L’shanah tovah.

Quite a journey.  Each step up the mountain stretching limits, even each step down the mountain demanding courage.  A journey through unfamiliar wanderings, along an uncertain path, on a quest for purpose.

When Abraham and Isaac ascend Mount Moriah and Abraham prepares to fulfill what he believes to be God’s command to sacrifice his son Isaac, what could Isaac be thinking?  When Abraham lifts his knife and at the last minute God’s angel calls it off, what could Isaac be feeling?  When the worst of it is over and it’s time to descend the mountain, how can Isaac move forward?

The Midrash tells us that before Isaac is spared, while still poised under Abraham’s knife, the angels hover over him and in their dread, they weep.  As they do, the angels’ tears fall into Isaac’s eyes, forever changing his vision. 

Even once the peak of the ordeal concludes, it is not over. As, shaken, Isaac descends the mountain, the angels’ tears remain.

The haunting narrative of the Akeda/the Binding of Isaac, in this morning’s Torah reading, tells among the most inconceivable stories in our tradition. Commentaries attempt to understand the purpose for the story, and possible ways to perceive God’s and Abraham’s thinking.  For me, in this story it is impossible to understand God or to put myself in Abraham’s shoes. 

But Isaac—we are all Isaac.  We all face loss, fear, uncertainty, loneliness, and many of us face trauma, of this year or of many years. 

When the peak of the ordeal concludes, as we descend the mountain, the angels’ tears remain in our eyes.  We are shaken.  Forever changed. 

The question is, changed how?  Scholar Betsy Stone offers this non-clinical definition of trauma: “the response to a deeply distressing event that overwhelms our ability to cope, causes feelings of helplessness, diminishes our sense of self and ability to feel the full range of emotions.”  Having endured the peak of the pandemic as well as other life experiences, many of us can relate to trauma or to adversity. 

The journey is ongoing; we are not done facing this pandemic. But we are in a different stage than we were, having experienced it enough to reflect back and to grow.  To ask: how have the tears, changed our vision, even offered insight?

As we reflect, consider the “COVID-keepers” – the new insights we seek to keep in focus.  I’ve heard from you many spiritual “COVID-keepers.”  We have learned: to no longer take for granted a meal with friends, to accept imperfect circumstance, to conquer unworthy fears, to release a need for control, to renew our sense of purpose.  If these COVID-keepers stick while we descend the mountain – while we walk forward into the next phase of our lives — that’s transformation; that’s growth. 

Jewish tradition knows, it is not Isaac’s choice, whether to be impacted by trauma, and it is not ours. Without blaming Isaac, or any of us, for those times when trauma causes debilitating consequences… through Isaac, the text does brings inspiration for how we might grow in the wake of adversity.

As Isaac descends, the angels’ tears remain.  When the story of the Akeda/the binding of Isaac concludes, what happens next?  There is no word about Isaac. Where is he? Perhaps, initially, Isaac is wandering, just figuring out how to survive.  The unknown in the text honors us in our own wandering – Where are we?  Sometimes we just need to figure out how to survive. 

In this, I have such compassion for you all, for our congregation, and for our world.  We are all Isaac this year and any year, for no one escapes hardship.

Now, beyond the wandering, with angels’ tears still in his eyes, what are other layers of Isaac’s response to his experience?  And what is our response to our own? 

Following Isaac’s unknown whereabouts, consider his first step: Isaac travels out of his way.  Isaac visits a well – a well that is mentioned chapters ago — as the destination of Hagar.  Perhaps Hagar — the maidservant who was cast out of Abraham’s home, in her suffering – is still at this well. Imagine that Isaac visits, looking for Hagar, seeking to offer compassion to her* – understanding they are both members of Abraham’s household who suffered.  With the angels’ tears still in his eyes, Isaac responds with compassion.

With tears still in our eyes, what is our response to adversity?  Compassion.  It’s in the small moments: the warmth and technology-tips at the start of each Zoom.  It’s in the deeper moments: Amid this year’s heartbreaking losses were bright spots of compassion. When one recent widow—someone young to be a widow—learned of other congregants who this year lost spouses young, she reached out to make a connection. Granting permission to share with you, she said to me: “the shared support is comforting, and also gives me purpose; I can understand something in their lives, most others cannot.”  Like Isaac, she returned to a place of suffering – she returned with compassion.

I have faith in our renewed call to compassion.

We are all Isaac, this year and any year. Angels’ tears still in his eyes, when Isaac returns from Hagar’s well, consider his second response.  In what may be the quietest moment in the Torah, the text says: Isaac goes out meditating in the field, as evening draws near.  In his journey forward, he responds with reflection.  

And in our journey, we respond with reflection. As we all asked ourselves: how do we live this pandemic life?… we also asked ourselves: how do we live this life – period.  As we watched groceries, schools and our congregation forced to reinvent, in ways we could not have imagined, the impossible became possible. We began to ask ourselves, if the notion of what is possible, in our institutions has been expanded, what possibilities, in my own life path can I expand?  With intention, recalibration and prioritizing, we saw that our growth from a scary time, could somehow clear away the hindrances of fear or lack of imagination.  How blessed we are to be part of a synagogue, a home for such spiritual search.

I have faith in our renewed call to reflection.

We are all Isaac, this year and any year.

