Twenty-five years ago that small group, now merged with another, built the building we still use today. The construction was not a figurative building but was actual, as the members put brick on brick to assemble a home for their wandering congregation. In the years that followed others have come forward and, with as much love and devotion as was exerted by those original members, repaired a broken window here, a door there, a leaking roof. And still others stepped forward with the same love and devotion to plan and see to the construction of an addition to the building, to refurbish the sanctuary, and to do a myriad of other tasks which keep the physical plant as a warm home for the congregation. A building is just a building.
People make a congregation.
The people too have grown, in numbers and in commitment, to build this congregation and the Jewish people as a whole. The congregation has taken a rightful place for itself among the congregations of the Washington metropolitan area and the congregations of our country. We have developed a school program which is envied and copied. We have a name for producing publications and programs that excel those of congregations many times our size, and we have people willing to make commitments to study, to strive, and to continue to improve the lot of all. I am content for the future knowing that the whole world does not rest on my shoulders alone as president of the congregation.