buckeyes and even have some serving on the board of directors with me.

Now that you have some insight into who I am, I’d like to shift gears a bit and talk about our recent 100th Anniversary celebration. By now, you’ve had a chance to participate in the events surrounding our 100th Anniversary weekend – including the Shabbat dinner, Shabbat morning services, or the dinner dance. (Although I’m writing this before the weekend has actually occurred, I’m confident that everything was as wonderful as can be!) In next month’s article, I’ll reflect on some specifics of how things actually went. For now, though, I’d like to touch on my hopes and expectations for the weekend.

To be totally honest, one of the big objectives for the weekend celebration was fundraising. I’m not going to spend much time on it right now, though, since I don’t yet know how successful the campaign was and I’m sure I’ll be covering the topic in this spot many times over the next two years. Let me leave it at this … if you made a contribution during our celebration – whether it was a brick for the new walkway, an ad in the celebration journal or simply paying to attend one of the events … Thank you very much! Every penny you give to B’nai Moshe helps and is greatly appreciated! If you haven’t yet donated, it’s not too late. Please call the office tomorrow morning and help us exceed our goal for this event. Whether you choose to give $18 or $18,000, it’ll make a difference!

Now that that’s out of the way, I want to close my first article with what I believe was the most important goal of our 100th Anniversary celebration … reconnecting with B’nai Moshe! We all lead very busy lives and have many demands not only on our money, but on our time. As a result, we often don’t get to spend as much time as we’d like with our family and our friends. Hopefully, during our year-long celebration, you had a chance to reconnect with your Shul and with your “old Shul friends”. (Better yet, hopefully you made some new ones.) I don’t know about those of you reading this … but for Lisa and me, it is these connections (both with the Shul and with our friends) that make B’nai Moshe a critical part of our lives now and will for years to come.

Finally, a couple of "thank you’s" to close out my first article. I want to begin by thanking our outgoing president Kerry Greenhut for leading Congregation B’nai Moshe in this role for the past two years as well as his many years of prior service. I look forward to having him sit by my side on the executive committee as immediate past president. Most of all, though … thank YOU for listening. I hope this article provided some insight into your new president. I’d appreciate any feedback you have on this (or any) article as well as on any topic you’d like to share. Feel free to email me dansperlingcbm@gmail.com or simply track me down on any Shabbat.