ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING Via Zoom · 2020-05-15 · 2 Congregation Beth Am Annual Membership Meeting 2020 May 1, 2020 . Dear Congregation Beth Am Members, Our Annual Meeting

ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING Via Zoom

MAY 27, 2020 @ 6:30 PM

Agenda

1. Welcome/D’var Torah – Rabbi David Kornberg

2. State of the Synagogue – Joanna Herman

3. Determination of Presence of Quorum

4. Approval of Minutes

5. Treasurer’s Report / Approval of the Budget

6. Congregant Issues and Questions

7. Election of the Board of Directors

8. Election of Officers

9. Adjournment

2

Congregation Beth Am Annual Membership Meeting 2020

May 1, 2020

Dear Congregation Beth Am Members,

Our Annual Meeting will be held electronically this year via Zoom, due to the COVID-19 crisis. If you need help attending via Zoom, please let us know and we will try to get you set up to attend electronically. I look forward to sharing where things stand with Congregation Beth Am (“CBA”) and how we are dealing with the current crisis.

Highlights from this year include two amazing additions to our team: Gilad Hoffman and Jo Morgenthal. Jo Morgenthal is our Director of Youth Engagement. Jo joined us early last summer to grow and continue to develop our youth programs. We look forward to seeing how Jo will enhance and accelerate our Youth programs in the coming months when we can hopefully be back together again in person. Our Executive Director, Gilad Hoffman, joined us right before the High Holy Days. We are thrilled to have Gilad with us. Gilad has been an active partner, helping to develop long-term financial strategy, and has been instrumental in helping lead us through the challenging times of COVID-19.

Our Board spent the early part of this fiscal year focusing on CBA’s financial future, including developing a long-term financial plan with the goal to be mortgage-free by 2030. As part of that goal, we are in the process of refinancing our mortgage and construction loan to one combined mortgage for $4,320,531 at 3.15% for seven years. We are still in the process of collecting about $1,500,000 in future collections for capital campaign pledges, which will help pay down the principal and interest payments in coming years.

For our long-term growth and support, we are working on creating policies for the CBA endowment. More to come on this, but we have had a few generous donations made by some key lead donors to help seed this fund. For anyone who is interested in learning more, we would be happy to meet with you to share more about the endowment program and how you can contribute to it.

Additionally, we applied for and received a grant from the state of California to provide additional funds towards making our campus even more secure. You will be seeing improvements related to this over the next few years.

Since the stay at home order was issued over six weeks ago, we have been working hard to provide helpful and meaningful opportunities for our members to engage virtually with our Rabbis, our education programs, and each other. We have been providing many programs virtually, including services, education programs, and adult engagement programs. In these trying times, we are working to help meet the needs of our staff and our community. This has been a huge shift for our community, and we hope everyone is staying healthy in these difficult times.

In terms of the budget presented herewith, the Finance Committee and the Board of Directors have tried to present the most realistic budget given the COVID-19 crisis, with the understanding that the realities of our world are changing day-by-day. The Finance Committee and Board will continue to review and assess our budget monthly to ensure the financial stability of our organization. We have presented a very flat budget year over year; this means that we have not increased any fees for membership and security. We know that these are difficult times for many of us and we want to ensure your ability to participate in our community. If you need any help during these difficult times, please do not hesitate to reach out to myself or the Rabbis to let us know how we can help you.

3


In that light, we did apply for and receive a Small Business Association (“SBA”) loan through the Federal Payment Protection Plan Program. This loan will help us to continue to pay for our entire staff through May.

Our nominations slate presents some amazing new Board Members with an excellent slate of Officers who are primed to continue leading CBA. I am excited to see what great work the CBA Board will continue to do in coming years. I also want to acknowledge Sabrina Kerbel, our immediate past president, for her tireless work in chairing the Nominations and Fundraising Committees. Sabrina is stepping off the Board this year, and we want to thank her for all her hard work and commitment to CBA.

We are actively working and planning for re-opening and trying to anticipate the next steps to the best of our abilities. This includes planning for educational re-opening as well as looking towards High Holy Days in the fall.

We thank you for your continued trust in Congregation Beth Am, and we look forward to the day when we can all be together again in person.

With gratitude,

Joanna Herman CBA President

4


Congregation Beth Am Annual Meeting Minutes May 23rd 2019

Attendees Board Members Present: Mark Better, Teri Naftalin, Eric Lefkowitz, Marc Potash, Sabrina Kerbel, Josh Caplan,

Joanna Herman

Number of Non-Board Members Present: 33, including Rabbis Kornberg and Mark Gulner

Number of Proxies Collected: 56

Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm by Joanna Herman.

Agenda 1. Welcome/D’Var Torah – Rabbi Kornberg

2. State of the Synagogue – Joanna Herman A full report of the state of the synagogue was set forth in a packet provided to the congregation, as required by the Bylaws. Joanna Herman, President, delivered a presentation on the state of the synagogue.

3. Determination of Presence of Quorum Joanna Herman, President, confirmed the presence of a quorum.

4. Approval of Minutes Motion made by Marc Potash and seconded by Brooks Herman to approve the minutes from the Annual Meeting held on May 24, 2018. 32 voted in favor. 1 voted against. 0 abstained. Motion passed.

5. Treasurer’s Report/Approval of the Budget – Mark Gulner

• Mark Gulner, Executive Director, presented a report of the financial condition of the synagogue.

• Motion made by Sabrina Kerbel and seconded by Milton Erman to approve the Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2019-20. 32 voted in favor. 1 voted against. 0 abstained. Motion passed.

6. Security – Mark Gulner and Tammy Gillies, ADL Suggestion armed guard at back gate. Will be discussed at security committee.

