We all need advisors to help us reach the brass ring. Or in Frodo's case, to cast it into the fires of Mordor.
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Creating something all new comes with inherent excitement - new spaces, new programs, new ideas. But quickly the enthusiasm of great ideas gives way to reality checks - and worries. Is that realistic? Am I insane? Sure, Theodor Herzl famously said im tirtzu, ain zo aggadah – 'If you will it, it is no dream.' But translating dreams into reality involves lots of thought and planning, and also having a lot of advisors and helpers to tell you the difference between your great ideas and the things that will never in a million years work.
I'm blessed that I have a lot of smart people to call upon to evaluate my good and not-good ideas. They serve as a veritable 'Council of Elrond' of sorts. Obviously the first of these people is Francis Lasday, my co-founder. Frances' talent for community organizing; her passion for egalitarian Judaism; her general warmth and intelligence; allow us to operate in chevruta in building an organization from scratch. But there are definitely others. (Also, she's going to write one of these soon and introduce herself. I don't want to steal her thunder prematurely.)
One of my first phone calls as things were getting rolling was to Rabbi David Rosenn. David was the founder of Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps, and so understanding what it takes to start an organization, including all of the organizational structure and the initial grantwriting and fundraising. He had that motivational fire-type advice that we all need from time to time: "You can do this. It's hard, but not that hard. Go do it." I asked him also about the craziness of starting an organization mid-career vs doing what he did - starting his rabbinic career as a Jewish organizational entrepreneur. He pointed out that I have connections and relationships because I've been in the business for 20 years that he didn't have. That level of perspective is so, so helpful.
Shira Berkovits has been so so helpful, too. The founder and President/CEO of Sacred Spaces, she understands the foundation grant world and the small non-profit world. She knows business plans and tax designations. She's unbelievable generous with her time; and unbelievably affirming. She's constantly got the 'what about?' and 'have you thought about?' questions that make me evaluate the priorities and the next steps.
Dan Messinger is a unique advisor. He runs a kosher bakery and cafe in Los Angeles - so he understands the profit margins, the day-to-day operations, the food sourcing and equipment maintenance and retail rental space market. He was a fantastic reality check - he asked lots of questions and I had an answer for almost every one – which really helped to let me know that I am not crazy. I mean, a little crazy. But also on top of all the details.
Two small shoutouts to some new friends: Rabbi Charlie Schwartz of Lehrhaus and Rabbi Jessy Dressin of Third Space at Shaarei Tfiloh. The most frequent thing that happens when I tell folks about my idea for a hybrid coffee shop/Jewish learning platform is that they say 'have you heard about Lehrhaus?' It's been a privilege to talk to Charlie about the vision and the implementation of Lehrhaus, and it is a high priority to get out to Boston and see what they're cooking up. Rabbi Jessy started a Jewish community in an old synagogue space in Philadelphia, but it's a different kind of community, and so it had some neat overlap with Shoresh. I look forward to learning more from them both.
I'm so glad I have folks to bounce ideas off of; and to have people I can count on to serve as a reality check.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
In more mundane updates, it's been ups and downs for the past month. Our grantwriting and planning continues on schedule, as does the planning for our first community raise/crowdfunder. We missed out on a pair of grants from foundations that I was hoping for, but that's fairly normal. The industry standard on foundation grants is that they have about an 80% rejection rate. Try try again, I guess?
We got some more encouraging news on that favorite potential location in Greenfield we refer to as 'the Bank'; the owners indicated interest in doing work and putting in a bathroom on the ground floor, which would be huge. We have inquired about another location that I think would also be a good fit, and we'll see how things progress.
Happy Pesach to everyone, and thanks for reading our latest update. We're glad to have you along for the ride.
...
Creating something all new comes with inherent excitement - new spaces, new programs, new ideas. But quickly the enthusiasm of great ideas gives way to reality checks - and worries. Is that realistic? Am I insane? Sure, Theodor Herzl famously said im tirtzu, ain zo aggadah – 'If you will it, it is no dream.' But translating dreams into reality involves lots of thought and planning, and also having a lot of advisors and helpers to tell you the difference between your great ideas and the things that will never in a million years work.
I'm blessed that I have a lot of smart people to call upon to evaluate my good and not-good ideas. They serve as a veritable 'Council of Elrond' of sorts. Obviously the first of these people is Francis Lasday, my co-founder. Frances' talent for community organizing; her passion for egalitarian Judaism; her general warmth and intelligence; allow us to operate in chevruta in building an organization from scratch. But there are definitely others. (Also, she's going to write one of these soon and introduce herself. I don't want to steal her thunder prematurely.)
One of my first phone calls as things were getting rolling was to Rabbi David Rosenn. David was the founder of Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps, and so understanding what it takes to start an organization, including all of the organizational structure and the initial grantwriting and fundraising. He had that motivational fire-type advice that we all need from time to time: "You can do this. It's hard, but not that hard. Go do it." I asked him also about the craziness of starting an organization mid-career vs doing what he did - starting his rabbinic career as a Jewish organizational entrepreneur. He pointed out that I have connections and relationships because I've been in the business for 20 years that he didn't have. That level of perspective is so, so helpful.
Shira Berkovits has been so so helpful, too. The founder and President/CEO of Sacred Spaces, she understands the foundation grant world and the small non-profit world. She knows business plans and tax designations. She's unbelievable generous with her time; and unbelievably affirming. She's constantly got the 'what about?' and 'have you thought about?' questions that make me evaluate the priorities and the next steps.
Dan Messinger is a unique advisor. He runs a kosher bakery and cafe in Los Angeles - so he understands the profit margins, the day-to-day operations, the food sourcing and equipment maintenance and retail rental space market. He was a fantastic reality check - he asked lots of questions and I had an answer for almost every one – which really helped to let me know that I am not crazy. I mean, a little crazy. But also on top of all the details.
Two small shoutouts to some new friends: Rabbi Charlie Schwartz of Lehrhaus and Rabbi Jessy Dressin of Third Space at Shaarei Tfiloh. The most frequent thing that happens when I tell folks about my idea for a hybrid coffee shop/Jewish learning platform is that they say 'have you heard about Lehrhaus?' It's been a privilege to talk to Charlie about the vision and the implementation of Lehrhaus, and it is a high priority to get out to Boston and see what they're cooking up. Rabbi Jessy started a Jewish community in an old synagogue space in Philadelphia, but it's a different kind of community, and so it had some neat overlap with Shoresh. I look forward to learning more from them both.
I'm so glad I have folks to bounce ideas off of; and to have people I can count on to serve as a reality check.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
In more mundane updates, it's been ups and downs for the past month. Our grantwriting and planning continues on schedule, as does the planning for our first community raise/crowdfunder. We missed out on a pair of grants from foundations that I was hoping for, but that's fairly normal. The industry standard on foundation grants is that they have about an 80% rejection rate. Try try again, I guess?
We got some more encouraging news on that favorite potential location in Greenfield we refer to as 'the Bank'; the owners indicated interest in doing work and putting in a bathroom on the ground floor, which would be huge. We have inquired about another location that I think would also be a good fit, and we'll see how things progress.
Happy Pesach to everyone, and thanks for reading our latest update. We're glad to have you along for the ride.
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