From Our Executive Director
Before I started as the Executive Director, I
had never had a reason to enter the temple
office. As a result, I didn’t realize how
special the staff was that sit inside.
You may be surprised to learn just how well
the staff knows you, how hard they work to
support your family, and how much they
care about your experience here at Temple
Chai. If I mention a name in the office, I’m
often given a background about you and
your family without anyone reaching for a
file or searching in our computer database.
These women who make up the staff
have been espousing relational Judaism
well before it was written about by Ron
Wolfson, our scholar in residence earlier
this year.
Every poster and flyer, each worship
experience, every oneg or dinner, every
program and every opportunity to connect
with you and your family is planned
with a lot of thought and consideration.
Sometimes this makes for long staff
meetings, as we try to evolve -just because
we did it “that way” last year doesn’t mean
it will be the same next year.
For example, we spent two long meetings
discussing the Hineini question card,
to ensure it would
be meaningful and
relevant to you. As
a result of carefully
choosing each and
every word on the card,
we received nearly 150
responses from you.
Just creating the
monthly ChaiLites is
time-consuming, yet
rewarding work, when
we receive feedback
from readers about
something they saw in
the bulletin. The timing
is exacted to reach you
so you can include
temple dates on your
calendar.
Some fun tidbits about
the staff…
8
Lois is an avid reader of fiction. On her
lunch break, you’ll find her with her nose
in a book.
Peggy has been a search & rescue dog
trainer. Hence, she knows how to keep our
clergy on schedule.
Judi is our bookkeeper, but if you really
want to discuss something with her, pick
gardening.
Charla grew up in Davenport, Iowa and
has known Deborah Greenswag’s husband
since they were kids.
Laura had a beautiful black & white
wedding when she married Avi, her
husband from South Africa.
Cathy is a new grandmother, who
celebrated the birth of Noa in July and
enjoyed a couple of weeks of “gramernity”
leave with her granddaughter.
There are four Debs in the office:
Greenswag, Moore, Robins, and Mattes! If
you are calling to reach one of us, use the
following code to reach the right one:
Deb = Mattes
(Executive Director)
Deborah =
Greenswag (Director
of Operations)
Debbie = Moore
(Communications
and IT Manager)
DebbieRobins (all one word) = Robins
(Education Assistant.)
And by the way, three of the four Debs
were born in August!
Julian Schreiber is planning to do more indepth profiles of our temple staff over the
course of the next few months. I hope you
will look forward to getting to know them
better. In the meantime, I encourage you to
come inside the office, even if to say a brief
hello. As much as the staff wants to know
you, we’d like you to get to know us and feel
comfortable crossing the threshold into the
temple office.
Deb Mattes, Executive Director