President's Message

Ah, Spring at last!  Warmer weather!  Birds singing!  Pesach!  Tennis, golf, and baseball!  Spring break!  Temple Kehillat Chaim’s Annual Meeting!

You are readily forgiven if you don’t quite equate the Annual Meeting with other events that

symbolize the seasonal transition.  Unfortunately, despite its vitally important role as a means of governance and communication, most of our congregants don’t seem to regard it as an A-list event.

Most of Article V of the TKC By-Laws (most recently amended in May 2001) is devoted to the Annual Meeting.  “The purpose of the Annual Meeting … shall be to elect officers and trustees … to present … the Congregation’s financial condition … [and] to transact any other business either the president or Board of Trustees, or both, deem advisable.”  In plain language, the Annual Meeting is the opportunity for you to be updated on the state of affairs at TKC and to express your opinions, especially on the volunteer lay leadership. 

Now, I’d be the first to admit that this probably doesn’t sound terribly compelling.  But I ask you to consider a few things before you decide that you’re not interested in attending the meeting:

• The meeting is Sunday, May 2, starting at 11:00 A.M.  Whether it’s for Religious School, Torah study,    networking, or kibitzing, you’ve probably got a reason to be at TKC anyway that day.
• The meeting lasts about one hour; it will adjourn before Religious School dismissal at 12:30.
• This year, in addition to normal business, we will be  considering and voting on a complete revision of our   By-Laws (which will be made available for congregant review and comment before the actual meeting).
• It’s extremely important that we achieve a quorum to transact business (last year we only made quorum thanks to a handful of proxies).  If we don’t get enough on May 2, the By-Laws specify the meeting must be  reconvened with a quorum no more than 30 days later; I’m certain you can appreciate how daunting a task this would be once we all shift into our summer activities.

So, I urge as many of you as possible to plan to join us on May 2.  If you can’t, please fill out and submit a proxy (you’ll have received all the information by the time you read this essay).  The ultimate responsibility for TKC’s well-being and relevance resides with the congregation itself.  The Board speaks for the membership at its monthly meetings; on May 2, the membership speaks for itself.

I’ll see you at the Annual Meeting.

B’Shalom,

Tim Weiss