A few weeks ago, I sat down at my desk to catch up on my emails and noticed I had a voicemail. The message was simple: “Please call me. I have a few questions.”

Now, when you oversee a building that is open seven days a week from early morning until late at night, “a few questions” can mean many things. Sometimes it means confusion. Sometimes it means frustration. And sometimes — if I’m being honest — I take a deep breath before dialing back.

I returned the call.

“Your floors are so dirty,” the woman said after I introduced myself.

And just like that, we were into the conversation.

She described salt and dirt along the path to the fitness center. Crumbs in the entryway.

I asked follow-up questions. I took notes. I thanked her. I assured her that cleanliness matters deeply to me and our team — because it does. A JCC should feel welcoming from the moment you walk in, and sometimes that welcome starts with something as simple as a broom.

As I began to wrap up the call, she paused.

“If you had someone wanting to pay for a project or facility improvement,” she asked casually, “do you have a list of options?”

“Yes,” I replied. “I absolutely do.”

She explained that she and her husband, longtime members of our JCC, wanted to make a financial gift to meaningfully improve the member experience. We agreed I would send a range of possibilities.

Within days, I received an email back: “We have looked over your list and would like to fund the creation of a community area. To whom do we issue and send the check?”

I was blown away. A conversation that had started with crumbs on the floor was ending with a transformational gift. And that ending will lead to a new beginning, because the community area will be a comfortable space for gathering, connecting, and engaging. A place where community can be built, a book read, homework completed, or a work Zoom taken.

It turns out that sometimes “questions” are not complaints at all. They often are purpose-driven inquiries from people who care deeply and want to make things better. And this is something I love about our JCC.

We are not just a cultural center, gym, preschool, camp, or even a building. We are a community that takes ownership. We are a place where members care enough to notice the salt and crumbs on the floor — and care enough to help build and enrich spaces where connection can flourish.

In Jewish tradition, we are taught that the physical and the spiritual are intertwined. Holiness doesn’t float above us — it lives in how we treat one another, how we show up, and yes, even how we maintain our shared spaces. A clean entryway matters, literally and figuratively. A welcoming community area matters even more.

This generous couple isn’t just funding new furniture or coffee. They are investing in conversations that haven’t yet happened, friendships that will form over coffee, in parents who will linger after preschool pick up, in teens who will have a place to belong.

This week’s Torah portion reminds us that sacred spaces are not built by one person alone. They are built through collective generosity — each gift, each contribution, each act of caring adding up to something far greater than the sum of its parts.

From gifting money to noticing crumbs, we all have a role to play.  And my role, as your CEO,  is to listen and respond.  So, as you come and go, enriching our JCC by your very presence, please let me know anything you notice – just as this “complaining” caller did so kindly.

Shabbat Shalom.

Sam Dubrinsky
Chief Executive Officer