7. Congregant Issues and Questions: Suggested to give free membership to young members who get married at CBA for a period of time. Suggested by Sol Kempinski.

5


8. Election of the Board of Directors and Officers

I. Sabrina Kerbel, immediate Past President, presented the slate of directors and officers recommended by the Nominating Committee.

II. Motion made by Eric Lefkowitz and seconded by Teri Naftalin to:

• Elect the following individuals to the Board of Directors for a three-year term beginning July 1, 2019:

Michele Myron

• Elect the following current members of the Board of Directors for an additional three-year term beginning July 1, 2019:

Abe Sherman

Heather Wolfson

III. Motion made by Howie Naftalin and seconded by Mark Better to: Elect the following individuals as officers for a one-year term beginning July 1, 2019:

President: Joanna Herman

Secretary: Allison Borts

Treasurer: Abe Sherman

1st Vice President: Marc Potash

2nd Vice President: Heather Wolfson

Past President: Sabrina Kerbel

33 voted in favor. 0 voted against. 0 abstentions. Motion passed.

Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 7:39 pm.

Minutes submitted by: Mark Gulner and Joanna Herman

6


REPORTS Early Childhood Center Department 2019-2020, a year of growth, expansion and reaching new virtual heights at our Beth Am Early Childhood Center.

We began this year with a creative, traditional, in-person school program and continued building upon our success through virtual online programming, aimed at maintaining the warm community that was established in our classes, school and larger synagogue family!

Pre COVID-19 Programming

This year we re-imagined our Parent Committee Training Program. Hosted by Heather Wolfson, our ECC Chair, all Room Parents and teachers were invited to an evening of community building and hands on learning.

Continuing on our commitment to build a warm parent community we changed the accessibility to our First Day of School Parent Breakfast and offered a complimentary Parent Happy Hour at the redesigned Pacific Social restaurant.

In December we once again extended our Hanukkah celebrations to include a community outreach/collaboration program. Beth Am ECC and Rabbi Earne, in collaboration with Flower Hill Mall, presented a festive Hanukkah celebration, attended by over 300 people.

Once again, our fundraiser was very successful, both as a social community building event, as well as raising $20,000 for program development. The event was held at Farmer and the Seahorse restaurant and attended by approximately 100 parents and teachers. Families were able to support the fundraiser as corporate sponsors, pillar families and/or attending the event, participating in a live/silent auction or buying raffle tickets. A huge thank you to our successful fundraising committee, co-chaired by Liat Beer and Keri Ross!

Enrollment: The majority of our classes were at full capacity this year! In preparation for the 2020 -2021 school-year we began taking prospective families on weekly private tours of the ECC, highlighting relevant classes and after-school programming. Post COVID-19 most of our new families are offered phone conversations with Denise/Tammy who detail the school program. Additionally a phone call from a current parent whom their child may be in class with, is offered and has shown itself to be an excellent additional admissions tool.

This year we re-envisioned our Tot Shabbat Service! Following parent feedback, together with Rabbi Earne, we increased the frequency of our Tot-Shabbat services, scheduled them for an earlier time and have included complimentary dinner. The program consistently draws 25-30 families each month and has received wonderful feedback.

Our Hebrew Immersion classes continue to be successful! They are offered to our three and four year olds twice a week. The class emphasizes modern day conversational Hebrew skills and is filled to capacity.

For our Coffee with the Directors program we invited guest speaker, Tricia Huppert, to facilitate a parent workshop on Reading Readiness and reinforcing pre-reading skills with your child.

https://www.betham.com/event/eccannualfundraiser2020

https://www.betham.com/event/eccannualfundraiser2020

https://www.betham.com/event/rabbi-matthew-earne.html

7


Once again, Dor L’Dor Programming (generation to generation) was demonstrated through our tenth annual Grandparents & Special Friends Day, where we welcomed over 180 guests to celebrate Shabbat with us. This year we made changes to the program that received rave reviews, and yielded a larger donation amount.

In collaboration with our in-house caterer, Oren’s Fine Foods, we began offering weekly challah for families to take home as well as a weekly hot lunch program.

Post COVID-19 Programming

Starting with the first day that school was closed March 16th, we transitioned to online learning through our Virtual Playroom Newsletter which is emailed to families nightly. The teachers record theme related videos of activities for our students to learn from at home. Additionally all newsletters are available on our website for easy access.

Each teaching team leads daily Zoom circle times with their class. Activities include: sharing, music, storytelling, alphabet and math activities and much more!

We continue our traditional weekly ECC Shabbat service with Rabbi Earne, each Friday at 10am, through Zoom. Each week approximately 50 families join us!

We held two Zoom Model Seders led by Rabbi Earne and our music teacher, Morah Ronit. For two weeks prior to the Seders, videos of Morah Ronit singing our holiday songs were included in the daily newsletter so that children could practice them at home. Additionally our ECC Hagaddah was attached so that families could print it and use it for both the model Seder as well as their family Seder. Each Seder was attended by approximately 50 families.

Our Music, PE and Hebrew teachers offer weekly Zoom classes for all ECC students.

During this time of social distancing, our faculty members are utilizing their time at home to engage in online professional continuing education opportunities. What they learn will directly benefit our students now and in the future!

It is our hope that we will be able to hold a Promotion Ceremony for our Pre-K students either at the end of this school year, or in late summer as most of them prepare to transition into kindergarten.

Jewish Learning Center Department Pre COVID-19

Registration strong but slightly lower from previous school year. We had 169 students compared to 177 last year.

