Reflections and Appreciation 

                       By Seth Axelrod, President

President of Adath Israel is among the most surprising twists of mine. And it will

always be among my most honored and treasured privileges.

When I first stood before you at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I marveled at

the offerings of our extraordinary institution, and I questioned how a man with my

limited qualifications ended up in a trusted position of leadership like this. In many

ways, I felt unprepared for my new role.

But, with support and guidance from many individuals, I forged ahead and
did my best. I’d specifically like to single out the support I received from Eileen

Daling and Naomi Kamins, who helped keep me on track, Mike Sigal, Lee

Osborne, and Myron Poliner, who helped me be practical, Rabbi Haaz and

Richard Kamins for sharing their wisdom, Rebecca Axelrod for being my
sounding board and emotional support, and Eliot Meadow for being my guide

eachtime I needed one.

I’m also grateful for the assistance I received from Miriam Benson, former

Executive Director of the CT Valley Region of the United Synagogues for
Conservative Judaism, who helped me think through my goals for the

presidency. Specifically, she helped me articulate five goals, including

1. helping our Rabbi to successfully settle into our community,
   
2. helping our community settle into our newly acquired Nester Center,
   
3. rejuvenating ourBoard of Directors,  
4. better integrating our interfaith families, and
   
5. solidifying our relationship with Wesleyan University.
   

 Although I have many reservations about my performance as president, I am

quite proud of the progress we have made in each of these areas.

Our Rabbi has become our trusted, respected, and highly popular spiritua

leader, his growing family has been warmly embraced by ourcommunity, and

he has assured me of his pleasure in being part of our community.

The Nester Center has become increasingly vibrant with activities,including

spiritual observances, parties, rehearsals, meetings, and even sleepovers.

Ten individuals became either board members or representatives to the board

at my invitation, and have been responsible for a flurry ofactivities and revitalization

in synagogue affairs.

Several members of our Jewish families who are not themselvesJewish have

become productive in supporting and/or leading our community, includingattending

board meetings, participating in a review of our by-laws with an eye on interfaith
families, and, of course, joining us in facing the challenge of approaching a

multifaith cemetery policy.

And finally, our synagogue has developed several new collaborations with

Wesleyan University, including courses that focus on artifacts from our museum,
shared visiting scholars, and a formal agreement in which the Wesleyan

Special Collections Department is cataloguing, preserving, maintaining, and

showing our museum’s historical texts.

Beyond these developments, I havehad many special memories in these past

two years, such as fulfilling the commandment of writing a Torah as part of our

Torah Rededication, wrapping our rabbi in a Tallit as part of his installation to

Adath Israel, ballroom dancing with my wife as part of an evening of

Pray-Sip-Swing, playing on our softball team and winning a first game,
welcoming several of our b’nai mizvah students to the rights and responsibilities

of Jewish adulthood, providing counsel to synagogue members, helping to  

dedicate the Nester Center, and hearing from you when you have felt inspired

by my High Holiday addresses or these Kolot articles.

And there have been many other developments and activities in our synagogue
over the past two years that I have been more or less directly involved with

and that give me great nachas. I will also take great pride and joy in my final
act as Adath Israel President, passing the torch into the capable hands of

Naomi Kamins and Stephanie Meadow. Please join me in encouraging their vision
for the next leg of our congregation’s journey, by supporting their initiatives,

entering into dialogues with them about their ideas, and most importantly,

heeding their calls to action. Toda Rabbah for your trust, patience, and support.

L’Shalom,