A Welcome I Will Always Remember

As I walked through the door to Park Avenue Synagogue for my first day of work, I was completely taken aback. At the entrance of this historic institution stood Rabbis Elliot Cosgrove, Neil Zuckerman and Ethan Witkovsky and Beryl Chernov, executive director, to welcome me to the team.

This greeting was a welcome I will always remember. I imagine this is how a guest must've felt when entering Abraham's and Sarah's tent and experiencing, what Dr. Ron Wolfson labels, "radical hospitality".

Still feeling the warmth of this personal reception, I sat down in my new office for the first time and reflected on the power of welcoming. It is amazing how a a simple and sincere "hello" can make us feel like we belong. Especially when entering a new synagogue, school, camp or meeting, welcoming can not only put us at ease, but also opens us up to new relational possibilities with the faces and spaces around us.

Just then, I noticed on my desk a placard with the principles of Park Avenue Synagogue "Leadership Culture". These include: "Provide a warm and welcome entry into our community - meet people where they are. .. Build the future - identify and and develop our long-term team. .. Continuously improve - be respectful of tradition but encourage innovation."

What I discovered over the course of my first day is that welcoming is an explicit and integral part of Park Avenue Synagogue's mission statement. So much so, the current lay leadership team has created plaques with these values that are displayed all over the building. With these plaques for all to see, the mission statement becomes a living guide for how we build relationships, create community and conduct our business with our stakeholders.

That the greeting I received represents an expression of a shared congregational value did not mitigate its impact; rather it amplified my excitement to work at a synagogue where these values are part of the mission and where the mission is a living expression of communal hopes and aspirations. Equally important, this greeting reminded me to pay it forward in the days, months and years ahead.

Publicizing purpose-drive principles is not a new phenomenon for the Jews.When the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, they were greeted with the 613 commandments written on two mountainsides. This written testimony reminded our ancestors about where they came from and what kind of community they aspired to become.

Last year on Kol Nidre, the Chairman of Park Avenue Synagogue, Arthur Penn, spoke about the congregation's mission statement:

• You belong to a community that seeks to inspire, educate and support our members in Judaism.
• You belong to a community that aspires to foster deep connections with each other, our Torah, our God, the State of Israel and broader humanity.
• You belong to a community that is warm and welcoming and meets you where you are.
• You belong to a community with a legacy of family and faith.
• You belong to a community.

Art's linking belonging with community is more than about membership as a transaction. He describes how we can be transformed when we come together to learn, yearn, pray and play together.

At the end of my first day at Park Avenue Synagogue, a wonderful family dropped off a special welcome gift, a bag of personalized M&M's. This was a delicious bookend to my morning greeting.

On my first day of work, I can certainly say that my new community at Park Avenue Synagogue "had me at 'hello'".