At every membership meeting, I remind the men present that our goal is to be a role model of doing things right. What does this mean? To me, it means that we are exemplar representatives: each of us is representative of how people perceive MoTAS: if we’re welcoming, people perceive MoTAS as welcoming; if we’re ethical, people perceive MoTAS as ethic. This notion isn’t unique to MoTAS: it is true for the Temple Board as Ambassadors for the congregation, and it is true for every member of Temple Ahavat Shalom.

The notion of being a role model is fundamentally Jewish. It is captured in the words of Rabbi Hillel in the Talmud, Shabbat 31a, where he boils down the Torah to the following: “That which is despicable to you, do not do to your fellow, this is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary, go and learn it.” The way we behave reflects on how newcomers and visitors perceive MoTAS and Temple Ahavat Shalom.

As the Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom and members of Temple Ahavat Shalom, let us strive to be the people we would like to meet and be around. Let us be the person about whom it is said, “I became part of TAS and MoTAS because of him.”.

When I was in my teens, I was a member of the youth group TAG at Wilshire Blvd. Temple. TAG stood for Torah-Avodah-Gem’lut Chasadim. You probably recognize this phrase if you’re familiar with the song Al Shlosha D’varim, derived from Pirke Avot 1:2: Upon three things the world stands: Upon Torah, Upon service, and Upon acts of loving kindness.

In thinking about MoTAS and its role in the congregation, we’ve been a bit unbalanced with respect to T-A-G. We’ve had Torah in our monthly D’var Torahs, in our MoTAS Shabbat (coming in January), and our Men’s Seder. We’ve had Gem’lut Chasadim in the financial support we provide to congregational activities. But our service has been more limited to building the Sukkah and providing food service at events.

This year, MoTAS is leveling things out. We’re joining with the rest of the congregation in participating in Mitzvah Day on the first Sunday in November. We’re going to be “Jews with Tools for the Schools”, as the recent ECEC cleanup demonstrated that there are a number of simple repairs we can make around our school facilities to make them even safer, more functional, and operating efficiently.

But that’s not all: We’re already planning to participate in the Sundays of Service in April 2015, working with the Social Action Committee and Food Forward to pick fruit from trees for the community.

The world stands on three things: Torah, Service, and Good Deeds. We invite you to participate with MoTAS in standing strong in these areas.