In response to slightly lower enrollment we have initiated the following programs all of which have been successful:

Enriched Tot Shabbat. Quarterly program led by Rabbi Earne and coordinated with ECC Directors. Featured musicians and Radical Reptiles but most importantly included complimentary dinner. We averaged 40 families for each event and brought in future members.

Created ECC Bridge Task Force and as a team we developed JF3 (Judaism Food, Friends and Fun). Four monthly programs in the second semester. Enrollment was 17 students.

https://www.betham.com/eccvirtualplayroom

https://www.betham.com/eccvirtualplayroom

8


Created a 2nd generation of Passport to Judaism. Five families registered. Created a family dinner program where each grade had a lay hosted potluck Friday night dinner. All class

dinners were well attended and received. We launched new programs.

Midot/Values. o Each grade was assigned a different Midah. o This Midah/value became a theme of the year for each grade. o Each grade learned a song from Israel featuring each midah at our Winterfestigal program. o Each grade participated in creating an artifact that featured how they understood the artifact.

Israel Shinshin. We welcomed Michal Kalimi to our program, a junior. Shaliach from Israel. o She greeted all of our students with modern Israeli music during drop-off. o She provided “Taste of Israel” time with our K and 1 students. o She led pop music in Israel rotation for 5th grade. o She worked with the madrichim to create Israel cultural activities for school.

6th Grade Taste of Bar Mitzvah Rotations: o We added anew component for 6th grade to prepare them for their B’nai Mitzvah. There were three

rotations offered. • Intro to Trope • Practice Leading Musaf • Intro to Prophets

New 6th Grade History of Israel through Song Curriculum: o Based on a class taken by Rabbi Earne at Shalom Hartman Institute and the wisdom of Elisheva Edelson,

the 6th graders learned about the history of the modern State of Israel through the popular songs of each decade.

We created our own “Hamantaschen Factory!” In a highlight of our experiential education, each grade worked as a team to create hamantaschen for the synagogue. We also engaged our adult population to assist.

5th Grade Taste of Israel Curriculum: o In attempt to bring more experiential learning for our students and to strengthen their tie to Israel we

created a Taste of Israel rotation for all of our 5th grade featuring the following rotations. • Israel Dance • Israel cooking/gardening • Israeli pop music

Continued Strong Programs:

Madrikhim program continued to grow, we now have 45 teens enrolled in our program, and have expanded their responsibilities.

9


Beth Am expanded their Hebrew Enrichment program by bringing back Morah Maya Oberman, who along with Morah Dorit Shatrit, anchored an immersive Hebrew experience for grades K through 6th.

We offered two field trips for our students in 4th and 5th grade. Snack and break continue to be a big hit. Class services at 6pm.

o Students lead entire service o Following service families gather for complimentary dinner o Following dinner, madrikhim play games with children while parents’ schmooze. o We have added madrikhim families into the Friday night dinner to foster greater sense of community

for our madrikhim families. Portrait of JLC Graduate.

Students continue to graduate JLC with: o Jewish friends. o Understanding of Israel and desire to learn more. o General understanding of Jewish values. o Ability to read Hebrew and perform successfully on their B’nai Mitzvah. o Have a positive feeling towards prayer and comfort in diverse prayer settings.

Post COVID-19

On the first day that school was closed, we transitioned to online learning through our virtual newsletter. Within days we had launched our virtual JLC featuring:

Virtual tefillah with Rabbi Earne and Moreh Alan on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. Hebrew tutoring with JLC faculty was made available for all students in 3rd to 6th grade Our Hebrew curriculum was digitized and made available for students to work at home. 6th Grade pre-B’nai Mitzvah rotations were launched on Zoom. The teachers recorded theme related videos of activities for our students to learn from home. Additionally, all

newsletters are available on our website for easy access. 5th grade had a Zoom session with Rabbi Earne called “Ask the Rabbi.” iJLC continued virtually without any breaks. On Passover, we partnered with our youth program and ran a “Spring Thing” where all JLC age students could participate in fun activities with their age groups. Ideas included matzah pizza making, scavenger hunt, and talk with Israeli Shlichim live from Israel.

Following Passover break, we launched virtual JLC 2.0 featuring:

Grades K and 1st had Zoom class once a week. Grades 2nd through 6th had Zoom classes twice a week.

10


Expanded our Hebrew tutoring 6th grade “mifgash” hang out time with Rabbi Earne. Immersive Hebrew returned for 1 hour per week in addition to regular programs. In the last month of JLC we launched virtual JLC 3.0 featuring:

Class services took place virtually on Fridays. We created “Shabbat in a Box” for families who children participated in the class service so they could have a

complimentary Friday night dinner following the virtual service. The food was catered by Oren’s Fine Foods. We created an end-of-the-year “Torahthon” where students went from class to class reviewing materials from

the year in fun and experiential ways. 6th grade compiled a yearbook that was given to them as a gift. 6th grade is waiting for when it will be safe to assemble for us to do a graduation. We may delay until August

to do promotion into Sabra.

Sabra Sabra had 80 students registered for the school year.

Over 200 students enrolled in k-7!

Pre COVID-19 New initiatives of Sabra 2019-20

A new 12th Grade program that included a college essay writing seminar, Friday night dinners at the homes of Rabbi Earne and Rabbi Kornberg and worked to create a Beth Am artifact.

A new 10th grade Beit Midrash taught by Dr. Dan Klaristenfeld. A new 9th grade class was taught by Miguel Leff called “You are the Architect of Your Life.” A new “Exploring Relationships” class for 8th grade was co-taught by Rabbi Earne and Jo Morgenthal. We welcomed a new teacher, Brooks Herman who taught a class on Comparative Religion. Israel Shinshin. We welcomed to our program, Erez, a junior Shaliach from Israel. We continued to offer strong educational programming:

We celebrated our 5th year of I3A (Israel, Advocacy, AIPAC and Ambassadorship) Program. Beth Am sent six Sabra 11th graders to AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC.

