Dear Havurahniks,

We hope you had the opportunity to meet Rabbi Benjamin Barnett over the weekend and see him in action at services or one of the other events.  If you missed him, you can find the links to videos from the weekend in an email sent yesterday.  Mark your calendar for the weekend of January 6th and 7th to meet our second candidate, Rabbi Micah Becker-Klein, and please RSVP on our website.

Many of you may have questions about how the selection process will work, and we hope to answer those in this email.  If you have other questions that need answering, please send them to info@havurahshalom.org and we will respond on the website and include them in a future email.

How do we make a final decision on which Rabbi to hire?

According to our by-laws, “All decisions with regard to employment and selection of a rabbi shall be made at a congregational meeting, upon the recommendation of the Steering Committee.”

This important Congregational Meeting will be on Sunday, February 12th, 1:00 – 3:00.  Please note this is a different date than the originally published date in March.  Make sure you put February 12^th on your calendar if you plan to attend.

At this meeting, the congregation will vote to confirm the Steering Committee recommendation to hire one of the candidates to begin at Havurah on August 1, 2017. 

So, I don’t get to vote directly on which Rabbi I prefer?

That is correct.  At the Congregational Meeting, you will vote Yes or No to accept the Steering Committee recommendation. 

How do I give my input?

Following each of the Rabbi candidate visits, all Havurah members will be sent a survey soliciting your opinions about that candidate. Don’t delay – you only have five days to complete the surveys after each visit.  In mid-January, after both candidates have visited, there will be a third survey where you will be able to make your preferences clear.

What if I didn’t see both candidates?

We are taping services and other events with both Rabbi candidates and you can watch the sessions by following the links that will be sent out after the visits.

What happens with the survey results?  What other input is being factored into the decision?

The Rabbi Search Committee will be reviewing all survey input as part of their final evaluation.  The committee is conducting extensive interviews with each candidate, and our staff, Steering Committee, and a variety of other lay leaders are also meeting with them.  All of the input generated will be used by the Rabbi Search Committee to support their recommendation to the Steering Committee. 

So Steering makes the final recommendation?

Yes.  We expect to receive the recommendation from the Rabbi Search Committee mid to late January.  The Rabbi Search Committee has been so thorough in their role, that we don’t expect there to be any issue with Steering accepting their recommendation. 

However, the final recommendation to the congregational membership comes from the Steering Committee, not the Rabbi Search Committee.  If the Steering Committee needs to, we will work with the Rabbi Search Committee to resolve any possible concerns about our recommendation.

How will the congregation get more info about the recommendation before the Congregational Meeting in February?

As quickly as possible following Steering’s decision on the recommendation – which we expect to be on approximately January 22nd – we will send material about the recommendation and results from the survey, interviews, etc. out electronically and through the regular mail to all congregants.  You should receive this information with sufficient time to review it before the Congregational Meeting.

What if I can’t be at the Congregational Meeting?

Our by-laws do not have a provision for proxy voting, so only those members who attend the Congregational Meeting will be able to vote.  Our congregational values are rooted in consensus building.  As with other decisions made at congregational meetings, members need to be part of the discussion before voting.  If you can’t attend on February 12th, be sure to complete the surveys so your feedback can be considered by the Rabbi Search Committee.

Why was the Congregational meeting date changed?

The Rabbi Search Committee (RSC) has been in regular contact with the Director of the Placement Center at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College throughout this entire process getting advice, direction and assistance. The RSC was advised that the period of time between the interviews and the congregational meeting was unusually long. To ask any candidate to wait 2-3 months after an interview to receive notification about the job was considered unprofessional and detrimental to both the candidate and Havurah. We could risk losing a great candidate due to the length of time. So the RSC made the recommendation to Steering to change the date of the congregational meeting to an earlier date.

What if both candidates “score evenly” based upon the survey results? How will a candidate be chosen?

The Rabbi Search Committee (RSC) is not just looking at the survey data to make a recommendation to Steering. The RSC is also carefully looking at both interviews, Skype and Formal (in which the Co-Presidents and Past President participated), the references, their writings, and staff impressions. Based on all that data, the RSC will make a recommendation to Steering.

What if neither Rabbi is a good fit for Havurah?

If the Rabbi Search Committee, Steering Committee and congregation decide that neither of the candidates is the right person for Havurah Shalom, Steering will need to make some immediate plans and decisions.  We would most likely need to restart a search process, which would take us out another year with a Rabbi starting no sooner than August 2018.  Steering could decide we will operate without a Rabbi for the longer time, or we could find an interim Rabbi, who we could hire for one to two years.  Interim Rabbis are not candidates for a permanent position, but generally fill in while a congregation does a search for a permanent candidate.  We would be likely to solicit help from the Reconstructionist Rabbinic College in finding an interim rabbi.

You haven’t answered all of my questions.  Where can I get more info?

Please email info@havurahshalom.org with additional questions.  You will get a direct answer back and we will also add the question and answer to the website.

We appreciate the support of the congregation as we go through this process.  This time of transition is very exciting and also somewhat anxious for our community.  We hope to make everyone feel as informed as possible as we go through the next few months.

B’shalom,

Shelley Sobel and Bill Kwitman
Havurah Co-presidents