Gloucester —   Another milestone is here. Temple Ahavat Achim is choosing a contractor, preparing to begin construction. Soon we will watch our new building emerge from our fire-ravaged site. Surely there is some special prayer of thanksgiving to express our relief and gratitude that we have managed to raise enough money to feel confident about going ahead.

I would guess that few fund raising campaigns are easy. But raising money in hard times is just that.

At Temple Ahavat Achim, we know the drill. Several years ago, as we prepared to hire a new rabbi for the first time in decades, we decided to raise an endowment fund. We planned our launch carefully. Unfortunately, it was scheduled for September 2001, coinciding with the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon with the resulting jolt to the economy. As we considered delay or cancellation, our consultant, Paul Ellenbogen, had statistics to show that charitable giving continues no matter what the economy.

We decided to go ahead. We learned to be careful and sympathetic listeners, as well as informed and enthusiastic proponents for our cause. And our campaign was successful.
But just as the last endowment contributions were coming in, our historic synagogue burned to the ground in December 2007. By the time we mobilized ourselves to begin fundraising for the new building (with the endowment co-chairs, Phil and Eve Cutter, my husband, Peter Feinstein, and myself, leading the new fundraising committee) we ran smack into The Great Recession.

Once again, we had to ask whether we should delay or cancel. And once again, we told ourselves that it might take longer to raise the money, and it might take longer for the money to come in. But the congregation was united in its determination to rebuild. We gave ourselves a time limit in case we really came up short, but we decided to give it a try.

We were lucky to be able to hire Flori Schwartz, a North Shore fundraising consultant, to coordinate the campaign and keep us on track. We queried congregational members to see who could help. We researched individuals and foundations who had links to the congregation or who had been generous in similar circumstances.

At the same time, the congregation worked with our architect to come up with a design that would be inspirational, useful, modest, environmentally-sensitive, and within our means. And then the design was trimmed again and again to reflect, as realistically as possible, our current and future financial position.

We are now reaching out to the Cape Ann, North Shore, and Boston-area communities; and we are making sure that we have 100 percent participation from our congregation. Some of the most touching contributions have come from non-members ó people who grew up in Gloucester and understood the importance of the Jewish community, synagogues who took up contributions and individuals and families who were touched by our situation and wanted to help maintain a vital Jewish presence on Cape Ann.

Would we prefer to be raising money in flush times? Probably. But these days, when we are all a little more cognizant of our core values, our bedrock issues, that hole in the granite ground of Middle Street has spoken strongly to us to keep at it and to succeed.