+ Networked Congregations

(Newsletter Cover, Spring 2013)

Friends, 

When we started Tamid, our goal was to create a Jewish home in Lower Manhattan for people looking to celebrate Shabbat and holidays, to educate their children, and to find the support and care of a loving community. Now, as we approach our first-year anniversary, we’re taking stock of our growth and the potential we have to serve the downtown community. One key word continues to rise to the top: “partnerships.”

The partnerships, collaborations, and organizational relationships we’ve cultivated together has allowed Tamid to reach further than we could have done alone. We’re a “networked congregation” built on personal relationships with leaders and organizations that share our values of openness, resource sharing, and community building.

In the dark days after Hurricane Sandy, we linked up with the United Jewish Council and the Educational Alliance one day and Trinity Wall Street’s Brown Bag Team the next. That week, we met Jenn Chin who runs  Charlotte’s Place and two months later, when President Obama called us to a National Day of Service, Tamid members linked up with Lower Manhattan Community Church and Charlotte’s Place to pack hundreds of meals for the homeless in our neighborhood. People of faith, united in a common good, came together in partnership to make a world of difference.

Our educational partnership with Behrman House Publishers has given our school students a window into the future of Jewish learning though their online Hebrew learning program. Our growing relationship with the American World Jewish Service brought speakers and educators into our classrooms to teach us and our children about tzedaka (charity) and tikkun olam (social change).

The relationships we’ve formed with the clergy and members of Trinity Wall Street has been one of our most important partnerships. From pulpit sharing to important interfaith and intercultural programs like the Yom Kippur Interfaith Ceremony, we would not be where we are today without their support. To be the first Jewish presence at St. Paul’s 9/11 Chapel where we meet for Shabbat and Holidays is a remarkable and proud honor.

Finally, space sharing is resource sharing, and we are grateful to Trinity for worship and to Leman Manhattan (FIDI) and The Perry School (West Village), two outposts of our Hebrew School, for welcoming Tamid.

In the spirit of collaboration, Tamid, The New Shul, and UJA Federation of New York will be launching a new community service program for teens called the Downtown Hunger Action Project. Starting in September, our teens will meet one Saturday night per month to make and deliver dinners to people living on the streets of New York on a “midnight run.”

To each and everyone of our organizational partners, thank you for helping us promote our vision of Judaism – open, without walls, personal, and vibrant. We look forward to many years of friendship and creating new relationships in the years ahead. Thank you!

Blessings of goodness and health and I look forward to seeing you soon,