Shir Ha-Ma'alot Mission Statement

Shir Ha-Ma’alot’s Mission Statement
 

Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot is a Reform Jewish community that provides a spiritual home guided by memory and mitzvah, committed to mentsch making and making meaning.

Memory:

• We have a sacred obligation to be guardians of the past and to remember those who came before us. We stand on their shoulders.
• We shall use our collective Jewish memory to guide us on our paths.
• We will pass our tradition from generation to generation. We will cherish the past and we will create new Jewish memories for those who come after us.

Mitzvah:

• We will create a community, and by extension, a world, centered in good deeds.
• We will serve as a place where people will be inspired to do mitzvot as part of their very being.
• We will treat each other with kindness. We will be guided by the biblical
• dictum, “Love thy neighbor as thyself, I am the Lord (Lev. 19:18)” and the
• Talmudic dictum, “What is hateful to you, do not do to another person. (Hillel)”. Our congregants and congregation as a whole will represent the best of humanity.

Mentsch Making:

• We will recognize that every human being is created in God’s Image. Our
• community will emulate that Holy Reflection and all will bask in its glow.
• We will teach that everyone is special and has something unique to offer our community. In so teaching, we strive to further deepen our relationships to each other, to our community and to the Eternal One.
• We will create a holy community, beginning within the walls of the
• synagogue and then flowing outside the walls; in which kindness abides,
• benefit of the doubt is common place and caring is paramount.

Making Meaning:

• We recognize that Judaism marks time as holy. From our music to our
• meetings, every moment will be a time to make meaning.
• We will search for meaning in all that we do. In times of joy and in times of sadness, bringing a Jewish message to those moments fills time with depth.
• We will treat each minute, from the classroom to the boardroom, as a gift from God to be used wisely.