My business is risk management. Sometimes called business continuity.
Risk management is something most congregants and congregation management don't think about. It's not that they ignore it, it simply isn't on their "radar."
It should be.
Every congregation faces risks.
Most are mundane and can be easily avoided or at least mitigated.
Floods are fairly common,. Flooding is the Number One risk for most organizations in America.
Fires are another common risk.
True, there always is a slight threat of a terrorist attack, but then there's a slight risk that a meteor will fall on the building.
There are those who will mutter "It's all in G-d's hands," and I have to agree.
But there also is the old saw that "G-d helps those who help themselves." I agree with that, too.
Congregations provide a service, and I don't mean in the shaharet/minhah/eraveet sense. They are a meeting place, a place to learn, and a place to socialize.
Each congregation has inventory to protect: sefrai Torah, sidurim/prayer books, humashim/printed Torah and haftorah books, volumes of Babylonian and Palestinian Talmud, and other books of greater or lesser value.
Each congregation also has records, sometimes on paper, sometimes computerized.
Membership, pledges, donations, askerot/yahrzeits, benai mitzvah, salaries, inventories.
Then there is furniture - in the sanctuary, the bet midrash, the office, the social hall. And the kitchen.
Most important, there are people to consider.
Members.
Employees.
Visitors.
All these need to be protected from the many things that might happen.
Fortunately, engaging an experienced risk manager need not be expensive, especially if the risk management practitioner works for the congregation as a mentor, a guide.
Consider it before the risk arrives.
הריני מקבל עלי מצוה עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, והריני אוהב כל אחד מבני ישראל כנפשי ומאודי
