Randy Fleisher

• -Create a warm, welcoming and authentic atmosphere for Shabbat services each week.
• -Officiate life-cycle ceremonies including baby namings, bar/bat mitzvahs, weddings and funerals that are personal, engaging, informal yet meaningful, and multi-faith/tradition friendly.
• -Teach adult education classes using sources from ancient to contemporary.
• -Provide counseling and compassionate pastoral support by staying in regular touch with synagogue members, and visiting people in the hospital and in their homes.
• -Lead our 7th graders in a year of community service in our neighborhood, including at soup kitchens, homes for the elderly, neighborhood beautification, and food pantries. As part of these experiences, we explore Jewish texts that address acts of loving kindness, social justice, and service to others.
• -Facilitate a lively group of High School sophomores each year in Confirmation class that culminates with a trip to New York City and the creation of a soulful and celebratory service of celebration and culmination.
• -Compose sermons and teachings for services as well as relevant messages for the congregation. In Thanksgiving, I wrote to our congregants in the aftermath of the attacks of October 7th and the resulting war in Gaza about the need for us to have the capacity to mourn losses on both sides.
• -Sit on community boards such as Urban League, Cultural Leadership, Jewish Environmental Initiative, and Habitat for Humanity. In addition, stay involved in community issues such as narrowing the achievement gap, and racial profiling.
• -Work with clergy and members of area churches in an organization I co-founded called "Holy Ground," a multi-faith and multi-racial collaborative. Among other initiatives, Holy Ground sponsors a no-interest micro-lending program for members of the community.
• -Organize and run High Holiday services every year for up to 1000 congregants and community members.
• -Advise our congregational Jews of Color organization on projects and programs.
• -Work on the "business" of the synagogue by sitting in on our board and committee meetings and offering guidance, perspective and feedback.
• -Organize and lead our bar/bat mitzvah program which involves guiding families, meeting multiple time each young person in developing a commentary to deliver, develop and lead each eventual unique bar/bat mitzvah service, between 15-30 each year..
• -Utilize my love of the outdoors through organizing retreats and nature-based Jewish activities.
• -Lead music in services and classes with my guitar and song-leading skills.

Camp Sabra is the residential Jewish summer camp run by the St. Louis Jewish Community Center. Campers spend 4 or 8 weeks at the camp each summer. As director, I was responsible in the "off-season" for hiring all staff. I also traveled to a variety of communities (All over St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, Dallas, Houston, etc.) to meet with families who had children interested in attending camp. During the summer, I oversaw all camp programming and personnel, led outdoor Shabbat services, provided guidance and counseling for staff and campers, maintained relationships and communications with parents, and ensured the grounds were well kept and repaired.