Under the leadership of Joanne Morgenthal, our Madrikhim program boasted over 40 students, our largest class yet!

The Sabra dinner has been well received under supervision of the new kitchen manager, Oren Koreh. Art elective led by Ilanit Shalev continued to impress with students learning about different artists and then

creating Judaica items using the technique of the artists they learned about. Engaging cooking elective was well received by all.

11


Portrait of Sabra Graduate

Students continue to graduate Sabra with:

Strong ties to Jewish friends. Strong ties to Israel, and vocabulary to discuss complex ideas related to Israel such as the peace process and

legitimacy of the State. All of our graduates are motivated to continue their Jewish activities in college.

Post COVID-19 Sabra was up and running within one week of stay-at-home order. All classes returned virtually using Zoom. Under the leadership of Dr. Alana Schuster, Hebrew for Credit returned with virtual classes within one week.

Students have not missed out on classes. Students are currently set to receive Foreign Language credit. We offered TNT classes via Zoom. One of the most powerful was a teleconference with Beit Teshuva for both

parents and students. We are planning a virtual Siyyum for the Sabra year. This will feature opportunities to recognize the journey of

our 12th graders and the efforts of our students. A nice gift is being organized for all students graduating Sabra. We had a meaningful Yom Ha’Atzmaut themed day of learning where heroes of Israel spoke to students about

Israel and lit a candle for them.

Lastly, our lay oversight committees began working on the journey of the Beth Am child from 6 weeks to 12th Grade. We explored how we will design bridges between ECC, JLC and Sabra.

Our outline demonstrates areas of engagement for children not enrolled in a formal educational program at Beth Am.

Our outline demonstrates areas of potential program development in the future.

All education committees are working towards the overall mission of education programs that are in-line with Beth Am’s new Mission Statement.

Youth Department The Youth Department has gone through a transformation this year, with a new Director, Joanne Morgenthal, and new Youth Commissioner, Michele Myron.

Programming for our youth groups, Katan-Tan (Kinder & 1st grades), Mahar (2nd & 3rd grades) and Kadima (4th, 5th, & 6th grades) saw the biggest change this year. In an effort to increase engagement, the main focus became creating and enhancing community. Instead of running individual group activities, all ages were brought together for the newly formed “Mahane Beth Am” (Camp Beth Am). While age appropriate activities were planned and executed for each group, the event started by bringing everyone together for a camp-style lunch led and supervised by our USY teens. It was incredible to watch the children of all ages interact, and to give our teens the opportunity to work

12


as a team. With over 50 kids attending the first two Mahane’s, the successful program will continue to grow next year.

Our USY/Teen programming continued at the high level that makes Beth Am USY one of the strongest chapters in San Diego. This year, we saw a slight decrease in our registration numbers. This was an effect of a large graduating class, and smaller incoming upper grades (11th & 12th) which affected the attendance overall. We continue to hold monthly Teen Minyanim, Lounge Nights, and regularly had some of the highest attendance rates at the Far West Regional events.

In the latter half of the year, the Youth Department went “virtual.” By holding Zoom events for our youth including; scavenger hunts and trivia game as well as weekly evening Zoom Lounges for our teens, the youth of Beth Am continuing to engage during our national shut down.

Here are some highlights from the year:

We welcomed a new Director of Youth Engagement, Joanne Morgenthal.

We welcomed a new Youth Commissioner, Michele Myron.

We will receive a grant of $1,800 from the San Diego Jewish Teen Initiative.

Successfully introduced new programs “Mahane Beth Am”, Hanukkah Happening and a Chocolate Seder (which had to be postponed because of the lockdown).

Successfully created a virtual Youth Department. Programs included 2-week “Spring Thing” online activities for our Katan-Tan, Mahar and Kadima groups, and weekly virtual online Teen Lounges.

Return of a successful SATO movie night.

Adult Engagement In spite of the challenges brought by COVID-19 at the end of this year, the Adult Engagement Program at Congregation Beth Am showed tremendous increase in both content and attendance. Our programming was divided among three different foci.

Traditional Learning: This year brought not only long-standing classes such as Basic Judaism, Lunch and Learn, and Beit Midrash, but also a new series of classes taught by Rabbi Kornberg. This included a six-part class called “The Roots and Results of Anti-Semitism”, “The Wisdom of Proverbs”, and “The Past, Present, and Future of Conservative Judaism”. All of these classes showed significant increase in attendance from previous year’s classes. This was especially true at the end of the year as we switched to an entirely virtual format, and the social distancing requirements allowed many people to attend classes who normally were unable to do so.

Informal Learning Opportunities: These included our CBA Talks as well as our Beth Am Café movie series. The idea behind CBA Talks is to bring the talent and experiences of our own congregants forward.

For the CBA Talks this year we heard from:

Brian Davis: Conversation about Cannabis Abe Sherman: Cyber Security Patrice Gold and Sabrina Kerbel: Trip of a Lifetime

13


Lou Cooperhouse: The Rapidly Evolving Food Industry Brooks Herman: Theological Islam Our movies this year consisted of:

Fill the Void Who Will Write Our History Frisco Kid Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we had to cancel our final movie for the year Itzak, but we look forward to

seeing it next year. Music and Art: This year, once again, we had the great pleasure of hosting the Ariel Quartet in our sanctuary. It was a wonderful concert, and it reminded us yet again how amazing the acoustics are in that room. We look forward to bringing other musical presentations in the future.

