6 | DECEMBER 1 • 2022 

1942 - 2022

Covering and Connecting 
Jewish Detroit Every Week

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DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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O

ver the last two-plus 
years of the COVID-
19 pandemic, we 
have applauded institutions 
both secular and non-secular 
for how they have 
“pivoted” or been 
“flexible.
” 
As our syn-
agogues have 
emerged from 
this pandemic 
reality, our clergy, 
administrators 
and lay leaders have found 
themselves trying to assess 

what the new needs of our 
communities are. 
Change has not always been 
a strong suit of our Jewish 
houses of worship as we often 
find ourselves falling into habit-
ual norms, but the desires and 
priorities of our congregants 
have shifted over time and so 
must we do the same.
In early November, I attend-
ed the National Association 
of Temple Administration 
(NATA) conference in 
Clearwater, Florida, where the 
theme was “Surfing Through 

the Waves.
” What greeted the 
over 150 synagogue admin-
istrators was the “waves of 
change” as the conversation 
focused not on the path from 
which we emerged but the 
route we must take forward.
In December 2019, at the 
Union for Reform Judaism 
(URJ) Biennial held in Boston, 
the URJ Vice President for 
Strengthening Congregations 
Amy Asin addressed the 
thousands in attendance. Asin 
shared, “Why talk so much 
about change? Because the 

decision to stay the same is a 
decision to allow the synagogue 
model to fade away.
”
Unbeknownst to Asin at 
the time was the forthcoming 
COVID pandemic and the 
early ripples of a wave that had 
an unknown direction for us all.

TAKING ACTION
While this was the second 
in-person NATA conference 
since the onset of COVID 
with a third in 2020 held com-
pletely digital, we all knew 
that the change that Asin 
spoke of almost three years 
ago was never more prevalent 
that it would be now.
Synagogues, along with their 
lay leaders and clergy have had 
no choice but to make dynamic 
adjustments over the last few 
years.
These “waves” have been felt 
across the spectrum of insti-
tutional life from worship to 
membership, staffing to physi-
cal spaces.
My timing as the new exec-
utive director at Temple Israel 

guest column

Riding the Waves of Change 
at Our Synagogues

Jason 
Plotkin

Reflections from the National Association of Temple 
Administration (NATA) Conference.

PURELY COMMENTARY

