shavuot has come and gone. yizkor may have been the last rabbi dresin i will hear, at least officially as he will not be speaking at the belfer bat mitzvah this coming shabbos and i am on call the following week. that leaves the board meeting dvar torah and the last shabbat in june as the final opportunities.

my take on his pre-yizkor remarks goes something like this: he sees the leadership of the congregation as somewhat delusional if they think they can perpetuate the status quo indefinitely. i couldn't agree more. he sees little incentive to grow the capacity of the membership, it certainly doesn't appear self-driven. not only is it languishing at akse but throughout the community there has been an acceptance of mediocrity. his antidote to mediocrity differs from mine. he would put in a mikvah. why? to make it easier to convert people but he would be the first one to withold that right from his fellow RAD members if akse owned the mikvah and set the policy. i think the status quo is better, with the conservatives in wynnewood controlling the mikvah's access and the black hatters assuring its kashrut. he would like a stronger day school. ironically, me too, as it sets the jewish tone for the community. if it is run by slimebugs as i encountered, then it is probably a correct assumption that the leadership of the jewish community tolerates slimebugs. if it functions as a little snot factory, then that same patronizing approach by the leadership toward the constituents permeates other areas. the day school must be strong in its teaching and above reproach in how it treats people at the margins. the rest of the community will follow that same barometer.



i see akse's potential very differently than rabbi dresin did. my model focuses on a hybrid between hillel and ramah. the congregation needs to reflect its constituents to create a base of stability. you cannot successfully pretend to be what you are not under any circumstances. true, you can display what you aspire to but there is a certain amount of honesty required that you really aspire to what you claim and a certain accountability that you work toward what you claim. i see beth shalom doing that but not akse.

akse has a lot of strength. i don't think people realize how important it is to not have macher swoops and to have champions of pet projects. i do not see a lot a vision of what is possible and what is worth working toward.