The COVID-19 has changed the way that we do everything in our lives, however, Congregation Beth Am’s adult programming continue at full intensity. We encourage you to join us online and via Zoom as we continue to provide thoughtful and meaningful classes, conversations, and programs.

Jewish Life & Practices Committee Chair: Mark Better

Members: Rabbi Kornberg, Sofia Culley, Jay Culley, Anita Griffith, Teri Naftalin, Howie Naftalin, Kelly Pearl, Abe Sherman, Ryan Testa, Yvonne Webber

Committee's Key Missions: Discuss halachic issues that Rabbi Kornberg brings to the committee and advise the Board on those policy

decisions. Engage our congregants in Jewish life wherever they happen to be.

Committee Projects & Accomplishments High Holy Days Honors This year the committee improved our process to reach out to members who had not had honors before:

Working with the Beth Am office on customized email, we significantly increased the early outreach list of people who said they were interested in receiving an honor.

Using a list of members who had honors in the past, our focus on cold calls for various readings was on members who had not yet received an honor.

Everyone who accepted an honor received a confirmation email for the day and type of honor. After High Holy Days, the committee conducts a “Lessons Learned” meeting to ensure that each year the procedure keeps improving.

14


Mourning Guide The committee will be writing a guide to provide families with end-of-life information regarding Beth Am resources, Jewish traditions, and selected readings to provide comfort. The final version of this will be in both online and printed formats. Our target completion date is summer 2020.

Future Plans Work with Beth Am office to expand Beth Am’s member records to include anniversary B’nai Mitzvah dates. The goal is to invite members of all ages to celebrate their B’nai Mitzvah anniversary on their anniversary date with a Shabbat aliyah. We would encourage them to bring along family members.

Organize an Adult B’nai Mitzvah class.

The target audience will be 10-12 Jewish and converted adults who have not had a B’nai Mitzvah. Study & classes will take place during a one-year program. Before COVID-19, the committee was working with Rabbi Kornberg to organize an Adult B’nai Mitzvah class with

a Shabbat B’nai Mitzvah service in of May 2021. Since COVID-19 has disrupted the regular B’nai Mitzvah schedule, the committee will wait until an updated and

finalized schedule has been established. Then we will work out a new date for an Adult B’nai Mitzvah class, either late 2021 or early 2022.

Congregation Beth Am Men’s Club The Beth Am Men’s Club (“BAMC”) primary purpose is to bring together our Beth Am men, strengthening the bonds of our congregation and the Beth Am community as a whole. This purpose is accomplished through:

Social gatherings Community support Tikkun Olam Volunteering and assisting at Beth Am Raising scholarships for our youth to travel to Israel and attend Jewish summer camps Engaging in Judaic studies Currently, the BAMC has 38 paid members. That being said, the reach of BAMC is in excess of 500 members.

Some of the BAMC events held over this last fiscal year have included:

Assisted with Labor Day picnic Ushering at High Holy Days Hosted Sukkah Sleepover for dads and their young children Fantasy Football League & Football Night Steak and Scotch at Rabbi Kornberg’s house Hosted World Wide Wrap “Movember” – Promoting men’s health awareness

15


Awarded two youth scholarships for summer trips to Israel and to support attendance at Jewish summer camp Served meals through JFS as part of the Safe Parking Program for unsheltered families Prior to COVID-19, our Annual Poker Tournament was scheduled to occur in April. The purpose of the event is to bring our community together for fun and games, while raising money for our scholarship program. The tournament has been postponed due to the pandemic.

Our last scheduled event for the year is the annual BBQ & Brew, which was scheduled for May 17th. This event will also be postponed or cancelled.

We are regularly holding Learn with Earne, Scotch & Study both via Zoom, to keep connected to our BAMC and Beth Am community during the state-wide lockdown.

Our board is currently working on opportunities to assist and serve our Beth Am community, as well as our community as a whole, during the current pandemic. The board is looking into additional volunteer opportunities with JFS and a San Diego blood drive.

We owe a special thanks to our hard-working BAMC executive committee members:

Roland Achtel (President), Josh Caplan (Immediate Past President), Brett Meltzer (Treasurer)

Executive Board: Ethan Cohen, Andrew Greenberg, Shai Kalansky, Daniel Klaristenfeld, Dan Lieb, Don Reckles, Ryan Testa, Dan Zagursky

Without their hard work, commitment, and dedication, the BAMC would not have had such an amazing year.

Safety & Security Council Chairperson: Marc Potash Staff Liaison: Gilad Hoffman, Executive Director The Safety & Security Council has taken a proactive approach to the safety & security of the CBA campus, our members, students, and staff. The Council is composed of Rabbi Kornberg, Gilad Hoffman, lay leaders from our community, and professionals from our security company, SDPD, ADL, and the Dept. of Homeland Security.

Please note that by the very nature of this work, providing written details could compromise our plans so below is a summary of the steps we have taken over the past year. If you have any specific questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to any member of the council.

Applied for and was recently awarded a grant to upgrade our security systems through the State program implemented in the wake of the Poway shooting.

Upgrades to our camera system. Cyber security upgrades. Review of physical safety and security needs. Conduct lock-down and fire drills on a regular basis with staff and when students are present. Serve as the liaison for any member questions or concerns about safety & security on campus. Monthly meetings to review, create, and implement safety & security policies for the Beth Am community.

