delivered Kol Nidre, 5775
Every blessing in my life is through Jewish community.
That is probably true for many of you, too.
Think back over the arc of your life.
For me, it began at a Jewish nursery school where my childhood rabbi pinched me on the cheeks in the hallway;
To the tumult of losing my father at a young age and experiencing the comfort of Anne Klein, of blessed memory, the rabbi’s wife, holding my hand, as I watched Frosty melt on my little black and white television.
Think back to when you first lost someone and where you may have derived comfort.
To Spokane, Washington where Jewish life, running the youth group, and regional Jewish youth groups were a lifeline.
Think about how in your life your involvement with Jewish life-- synagogues, community centers, federations and the array of Jewish organizations all doing a part to build our community.
To Los Angeles where the richness of Jewish community meant that I found different places to engage, to pray, to discover multiple paths for what it means to be Jewish.
Reflect on your multiple pathways in Judaism: were they straight and in one direction? Did you dabble in variety?
To the realization that since that rabbi pinched my cheeks in the Nursery School that I wanted to be a rabbi--so I learned Hebrew, applied and got into Hebrew Union College where in Jerusalem where I met the love of my life;
Think about if you have been fortunate to meet the love of your life and how you may have celebrated it with Jewish community.
To today, here, at ICM, where give me the privilege of serving as your rabbi and growing in relationship to each and every one of you.
We are making Jewish life live, together.
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This is a prologue to this important point:
In an unpredictable world, where none of us knows what may happen, Judaism allows us to find meaning.
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In an unpredictable world where none of us knows what may happen, Judaism allows us to find meaning.
None of us asks to be born.
Once we’re in life we are faced with choices, some that are in our control, many, if not most, are outside of our control.
This is Judaism’s power: Out of the unpredictability of living, Judaism provides us a thread for creating meaning.
One of Judaism’s greatest strength is forming Jewish memory.
Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Miriam, David, Esther, Ruth.
Each of these names resonate in our lives and the sacred stories of our people.
Complemented by memories of people from your life: your parents, grandparents, children with whom you have shared sacred time over the course of your life.
Powerful.
Then there is the meaning making year-in and year-out created by the rhythm of sacred time of the Jewish calendar.
Each of us can rely on Shabbat coming every week, know that Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot are in the fall, Chanukah during the shortest days of the year, Purim in early spring, and Pesach when spring begins to emerge, even in Vermont. Like music, there is a rhythm to it. Like music, it has its own tempo. Like music that you’ve heard time and again, it is familiar.
Jewish meaning-making is all encompassing, appealing to all five of our human senses through which we relate to our worlds.
Our sense of sight experiences the flames of the flickering candles for Shabbat and holidays--and the flames on yartzheit candles as we remember our beloveds who no longer live among us. We see our family and friends, members of our community, and recognize each other.
Our sense of smell embraces the pungently sweet spice box of havdalah, the lemony-etrog of Sukkot, the smell of oil frying the latkes, the horseradish of the seder.
Our sense of hearing allows in our voices and the voices of other congregants, the voices of rabbis, teachers, and speakers, the powerful sound of the Shofar, the grogger at Purim, the child asking Ma Nishtana at the seder.
Our sense of touch allows us to physically feel-each other each other our hugs, our words, our connections, physical and emotional. Tonight this place is packed--and when you came in I’m sure that many of you took an opportunity to warmly greet people that you know and reach out to the people who are here who may be new to you.
Judaism’s communal connections is another powerful force for creating meaning in people’s lives.
From Shabbat dinners at home to the golf course to bridge and Mah Jong to the deeper encounters of visiting people in the hospital or recovering at home, reminding them that they are not alone. Judaism creates meaning by making people feel known.
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When we all inevitably find ourselves in life’s most difficult experiences, these communal connections remind us that we are not alone.
When we visit someone who is ill.
When we say a person’s name during the prayer for healing.
When we surround a person who has suffered an unbearable loss.
When we provide safe space for mourners to rebuild a world torn asunder.
At these times of deep human pain, Judaism makes meaning as a human anchor creating time, space, and structure amidst the void.
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Of course there are the times of great celebration in which Jewish life excels.
The joy of hearing about a new baby’s birth.
Welcoming a baby to our community through the ritual of brit milah or simchat bat.
The Jewish coming of age ceremony of bar or bat mitzvah.
Celebrating finding love and making lifelong commitments at weddings.
Commemorating anniversaries of finding love.
Celebrating birthdays, especially those that we consider “big.”
We celebrate life as Jews because we are a life-intoxicated people.
Judaism prioritizes life and living above all and gives us the opportunity at every stage of life to acknowledge and reflect on the privilege of being in life.
How thrilling it is when we come together to rejoice, when we sing “siman tov u’mazel tov--yiyeh lanu” “Good signs and good luck--may it also be for us” as if we were spreading the good fortune dust of the person we are celebrating.
And where does prayer fit into Judaism’s meaning making?
When we put our deepest aspirations into words, what is also called prayer,
we have the opportunity of giving voice to what we hope will be.
Whether the prayers of our prayer books
Or the prayers prompted by our inner-beings.
In giving voice to our aspirations, we are empowering ourselves, especially in those human situations where we really do not have any power.
We all know that old Jewish idiom from the Yiddish: we make plans and God laughs.
That is true--we live in a world that is unpredictable.
Still
Knowing that the world is unpredictable
It is my prayer, my aspiration, my hope that you will reconsider how Judaism transforms the unpredictability of life into meaning,
how Judaism functions in your life and the lives of the people you love and care about,
and remember that while none of us can change the world from following its natural course,
we are all blessed to have Judaism to make meaning.
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