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by Rabbi Yael B. Ridberg On this day six years ago I stood before you as your new associate rabbi. Fresh from my experiences at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun where I had served as a rabbinic fellow for two years, I was humbled when Rabbi Winokur told me that I should give the sermon on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. I was nervous. I knew I wasn’t going to give a sermon with any controversy. No politics, no radical ideas, no proposals for change. But I didn’t know exactly what I would speak about. I realize that most of you are not tracking my RH sermon topics, so let me refresh your memory. I spoke that morning about theology. For some reason, that seemed pretty safe. And I began with a verse from this morning’s reading – after Hagar had placed Ishmael under the bush the text says that God heard the voice of the boy, "Baasher hu sham" – where he was. I wanted that sermon on that first Rosh Hashanah to give you a sense of where I was coming from. But today, as we gather for our seventh RH together, I will begin with a different verse, not from our reading this morning, but from the text where we first meet Hagar. In Genesis 16 when Hagar runs away from Sarai, an angel finds her by a spring of water in the wilderness and says, Ay mi zeh bat, v’ana telchi Where have you come from? And where are you going? This morning I feel called to answer the malach – the angel – where have we as a community come from, and where are we going? As we come to our seventh year together, I cannot help but think of how SEVEN is the number of wholeness in Jewish tradition. Seven days of the week, seven weeks of counting the Omer between Pesah and Shavuot, seven blessings recited at a Jewish wedding, and the number seven denotes "endearment"; in the words of our sages, "all sevens are dear." So dear friends in this seventh year together, I want to begin answering the angel’s question. Let this be the start of a dialogue in the WES community about our future. As a frame for our answer, I am drawn to the ahavah rabbah prayer that we recite in the morning service. Known as the second blessing before the Shma it can be found in the mahzor on page 300. Ahavah rabbah ahavtanu – We have been loved by a great love. Adonai eloheinu hemla gedola viterah hamalta aleinu - With tremendous compassion you have cared for us. In the creation of sacred community, the central value that brings people together is relationship. We are connected by and to ideals, faith, values, family, and one another. The congregation is where Jewish life is lived. More than any other place, the ongregation provides us a place to experience Judaism as a living, breathing tradition. Not an intellectualized Judaism, not a politicized Judaism, not a preserved Judaism we might observe through museum glass, but a real life, everyday, “year-in-year-out” Judaism. As David Teutsch notes: “We learn of our own significance in the world through the love first offered freely by our parents, and then later by others as well. This love is rooted in the divine love, and it teaches us what to do with our lives, how to serve others and how to pursue godliness. WES is a community created in the image of its members, indeed, a community with heart and soul. When I came to you 6 years ago, we had to learn how to be in relationship. Over the years we have worked hard to build trust and mutual appreciation. We have celebrated many joyous times together, and we have suffered loss and tragedy as well. We have made mistakes, we have sought forgiveness. We are after all, human beings – imperfect at best. Like all of you, I have been transformed in a myriad of ways over the last 6 years. I believe we have grown in our understanding of the relationship between a rabbi and her congregation. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve WES for another 5 years and to call WES our community. The text continues: Avinu Malkenu ba’avur avoteinu v’imoteinu she’batchu becha vatelamdem chukei Chayim Ken techaneinu u’telamdeinu. Source of being, just as our ancestors placed their trust in you, and you imparted to them the laws of life, so be gracious to us too, and teach us. Next year WES will celebrate 20 years since its founding. WES came together because of a group of passionate, dedicated Reconstructionist Jews, committed to building a vibrant congregation. In the years since our founding we have grown, we have evolved, and we are different in many ways since the early days of WES. But we are still a group of passionate, dedicated, Reconstructionist Jews committed to building and sustaining a vibrant congregation. When we celebrate our anniversary in 2005, we will recall in great detail, our sacred story of origin. But today I stand on the shoulders of the rabbis who came before me – Larry Pinsker, Richard Hirsh and Avi Winokur. All of whom contributed mightily to WES as place where people are engaged in Jewish learning and praying, acts of compassion, responsiveness, and responsibility toward each other, their community, and the Jewish people. We are a community that has grown to more than 270 families strong. Look around the room – I am sure you see what I see -- very familiar faces and very new faces. All of us together make up