16


Fundraising Committee Chair: Sabrina Kerbel

A lot has happened over the past year! The Fundraising Committee started off the year discussing how to make the “Yom Kippur Ask” more interesting and dynamic. We decided to ask multiple congregants to share their experiences with their fellow members. The “Yom Kippur Ask” is Beth Am’s largest annual fundraiser and we want to express our sincere thank you to everyone who participated. From the speakers who bravely got up on the Bima and shared their stories, to you, our members who generously made a pledge on our holiest day of the year, to our Board members who collected the pledges and finally to our staff and Gratitude Committee members who took the time to hand write thank you notes to all our donors. And speaking of the Gratitude Committee, this is a new committee, created by the urging of Dr. Robert (Bob) Stein, who felt that Beth Am needed to step-up its thank you game. Initially, we started out as the “Thank You” Committee, we felt “Gratitude” was a much more appropriate title. While this committee is a sub-committee of fundraising, it plays a much larger role than just thanking our donors. We realized that our members contribute in many ways, not just financially and our goal is to thank each and every member who contributes in any way to the life at CBA. We have rewritten all the official thank you donation letters that go out, have hand-written thank you notes for various donations and occasions, helped create the Thanksgiving message that was sent out to all members and are helping raise awareness that all aspects of CBA life needs to be acknowledged and sincerely thanked. The Gratitude Committee wants to hear feedback on our efforts and if you have ideas/suggestions on other ways we can say “thank you” to our community, we would love to hear from you.

We decided we needed to figure out how impactful and successful our gratitude outreach is and can be. We created a Gratitude Task Force who is looking at the metrics needed to determine our impact in the short and long term.

Before the High Holy Days, we decided to formally recognize an important donor group within Beth Am: our legacy and endowment donors. Who is this group and what is a legacy/endowment gift? It’s a way to remember your connection with Congregation Beth Am in your estate plan by naming CBA as a beneficiary with either a specific amount or percentage of your estate. Of course, you can also do this while you are still living (called an endowment). We named the group The Rimon Society (Pomegranate Society) and decided that our first act would be to honor a few of the members with a special Aliyah during the first day of Rosh Hashanah. We look forward to continuing this new tradition. We are also working on creating a unique Rimon Society lapel pin and are planning a special event to present the pin and honor these thoughtful members. If you would like to find out more about joining The Rimon Society, please don’t hesitate to contact our Executive Director, Gilad Hoffman.

Another major fundraising event was our annual CBA Gala. This year’s theme was the ‘70’s and it was totally groovy! Though attendance was lower than previous years, everyone had an amazing time, with ‘70s themed food, décor, music and fashion! We also raised more money than in many previous years, thanks in large part to our generous underwriters, and people who bought raffle tickets and won silent auction items. We had a fantastic gala committee led by Veronica Leff. A special thank you goes out to Rabbi Earne who offered to throw an ice cream party to the JLC class who sold the most raffle tickets!!!

While it’s fun to plan events, our committees have been busy behind the scene. Previously, we created the CBA Donation Policy and A Naming Rights Policy. We are currently working on A Legacy/Endowment Gift Acceptance

17


Policy, which should be completed before the end of this fiscal year. As per our Strategic Plan, we are working on CBA’s long-term fundraising plan which will cover short, medium- and long-term goals and strategies. These goals have been determined in conjunction with the Finance Committee and the Board of Directors. We created a comprehensive fundraising/gratitude calendar that includes events, outreach, thank you communication and everything in between, until the end of 2021.

Now that the restrictions of COVID-19 are upon us, our planned events have had to be cancelled or postponed. While our short-term plans have to be reworked, our medium- and long-term plans remain the same with the ultimate goal of a debt-free Beth Am by the year 2030. We’re still working behind the scene, meeting on Zoom, continuing our work on the long-term plan, writing legacy/endowment policy and getting ready to hit the floor running once restrictions are lifted and we can start to move back to “normal” life. Donations for all aspects of CBA life are still being accepted, both online and by mail. This is also a great time to reconsider your estate plans and talk to us about leaving a legacy for Congregation Beth Am to ensure we are still here for your future generations.

If you have a passion for connecting with people, love some or all aspects of fundraising, ways of saying thank you or speaking to people about their legacy, we would love to hear from you! We are currently looking for highly motivated people who would be interested in working on our Fundraising committee, Gratitude committee or Legacy & Endowment committee. Please contact our Executive Director, Gilad Hoffman.

In closing, I’d like to thank the following committee members for all their hard work, passion and dedication to CBA:

Fundraising Committee: Brett Chodorow, Veronica Leff, Jeremy Pearl and our staff: Gilad Hoffman, Susan Mualim and Rabbi Kornberg

Gratitude Committee: Veronica Leff, Dr. Robert (Bob) Stein and our staff: Susan Mualim, Gilad Hoffman and Rabbi Kornberg

Gratitude Task Force: Naomi Harris, Debbie Kempinski, Jeremy Pearl and our staff: Gilad Hoffman

COVID-19 Task Force We convened a group of medical professionals, lay leaders, and staff to help deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The task force helped put measures in place to allow the synagogue decide when it was necessary to close the campus based on San Diego County and California requirements. The committee is currently working on a multistage process to determine how and when we will reopen our campus.

Membership Committee Our main goal as a membership committee is to bring the community together by sponsoring community building activities and by continually welcoming new members. Here are some of the highlights from this past year:

Member Retention and Outreach Programs

Community Labor Day Picnic Sukkah Sleep Over

18


Community Hanukkah Dinner Shabbat Dinner with Issac “Buji” Hertzog CBA Talks - Speaker series covering an array of topics. Beth Am Café – a variety of movies planned by our adult engagement committee Ariel Quartet Our monthly publication has been well-received by members, and we will continue to publish once our building

is back open.

