Incoming Chair’s Address to the AGM 2018 (Russell Baum)

Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 22 May 2018

Thank you Peter, and thank you all for your votes of confidence.  Standing unelected is always a concern because the incumbent never really knows if they were the right person for the job, but a unanimous vote speaks to the level of trust you have in me.  So, thank you again.

It’s a real privilege to be here this morning with another new hat.  When I discussed with my family how it would feel I knew that as long as I wasn’t reading the Treasurer’s report again it could only be good.

Truthfully, when Paul Winter and Stephen Grabiner first asked me to become Treasurer back in 2006 I never thought I would one day end up giving the address by the incoming Chair.  It was supposed to be a 2-year gig to stand in and help out, but I guess if there’s a role for me, there’s a job to be done.

But whilst I am the new Chair, we are all responsible for leading Alyth forward, little by little, those of us on Executive and Council, those who are active volunteers, those who come to services and activities and those who just care enough about what is happening in our community to have their voice heard at an AGM, at a consultation or even by email.  It is our voices and actions that change ­our community.

Noeleen has spoken about the past – I want to talk briefly about the future.  When I agreed to come back to Executive as Vice Chair I thought I would be able to sit back and enjoy the spoils of the work Noeleen started but the next two years will be an incredibly exciting period of change as several projects come to fruition.

The commencement of construction of the building works will be here before we know it and the challenges of operating in a building site are not insignificant but by planning properly we can mitigate those concerns and the building we will have at the end of the project will be one of which we will be immensely proud.  This will be a building with discrete and spiritual prayer spaces, with the ability to cater for a 300-person kiddush with ease, a fully accessible building for all our members with hearing loops throughout and proper audio-visual equipment for learning, study and the arts, with external beauty and internal functionality and places to gather for social interaction, all with better environmental credentials.

But that’s not all.  You have seen on the agenda the proposed resolution to convert Alyth into an incorporated charity, limited by guarantee.  That needs new governing documents and structure and an interesting and challenging implementation period.  The time is right for this.  No longer is Alyth a synagogue with a single Rabbi.  The last 10 years have seen changes in our structure and membership and we are so much more than a shul now.  Our members are entitled to know that our governing documents reflect society and best practice for modern governance structures.

As we move into a new age we do so with opportunity.  We will shortly be changing our entire database and together with the introduction of GDPR – general data protection regulations – we have had to think very carefully about how we interact with you, our members.  We believe the strengths of our incoming database are its flexibility and the ability it will give you to tell us what interests you and to keep you updated on the issues that matter to you.

But of course, GDPR, like the current focus on safeguarding, brings challenges too and we need to make sure our processes are the very best they can be, so we can turn the threats into opportunities.

Which of course brings me to Noeleen and the opportunity that her tutelage has given me.  I have learnt an incredible amount in the two years I have worked with her and value her guidance.  She has been an incredible chair, true to her beliefs, giving an enormous amount of time to the community, supplying design skills, project management, inspired leadership, and negotiation skills.  I have said it before, but she is a beautiful and eloquent speaker and has an air of inbuilt statesmanship I have always admired and will try my hardest to replicate.

I don’t believe that as a community we can afford to lose her skillset and let her wander off into the sunset so I have asked her to formally take 2 new roles as Chair of the Building Project Team, ensuring our timetables are adhered to and project managing the plan as we move from outline planning to detail design and then implementation and as Convenor of the Governance Review Group so that if the proposed resolution is passed Executive can be satisfied that the work will be done efficiently, capably and in good time.  Both of these roles require deep-seated Alyth knowledge and the ability to act with complete independence and I can think of nobody better.

Noels, you have already been thanked numerous times and I know there will be further opportunities to recognise the tremendous amount you have done for Alyth and will continue to do but on a personal note I have a little gift for you from me to say thank you for being a mentor, a guide and more importantly, a friend.

I also have the great honour of presenting you on behalf of the community you have been such a part of for so many years, with a slightly more impressive version of the text you were just given.  You might notice that within it there is a not so secret message – Chaim Shel Shalom Yifrach Which translates as – A life where Shalom will flower.

Thank you and see you on Tuesday morning at the next building meeting.

I am immensely grateful to Abi and my boys for allowing me to take this responsibility.  I know it will take up much of our personal time but with the right management structure it will be less consuming than before, and the good thing is I can now set the meeting times.  I promise home will always be my priority.

I am excited about the future but aware of that feeling of trepidation that comes with responsibility.  I fully intend to use those around me to make sure that as a team we always act in the best interests of Alyth and I will never be too proud to listen to advice.  I might be too proud to act on it but that’s a different matter.

I am really looking forward to working with the staff team we have in place; a vibrant, youthful and dynamic rabbinic team (well 2 out of three) and a professional, enthusiastic and hard-working group of staff.  A great deal of the simplicity of this job ids down to them.  I am sure the team will go from strength to strength and hope I can support each of them doing that and be part of their future too.

Finally, although he hasn’t been elected yet I want to thank David Brown for agreeing to come back to Executive as our new Vice Chair.  As you’re no doubt aware from his biography, David has spent a lot of time working as a management consultant, so he brings some incredibly important skills to our team at a time of change.  I am sure we will find his advice excellently delivered assuming we can understand his management speak.  I am looking forward to working with you David.

2 years ago, I would have said that my motto for the next 2 would be steady as she goes but there is so much going on that won’t work now.  It’s not Iceberg ahead but it’s certainly clear that there’s a lot to be done and if I’m not sitting here in a years’ time able to report on the successful implementation of the numerous projects that are ongoing I will have failed.  Now is a time for thought, analysis and appropriate action.  There’s lots to do – let’s do it.

Thank you