WES, and we stand on the shoulders of the founders and the early members of the congregation who sought to create an intellectually uplifting, spiritually vibrant Reconstructionist community. In my installation address in 1998 I said the following: WES is a synagogue committed to hearing the myriad of voices in its midst. As a rabbi, I too must hear these voices – those who have been here many years, and those who have just become members, those who look forward to change and innovation, and those who justifiably are connected to the past; those who look more locally at Reconstructionism, and those who want to understand their greater Jewish needs. But all of these voices are part of the ongoing creation of a kehilla kedosha – a sacred community. These words still ring true. It is important to retain the collective memory of our community and it remains vital to also look to new voices and visions for our communal future. V’ten b’libenu l’havin, u’lehaskil, lishmoa Lilmod, u’lelamed, lishmor, v’laasot, u’likayem et kol divrei Talmud toratecha b’ahavah. The text continues: Place in our hearts the ability to understand, to gain wisdom, to hear, to learn, to teach, to keep, to do, and to establish with love all that we study of your Torah. It all begins in the heart – v’ten b’libenu. The heart was understood by our ancestors to be the locus of intellect as well as emotion. I tell people all the time that WES is a place that doesn’t ask you to abandon your head or your heart at the door. If we are to truly experience the great love which is always present for us, and if, as Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz has written, “we are to turn this ever present love into personal and communal change, we must open our hearts.” This prayer contains a list of eight verbs: Place in our hearts the ability to understand, to gain wisdom, to hear, to learn, to teach, to keep, to do, and to establish with love. These verbs reflect the core of our congregation now and in the future. As I mentioned in my Wire article this month, if seven is indeed the number of wholeness, let this be the year for each of us to find another aspect of communal life to further complete our Jewish life. As a rabbi, I try never to take for granted how much effort it takes for anyone to come through our doors and opt into our congregational community. Each and every one of them – of you -- is our Jewish future, and each one of you has made a choice to opt in. Whether you come to us each week or once a year, by joining WES, you have all chosen to invest significantly in our community. That is not something we should ever take lightly, especially when you consider that the majority of American Jews are not affiliated with any congregation whatsoever. Each of us must make the choices to be involved in our community. To understand, to gain wisdom, to hear-- these three things are incumbent on all of us. People join WES for many reasons: For spiritual sustenance, for a place to find Jewish life, for their children’s education or for their own. somewhere along the line, what we do as a whole is as important as why we came in the first place. How we live and work, play and pray at WES must also be a sacred experience for someone else as well, for we are in relationship with one another. Let us continue to understand, seek wisdom, and listen to one another even when, and especially when, there is disagreement. For those of you who have never served on a committee, never volunteered for a project in the synagogue, perhaps this is the year you will add your voice to the chorus of leadership in the synagogue. To learn and to teach. We are blessed as a learning congregation to have so many opportunities for learning. Six years ago Sidney and Dorothy Becker (z”l) gave WES the gift of expanded learning opportunities through the Yad Mordecai Adult education Project. Every year the committee creates a fascinating array of courses, lectures, and programs that educate us as Jews. Many of you have taken those courses, but we invite those of you who have never joined a class to do so this year, especially with our focus on the 350 years of Jews in America. Our monthly learning services, weekly Torah study, bi-weekly bible study, and the annual retreat are even more ways to educate ourselves Jewishly. Etz hayim hi l’machazikim bah – v’tomcheha m’ushar. It is a tree of life to those that grasp it, and all of its supporters are enriched, we sing each Shabbat at the conclusion of the Torah service. What will it take this year for you to be one who grasps Torah? To teach. Our religious school and our family programs could not exist without the support of the WES budget. That means WES members who may or may not have children in our school – are standing up for the importance of a Reconstructionist Jewish education for present and future generations. By choosing to belong to our congregation, every one of you is choosing to invest, in a very real way, in our children. When our children participate in services, Celebrate becoming bar or bat mitzvah, Volunteer in the larger community, And simply come on Shabbat to the synagogue, We are seeing the future. Those of you who are parents of young children Either in Hebrew School or in Day School – We know you’re over programmed and over committed, But when