Building and Grounds Areas of focus and achievement have been:

General

Worked closely with our landscape company to improve weekly upkeep of CBA grounds. Organizing and transferring recorded information of existing buildings to electronic format. To include new

building information. Updating logistics, building requirements and preparations for High Holy Days. Redesigned front lobby area. Working with our cleaning crew to ensure our campus is clean for all schools and programs. Kitchen

Caterer change was made which has led to a more positive experience overall. Upgraded kitchen equipment. Added tablecloth service for all events. Communications

We have worked diligently this year to be more effective in communicating with all congregants.

We are currently doing/ have done the following:

We have upgraded our website to be more modern and more user friendly. The calendar feature has been updated to keep up-to-date information. Weekly e-blasts have clearer and more focused information with upcoming events. Monthly magazine. Departmental emails have a uniform look with consistency.

19


Nominations & Leadership Development Committee Sabrina Kerbel

Heads Up Board of Directors interview complete

Major Accomplishments: Successful Interviews of 3 BOD candidates completed over Zoom Proposed 2020/21 BOD slate ready for board acceptance and then approval at CBA annual meeting

Focus for Next Month (or two): Sending proposed slate and new candidate community bios with CBA annual meeting package Thanking candidates and committee for their participation and work

Blockers: None at this time

FINANCIAL 2020/2021 Budget One of the agenda items for the Annual Meeting is the approval of the 2020/2021 Beth Am budget. In the enclosed packet you will find a summary of the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year beginning July 1, 2020.

The Budget Committee and the Board of Directors have worked diligently on the budget throughout the year. The challenge in drafting the budget for the next fiscal year has been to maintain the integrity of the programming that Beth Am members expect from our synagogue, and at the same time, take into account the current economic realities we face individually and collectively. Your board has worked hard to balance the interest and needs of all Beth Am stakeholders: our members, admin/staff, and teachers.

Treasurer’s Annual Report Dear Members,

Below is a brief summary of the past year’s major financial events at Beth Am and also a look forward to the 2020-2021 Budget.

Last year, your board passed a budget that anticipated a shortfall of $1412. Pre COVID-19 we were on target for a surplus. COVID-19 has resulted in a reduction in costs as well as revenue. The synagogue was able to apply and obtain the PPP loan that will likely be forgiven. Taking all these into consideration we are still hoping for a small surplus for the fiscal year of 2019-2020 ending June 30th.

For next year, taking into consideration the current situation in the world, the board has passed a flat budget over budget year with an insignificant amount of revenue of $642.

20


2019-20 BUDGET 2020-21 BUDGET

Income Admin B'nai Mitzvah $40,800.00 $36,000.00 Center for Lifelong Jewish Learning $5,500.00 $5,500.00 Facilities $128,600.00 $131,500.00 High Holy Days $108,750.00 $117,450.00 Jewish Learning Center $256,223.00 $226,450.00 Membership $999,400.00 $853,805.00 Early Childhood Center $2,107,000.00 $2,186,420.00 Ritual $4,500.00 $4,500.00 Sabra $100,290.00 $94,495.00 Shabbat $23,500.00 $11,000.00 Ways & Means $32,900.00 $26,450.00 Youth $35,530.00 $33,925.00

Total Income $3,842,993.00 $3,727,495.00 Expense by Department

Admin (Excluding Mortgage Interest) $562,275.00 $575,880.00 B'nai Mitzvah $36,400.00 $32,400.00 Clergy $479,980.00 $488,650.00 Center for Lifelong Jewish Learning $19,750.00 $3,750.00 Facilities $472,925.00 $511,000.00 High Holy Days $32,885.00 $37,100.00 Jewish Learning Center $263,190.00 $221,920.00 Membership $12,000.00 $12,000.00 Early Childhood Center $1,462,330.00 $1,507,060.00 Ritual $15,110.00 $15,110.00 Sabra $68,430.00 $63,663.00 Shabbat $81,265.00 $56,765.00 Ways & Means $12,500.00 $500.00 Youth $102,540.00 $120,715.00

Total Expense $3,621,580.00 $3,646,513.00 Net Operating Income (Loss) $221,413.00 $80,982.00 Total Capital Income $350,500.00 $375,500.00 Total Capital Expense (Excluding Mortgage Interest) $35,900.00 $30,900.00 Net Capital Income (Loss) $314,600.00 $344,600.00 Mortgage Interest Expense

Operating $14,395.00 $14,290.00 Capital $191,555.00 $190,000.00

Total Mortgage Interest Expense $205,950.00 $204,290.00 Total Net Income $330,063.00 $221,292.00 Cash Outflow for Capital Items (Balance Sheet Items)

21


Construction Loan Principal Curtailment $100,000.00 $100,000.00 Mortgage Principal Payment $206,475.00 $95,650.00 Roof Improvement $10,000.00 $10,000.00 A/C - Security Equipment - Kitchen UpKeep $15,000.00 $15,000.00

Total Cash Outflow for Capital Items $331,475.00 $220,650.00 Cash Surplus (Shortfall) for the Year (1, 412) 642

CONGREGATION BETH AM 2020 SLATE OF NOMINEES In accordance with Section 12.3 of the Bylaws of Congregation Beth Am, the Nominating Committee proposes the following slate of Directors and Officers for election at the annual members’ meeting.

1. The Nominating Committee proposes the election of the following new Directors to the Board for a normal three-year term, starting July 1, 2020.

