Senior Rabbi Contract Renewal Process

Shalom WJC Family,

It is hard to even imagine that four years have passed since Rabbi Arnowitz joined us at Westchester Jewish Center, but it is true. That means it is time to begin the process of renewing his contract.  We will follow a very careful, transparent, multi-step process as defined in our bylaws and as required by NYS law for contracting a Senior Rabbi. I am writing to invite you to join WJC leadership on this journey over the next few months.

Our goal is for this process to be both open and fair.  I am pleased to report that long-time officer Harold Treiber and Sisterhood president Glenna Lee have agreed to chair the first step, an evaluation that will be completed in the next couple of weeks. You can submit any feedback you may have that may be helpful to inform the evaluation, by emailing Harold at harold.treiber@gmail.com any time this week.

The evaluation will be presented at an open Spiritual Life committee meeting scheduled for May 1, when the members of that committee will review the evaluation and appropriate comments from guests and vote on whether to recommend a renewal.

Assuming the recommendation is positive, it will be brought to a special congregational meeting later this spring, to gain authorization from our membership for the officers to begin negotiations.

Once negotiations are completed, the congregation will once again vote on the final package—we anticipate this happening in the fall.

I will do my best to keep you informed about our progress in this renewal process in my regular messages to the congregation and if you have any questions, concerns, or thoughts please feel free to contact me, Harold or Glenna directly.

The results of this process and the work of our Strategic Planning task force represent exciting and significant forward-looking steps for our Center. I hope you will take the opportunity to be an active participant in these efforts and look forward to working with you as we shepherd WJC to the successful future we all hope to share.

L’hitraot,

Larry Thaler

Larry@WJCenter.org