you bring your children to synagogue on Shabbat, When you celebrate the holidays as a family and in community, When you as adults model for your children your growing attachment to Jewish life and learning, Each of us is seeing an even brighter future. Lishmor, la’asot, ul’kayem To keep, to do and to establish. These actions in the ahavah rabbah prayer Focus on the ways we can manifest The great love in our approach to one another. To keep Shabbat in congregational life is communal time. Our services, life cycle events, special speakers happen on Shabbat because it is when our community gathers in the largest numbers And with the greatest frequency. Shabbat is the time for those who mourn to be comforted Those who celebrate to be uplifted And those who seek the quiet comfort of ritual To be inspired. When WES members want a peaceful end To a hectic week, They come to the synagogue on Shabbat. When members give divrei torah, Or write interpretive liturgy They share those creative expressions on Shabbat. When our students come back to read The haftarah of their Bar or Bat mitzvah, They do so on Shabbat. When members want to engage in discussions of current issues they often do so after Kiddush on Shabbat, When members recover from an illness, Or an especially difficult passage, Or return from a trip, And they recite the blessing of deliverance, They do so on Shabbat. Some of you will be surprised to hear me say That Keeping Shabbat isn’t just about the ritual. Keeping Shabbat in community reflects the centrality Of the congregation in Jewish life. At their best congregations can be the guiding focus of our Jewish lives. I believe that WES can and does represent this for us. It is the place to which we turn, the place to which we return, No matter where our personal paths may lead during the course of our lives, our synagogue is here to remind us that there is always a place to which we belong. La’asot: To do You have all heard me say to our b’nai mitzvah That “bar mitzvah” isn’t a verb. It’s not something that happens to you passively. It is a process, an active journey of doing And becoming. And the roots of that becoming are the mitzvot. Those acts which sanctify our lives Because they are not only about ourselves, But they involve other people. Our social action committee works tirelessly To seek as many ways as possible to be connected To the world around us. The pursuit of justice in our congregation Should not only reside in the committee, however, Clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, Eradicating poverty, and caring for the needy Are all part of creating what the prophet Isaiah calls, The Kingdom of God. Today we might call them the manifestation of godliness In the world. As you sit here today, look to your neighbor – Do you know what they are passionate about? Do you know how they speak out Against the injustices in our society? By learning this about our fellow WES members We can better make significant change in the world Effective social action comes from Recognizing our responsibility not only For finding solutions o the ills of this world, It also comes from connecting with humanity in real ways. Doing is about asking yourself, What is the tangible expression of my spirituality. The great scholar of ethical living, Israel Salanter Wrote that a true Jew worries about other people’s bodies Before worrying about one’s own soul. One of the most profound expressions of this idea Came to me this year through the mail. Not email, not voicemail, but good old fashioned postal mail. In the days after my diagnosis, each trip to the mailbox Brought get well cards. When I stopped to think how much care and time Went into each card, it was overwhelming. Buying the card, writing the sentiment, addressing the envelope And affixing the stamp… I was so moved knowing that people cared and took the time To say so over and over in a way that wasn’t “the most efficient” that we have in our culture. When our bikkur cholim committee does it’s holy work They are on the phone, in people’s homes, At the hospital, making food. They -- and we by extension – are in the business Of doing for others. Many of you have told me over the years How moved you have been when WES members You didn’t even know came to your home for shiva minyan. All of us have had or will have to face the ultimate experience of the death of a loved one. This is a sacred opportunity – indeed a mitzvah – To comfort those who mourn. What can you do? You ask? Do the acts of loving kindness that you will Need in your lifetime as well. To establish with love all the words of your Torah – ul’kayem et kol divrei Talmud toratecha b’ahava. It would be a mistake to talk about All of the aspects of the WES community, Where we have come from and where we are going, Without acknowledging – indeed without Emphasizing, that our approach to Jewish understanding, living, learning, doing, and keeping comes out of Reconstructionist Judaism. Reconstructionism seeks to kindle the identification of each Jew with the totality of the Jewish people. What Mordecai Kaplan’s generation could assume -- the context of community, the embrace of ethnicity, the nearness of neighborhood and the mandate of memory -- we can no longer take for granted. (R. Hirsh) In our attempt to create and sustain A