this<\/span><\/a> now famous kid, who mourns the departure of her favorite baseball player in a trade.\u00a0 Although most of us would not react quite so strongly to a favorite player leaving our favorite team, those of us who follow sports can identify with the feeling of loss.<\/p>\nAnd in the end, change is accompanied, by necessity, by a sense of loss.\u00a0 That is, after all, what change means: something is lost, and hopefully something is gained.\u00a0 But even if we can see the gain, we are always acutely aware of what has been lost. \u00a0And in any change the losses tend to be unequally distributed throughout the system.\u00a0 (So, for example, Drew Brees’ very public negative reaction to the Jimmy Graham trade, is totally understandable, since in his role as quarterback losing a top receiving target is far worse from his perspective than whatever gain the Saints will realize in the long term.)<\/p>\n
What makes this difficult is that change is also a necessary part of any system and institution. To keep the football example going for one more (rather risky) step: one of the most successful football teams of the last decade, the New England Patriots, have managed to remain excellent partly by virtue of the fact that head coach Bill Belichick is absolutely unsentimental (perhaps even ruthless) when it comes to letting players go when they no longer fit his scheme. \u00a0He rarely holds on to veterans for too long, a problem that plagues other teams and inhibits their ability to win by impeding the progression of younger players and clogging up the roster with ill-used salaries.<\/p>\n
Synagogue are not football teams, but the challenge to change and adapt that we face is just as real as that facing any institution attempting to stay relevant or team hoping to stay competitive as time passes.\u00a0 And just as professional sports is littered with franchises that were great and then refused to change for too long and thus lost their momentum (the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA are two great examples this year) so too there are many synagogues around the country that remained complacent for too many years in the face of too many shifting trends.\u00a0 Change is hard, and it is always accompanied by loss, but the consequences of refusing to change can be devastating.<\/p>\n
The hardest part in all this is to maintain the essential core of the system, institution or team as the change is happening.\u00a0\u00a0 If the delicate balance between meaningful change and maintenance of the core identity can be achieved then the losses experienced within the system can be absorbed. \u00a0If the trade of Jimmy Graham is just some random step in an unfocused plan then fans have a right to complain.<\/p>\n
But if the loss of Graham is a considered change towards the larger goal of a successful team then the loss-while still painful for some-will be justified. \u00a0So, too, \u00a0with change in a synagogue: change for the sake of change will hurt and it will fail.\u00a0 But change for the sake of preserving the core values of the place is worth the loss and the risk.\u00a0 The trick, of course, is knowing the difference between change because change sounds good and change that is the result of careful and thoughtful planning and analysis.\u00a0 We hope the Saints’ front office knows the difference when it comes to the Saints, and we hope we know the difference when it comes to our institutions and communities.\u00a0 We will not always get it right, but if we’re careful, we will succeed more often then we fail.<\/p>\n
(Rabbi Ethan Linden is the spiritual leader of Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation in Metairie, the only Conservative congregation in Louisiana.)<\/em><\/p>\n
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