Shaloah Aires [Community Bio] Shaloha Aires was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, before she and her family moved to Los Angeles

when she was fifteen years old. Shaloha graduated from Harvard-Westlake high school in Los Angeles and spent four years in Boston where she received her BA from Harvard College in 2004. Shaloha lived and worked in Los Angeles at entrepreneurial technology startups and moved to San Diego in 2010 after meeting her husband, Gary, who charmed her with his South African accent and convinced her that La Jolla beaches were more appealing than Los Angeles traffic! Shaloha and her husband Gary have three children - Ayelet (7), Sasha (4), and Brendan (18 months). Ayelet is a graduate of the Beth Am Early Childhood Center (ECC) and now a student at the Beth Am Jewish Learning Center (JLC), Sasha is currently in the Arieh class at the ECC, and Brendan is a soon-to-be student at the ECC. Shaloha has been a room parent at the preschool for several years and co-chaired various preschool committees including Fundraising, Grandparents Day, Teacher Appreciation, and this past year joined the Education Committee. Needless to say, Beth Am has been a central part of their family's life. Prior to taking a hiatus from the professional world, Shaloha worked at a software technology startup in San Diego where she oversaw strategy and execution of new product launches. Over the last seven years she has devoted her time to her kids, volunteering at Beth Am, volunteering with the Harvard Schools Committee, and providing college admission consulting services to high school students. Shaloha and Gary are supporters of AIPAC, Stand With Us, and active members of several Jewish organizations.

Joshua Caplan [Community Bio] • Joshua Caplan was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He and his wife, Shana Cohen, have three daughters – Louisa

(10), Abigail (9) and Eleanor (4).

In September 2014 they moved to San Diego, CA and joined Congregation Beth Am in 2014. Josh’s roles at Beth Am include Men’s Club Executive Committee (2015-2017), Men’s Club President (2017-2019), and co-chair of the 2017 Beth Am Family Retreat. Josh is a natural resources/environmental law attorney with the California Department of Justice. While he is not at work, Josh spends time on home improvement projects, hiking, cooking and baking with his family and playing basketball with his older daughters.

22


Before moving to San Diego, Josh and Shana lived in Oakland and were members of Congregation Beth Jacob. Long ago, and while Josh was in college, he was active in Hillel at the University of California San Diego and worked as youth advisor for the Tifereth Israel USY chapter. Josh is a Camp Ramah camper and staff alumnus, attending camp every summer, starting at age 10 and continuing through college. Josh was the Camp Ramah program director during the summer of 1999. Josh received his undergraduate degree from the University of California San Diego and his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Yvonne Webber [Community Bio] Yvonne Webber was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She lives her life through and infuses

her teachings with three main values: family, faith, and education. Her family consists of her husband, Ephorn Rosenzweig, three grown children, Judah, Toren, and Eliana, among a web of supportive extended family and friends who are like family. They made San Diego their home in 2005. When they moved to San Diego, Yvonne began teaching at Beth Am preschool and Beth Am soon became their home away from home. After teaching preschool for 14 years, the last five at Beth Am, she earned a master’s degree in Jewish Studies with an advanced certificate in Jewish Teaching, from Gratz College. She has been in Jewish education for over 25 years, working in early childhood education through high school, in informal and formal education. She currently works at San Diego Jewish Academy where she teaches Judaic Studies to middle school and high school students, is the yearbook advisor and Jewish Life Director. An active member of her synagogue community, she believes that her faith is the foundation of her relationships with her family and her students. She hopes that her students enter the world beyond high school capable of knowing, understanding, and practicing their individual values, the values of their home community, and of the Jewish people. She infuses her teaching with as much character development as content and makes herself available for her students. She strives to provide opportunities for her students to see how Jewish values relate to their daily lives. She believes living a Jewishly inspired life and understanding how Jewish values, ethics, and teachings can help us navigate our communities will only make our lives enriched and more meaningful. She uses creativity in both her personal and professional life. For her, creativity is one way to get in touch with our values and make connections between various aspects of our lives. She received her undergraduate degree in Speech Communication with an emphasis on Public Relations and Organizational Communication from California State University at Hayward.

2. The Nominating Committee also proposes the election of the following current Members of the Board of Directors for an additional three-year term, starting July 1, 2020.

3. The Nominating Committee also proposes the election of the following Directors as Officers for the normal one-year terms starting July 1, 2020.

23


Officer Position Name

President Marc Potash

Secretary Allison Borts

Treasurer Abraham Sherman

1st Vice-President Heather Wolfson

2nd Vice-President Elyssa Rosenberg

Immediate Past President Joanna Herman

If the membership elects the Officers and Directors as proposed, the Board of Directors will be comprised of the following 12 members for the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

Name Term Ends Officer Position

Shaloha Aires 2023 Early Childhood Center Chair

Mark Better 2021 Jewish Life & Practices Chair

Allison Borts 2021 Secretary, Parliamentarian

Joshua Caplan 2023 Human Resources Chair

Joanna Herman 2021 Past President, Nominations Chair

Michele Myron 2022 Youth Commissioner

Kelly Pearl 2021 Board Member

Marc Potash 2021 President

Elyssa Rosenberg 2021 2nd Vice President, Jewish Learning Center Chair

Abe Sherman 2022 Treasurer

Yvonne Webber 2023 Board Member

Heather Wolfson 2022 1st Vice President, Membership Chair

* See Note Below

* Note: Men’s Club President and Women’s Circle President are NOT elected positions therefore their names are not included on the nomination slate.

Officer Position Name

Roland Achtel Officer Position Men’s Club President Name

Debbie Sigal Women’s Circle President

24


Nominating Committee: Sabrina Kerbel, Committee Chair

Kelly Pearl

Elyssa Rosenberg

Patrice Gold

Howie Naftalin

Documents

ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING Via Zoom · 2020-05-15 · 2 Congregation Beth Am Annual Membership Meeting 2020 May 1, 2020 . Dear Congregation Beth Am Members, Our Annual Meeting