calming, comforting, and connecting community, We are drawing from Kaplan’s ideology And we are recognizing the values that drive Our current commitments. As members of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation We have the resources and opportunities Within our grasp to grow our congregation As well as to grow our congregation’s connection to Reconstructionism. Rabbi Ira Eisenstein (z”l) taught that the individual Jew is like a light bulb, and God(liness) is the energy and potential waiting within the outlet. To connect the two, we need something which can conduct that energy; and that is the Jewish people. When we allow ourselves to become connected; when we are plugged in; when the current flows, the richness of what our ancestors have handed down to us, mediated through the people to which we belong, connects us to the Source which yields illumination and insight. This year celebrates the 50th anniversary of the JRF, We are more than 100 congregations strong And continuing to grow. We have a burgeoning youth group, A fantastic camp, And programs for communities across North America. The NY region of JRF sponsors opportunities And events of interest in order To bring Recon communities together. WES has a number of members who are very involved in JRF and in the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. They model for us that old bumper sticker, “think globally, act locally” – for they are committed to the vibrancy of the Recon movement and they are also deeply involved in the life of WES. Our job as members of a Reconstructionist congregation Is l’kayem – to further establish with love the values That our movement stands by: That Judaism is an evolving religious civilization, Community is our cornerstone, That we are deeply attached to the land and people of Israel, We search for meaning and sacred living Through our history, We believe in inclusive, egalitarian communities, That religion can and must be a powerful force for promoting justice and ethics in our society, in Israel, and the world. We are engaged in the ongoing task of building a relationship to our Judaism that is faithful to the past and relevant to the present. We want to create a Judaism for our day that is richly traditional, spiritually alive, and intellectually honest. In order to establish with love all of these things, I encourage all of you to enhance your own Jewish lives by reclaiming our shared heritage, our understanding of Jewish history, and becoming active participants in the building of our community’s future and the future of the Jewish people. As the prayer continues, We look to the future, and where we go from here. V’haer eineinu b’toratecha v’dabek libenu b’mitzvotecha V’yached lvaveinu l’ahavah u’lyirah et shemecha Enlighten us with your Torah; Cause our hearts to cling to your mitzvoth, Make our hearts one, To love your name and be in awe of it. It is my deepest prayer that each of you Will attach yourself more fully to our community. None of us has a crystal ball to tell the future, But let me share with a little of what I hope to see. It’s not controversial, it’s not political, It’s not radical, and it’s not a proposal for change. The ahavah rabbah text here invokes Three wishes: To be enlightened by Torah, For our hearts to cling to the mitzvoth And for our hearts to be one. In this seventh year together, Challenge yourself to learn something new about your Jewish life, Increase your participation in Jewish ritual and communal life And extend yourself more directly to another Member of the community. I believe that WES is a synagogue community Able to nurture all of those things, With beauty and grace But none of them happen without the dedication And commitment that has to come from you. As the prayer concludes – These words carry us forward: V’havienu l’shalom me’arbah kanfot ha’aretz V’tolicheinu kommemiut l’artzeinu, Ki el poel yeshuot atah. V’keravtanu l’shimcha hagadol selah be’emet L’hodot lecha u’lyachedcha b’ahavah. Baruch atah adonai, ohev amo yisrael May you bring us, in peace, from all the corners of the earth Leading us proudly, Independent to our land. For you are our redeeming God and have brought us Near to your great name, To offer thanks to you and lovingly declare your unity. We are living through a dark period of history. There is uncertainly, war and bloodshed, poverty and oppression In many corners of the world. We pray for peace in Israel and the region, An end to the war in Iraq And an end to xenophobia in all its forms. Judaism teaches the dignity, infinite worth, And inviolability of every human being, And the Jewish world view is about connection, Dialogue and interdependence. May WES be a place for people to come From all walks of life, Seeking creativity, revelation, and redemption for all humanity. We ask ourselves on this day, Where have we come from and where are we going? Who are we and what are we called to be? May we be able to envision Our communal future based on our deepest values. May we always have the courage to transform our lives And raise our community to new spiritual heights. And may we do it all with ahavah rabbah – With a great and abounding love. L'Shanah Tovah tikatevu! May we all be inscribed for a sweet, healthy, and peaceful year.
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