I thought you might like to hear about some of the meetings I have attended recently.

The first was a Sunday afternoon retreat at Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor. Five of us from B’nai Moshe attended. We discussed topics dealing with what our organizational purposes are and how to serve our members. This training program for current synagogue leadership was put on by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) for USCJ-affiliated congregations in Michigan.

USCJ is the umbrella organization for Conservative synagogues, mainly in the US but with participation in many other countries, too. It is the "voice" of the Conservative movement, representing and speaking out on behalf of its membership.

USCJ membership is voluntary, so it does not include every synagogue that considers itself to be Conservative. B’nai Moshe has been a member for many, many years. The dues we pay go to support a central staff – which includes an executive vice president, Rabbi Steven Wernick. USCJ also does training for synagogue employees and lay leadership. It provides resources (e.g., written materials, webinars, etc.) that help synagogues in all sorts of ways. As a B’nai Moshe member, you should be familiar with the "Conservative Judaism" magazine that is published quarterly (in conjunction with the national Men’s Clubs and Sisterhoods).

The second meeting was an annual program for Detroit-area congregations. The special guest speaker was Arthur Horwitz, son or our members Mort and Sally. His second claim to fame is as president and publisher of the Detroit Jewish News.

Arthur’s presentation dealt with Jewish demographics in metro Detroit and what might be done to reverse the outflow. It expanded on his Jewish News article which laid out the "hard facts" and encouraged local Jewish organizations, especially synagogues, to become involved in stabilizing our population through the promotion of information about job opportunities and recruiting people from other states to move here. It is an extremely important and, admittedly very difficult task. And while it may take some time to make an impact, it’s an effort in which we - both as an organization and as individuals - ought to be involved.

Finally, there is a new group internal to B’nai Moshe called the "POD." It is an outgrowth of the recent religious school study conducted by the Detroit Jewish Federation. The study identified areas for future development of the L.I.F.E. program. The POD was formed to plan and implement changes.

Membership on the POD includes Gordie Berris, Susie Rabinovitz, Dan Sperling, Steve Sperling, Jodie Weinfeld, Kevin Whelan, Marilyn Yarbrough, Rabbi Pachter, me, and, of course, Gail Gales, along with professional Federation facilitators, Amy Newman and Barry Rubin. We are following a successful model that was developed by other Jewish communities in the U.S. Watch for more information about the POD as we progress and consider changes to improve the education of our youth.