Jacob's Ladder - Jewish Legacy Program
CURRENT PROGRAM
Support CBJ’s Jacob’s Ladder, Jewish Legacy Program
What will your legacy be? In one way or another, you’ve enjoyed the warmth, closeness, tradition, and support of a vibrant Jewish Community here in Phoenixville. Once you are gone, who will keep these traditions thriving for future generations? Jewish tradition teaches that one of our key responsibilities is to make the world a better place for our children and grandchildren. A Jacob’s Ladder Legacy Gift is a simple and meaningful way to help ensure a strong Jewish future for our family and community. You can support the Jacob’s Ladder Jewish Legacy Program by completing a simple letter of intent. This is NOT a binding document, merely an indication of what you might do in the future. Completing the Jacob’s Ladder document will take less than five minutes, its impact on B’nai Jacob is substantial. For more information, please contact the Synagogue Office at (610) 933-5550 or by email admin@congbj.org
BACKGROUND
In 2012, Congregation B’nai Jacob (CBJ) celebrated its centennial anniversary. In many ways, we look different than we did back in 1912; in many ways, we would likely be immediately recognizable to our founding families. Twenty years ago, B'nai Jacob's membership was mostly traditionally observant. Today, although we are affiliated with United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism (USCJ), the observances of our members span a range from not observant to very traditionally observant. Ten years ago, B'nai Jacob hired its first woman Rabbi. In 2013, B'nai Jacob formally codified what had been an unspoken policy on the involvement of non-Jewish members who are part of Jewish families.
Throughout its history, Congregation B'nai Jacob has been welcoming and we continue this tradition today by welcoming GLBT members into our congregation.
We have chosen to call our endowment Jacob’s Ladder. The Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo Judaeus presented as one of his allegorical interpretations of the angels ascending and descending the ladder between earth and heaven in Jacob’s dream as representing the continually changing affairs of men. Faced with the rapidly changing face of contemporary American Judaism, B’nai Jacob strives to preserve its traditional strengths while maintaining a vibrancy that will see it through its next century. We do not know what tomorrow’s challenges will be any more than our founders could have understood the need for a synagogue website and coded alarm system. What we do recognize is that—whatever tomorrow’s challenges—they will probably cost money to meet effectively.
It is in the spirit of stewardship that we embark on this new program of encouraging CBJ’s endowment gift giving, Jacob’s Ladder. It is our intention to build this new endowment for CBJ and to take advantage of the Federation Endowments Corporation’s (FEC’s) grant of training and funding to help us start strongly. We will encourage broad participation with the ultimate goal of fulfilling our congregation’s mission, that is:
MISSION STATEMENT
Our mission is to provide a place, rooted in Jewish tradition, where all people feel welcome, supported and enriched. We strive to foster connections to our past, to our future and to the divine in an intimate, accepting community.
Jacob's Ladder Letter of Intent
For more information email:
Chair of the Board of Trustees Eric Miller ejmiller123@verizon.net
Stephen Schur sschur1@gmail.com.
For more information about the Jewsh Legacy Program, visit the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia's website Jewish Legacy Program.