We have just finished celebrating our 60th anniversary as a congregation. We did so as a preface to the 350th anniversary of organized Jewish life in America, the official celebration of which begins this fall. It marks the arrival of the immigrants who founded the first institution that gave birth to Jewish communal life.

Looking back over the three and a half centuries really does give one pause. We have flourished in this wonderful America. We have been materially successful. We have been organizationally successful. And we have been religiously successful. We are among the highest income population groups. Our organizations are successful both in membership and in effectiveness. And the creativity and vitality of our religious institutions and ideas are unrivaled in the Jewish world, even in Israel.

Our congregational trip to Russia this summer heightened my awareness of this reality big time. But for the American Jewish community, Russian Jewry would still be languishing. The money, the organizations, the people and the creativity - Orthodox, Conservative and Reform - that underpin the efforts in the FSU and throughout the world all stem from what we have created here over the 350 years. Even Israel, which is our spiritual home, is cross-fertilized by American Jewish ideas and ideals.

And what an incredible role Reform Judaism has played in making American Judaism strong. The Jewish organizations and institutions that are the fabric of American Jewish life are filled with leadership from the Reform community. Indeed, part of our philosophy is to see ourselves as an integral part of the Jewish people by reaching out beyond the walls of our temples and working to strengthen the Jewish community.

Ours may not be the oldest Jewish community. But none stands taller or prouder than ours in contribution to the well-being and vitality of Judaism at home and throughout the world.

And if we want to guarantee that there will be a 400th anniversary fifty years from now, we need to teach our children to do their part when they grow up, as our parents taught us.