After his walk in the field, consider Isaac’s next response.  Isaac’s meditation is followed by the Torah’s greatest love scene.  Isaac’s family has arranged for Rebekah to come meet him.  While out meditating in the field, Isaac looks up and sees camels approaching.  Raising her eyes, Rebekah sees Isaac. She dismounts her camel –or perhaps falls off, as she falls in love — and says: “who is that man walking in the field toward us?”  Isaac and Rebekah become husband and wife.  Isaac loves her and thus finds comfort.

Love. Oh, those tiny outdoor COVID weddings, because as Jews we do what we can, to not delay joy.

Now, for those who were hoping to fall off a camel for someone this year… well, a shout-out to you, who were searching for romantic love during the pandemic—it was a tough time for dating.  This summer was predicted to be a hot summer for young singles who were finally vaccinated.  As it turns out, when singles would meet in a bar and they left together, according to data, they were likely to just, talk. The common experience of the pandemic left them unprepared for light flirting or casual relationships; they ended a night in deep conversation.

Depth of relationship, and even love, is a part of our response.  Beyond romantic love, friends, family, and the community have found new ways to opened their hearts and prioritize relationships: grandparents teaching preschool to grandchildren, long distance relatives zooming family reunions, teen-agers cooking dinner for their parents—or so I’ve heard! 

I have faith in our renewed call to love.

We are all Isaac.

After Isaac builds a family with his beloved Rebekah, consider how he continues to respond and to grow. Later in his life, Isaac digs anew the water wells, which had been dug in the days of his father.  When another tribe in the neighborhood, quarrels over 2 of the same wells, Isaac sees beyond his own family’s needs.  Isaac shares equity, and commits to other groups’ interests, as well as his own.  He resolves conflict, identifying a third undisputed well, and he establishes a peace treaty with Abimelech, king of the Philistines.  Relentlessly, Isaac takes responsibility for his own community, for the surrounding community, and for the future.

Amid our own trauma, this congregation has not averted our eyes, from the injustices of our city and our world.  Congregants have dedicated themselves to voter engagement, to our Breaking Bread on Broad food pantry, to anti-racism work.  As the injustices remain: from systemic racism, to gun violence, to homophobia, to voter suppression, to a gender gap leaving 1 million more women than men to leave their jobs this year, to the misogynistic assault on reproductive rights, to the anti-Semitism that, as with so many other times of fear in human history, has been emboldened… I have faith in our renewed call to responsibility.

How do we ensure that we keep shining light in our areas of growth, that we remain devoted to compassion, reflection, love, and responsibility? 

According to Jewish law, a sanctuary must have windows. The brokenness of the outside world cannot be ignored in our words of prayer.  And the values we share in the sanctuary must inspire us to shine our light into the world. Each ray of light, in Hebrew, Keren Or, inspires our growth.  Through those tears in our eyes, we see the rays of light and we become Keren Or, a ray of light.

Isaac cannot un-see the knife. Angels’ tears still in his eyes, he can only descend the mountain.  There’s no going back to the old normal, there’s only moving forward.  Now part of the way there, as we move forward together,

May we travel, out of our way, inspired by compassion,

May we reflect, that our lives be led with intention,

May we find great love, and express it in our actions,

May we dig deep, and keep our wells, and our eyes, open.

Finding growth, even with tears still in our eyes,

May we enter this new year so full of potential for goodness.

*Drawn from a teaching from Rabbi Shai Held.

Once upon a time, there was a poor Jewish baker named Yosef. Yosef lived in a small town; a three day trip to the big city of Prague. One night, after a long day at the bakery, Yosef came home and, exhausted, he collapsed into his bed and quickly fell asleep. He began to dream. He dreamt of a mysterious stranger who told him to look for a treasure in Prague, under the bridge which leads to the royal palace. And before Yosef could ask the mysterious stranger any questions about this treasure, he woke up. “What a strange dream,” Yosef thought; but there was bread to bake and Yosef soon forgot about the dream as we went about his day. The next night, once again tired from a long day, Yosef fell fast asleep and began to dream. And once more, the same mysterious stranger came to Yosef in his dream and told him to look for a treasure in Prague, under the bridge which leads to the royal palace. Once more, Yosef awoke and thought about his strange dream but gave it no further thought as he was very busy. As you might have guessed, once more, the next night, Yosef had the same dream, a third time. When he awoke the next morning, he knew this must have been a message from God and he decided to set out for Prague. 

After three long days, Yosef arrived in Prague and went straight to the bridge that the stranger had shown him in the dream. But when he got there, he found that the bridge was guarded day and night and that it would be impossible to dig for treasure without being spotted by the guards. Nevertheless, Yosef continued to wait by the bridge, hoping for his moment. 

Finally, the captain of the guard, who had been watching Yosef, kindly asked whether he was looking for something or perhaps waiting for somebody. Yosef told the captain all about his dream. The captain laughed, saying, “Silly man – I cannot believe you travelled three days to Prague all because of a dream. I once had a dream where a stranger told me to go to a small town and dig for treasure under the stove in the home of a Jew named Yosef. Can you imagine anything more ridiculous?! I’d never be so foolish to follow a dream like that!!” And he laughed again. Yosef then bowed and thanked the guard. He quickly gathered his belongings and traveled the three days home. When he arrived back home, he immediately began digging under the stove, and there he found buried treasure beyond his wildest dreams. 

The treasure was right there all along. 

We are searching for the same treasure. We are living in a stressful, uncertain, hybrid world. And with uncertainty comes a search for ‘answers.’ We look to articles shared by friends, ‘self-help’ books and blogs, and to the advice of Drs. Fauci and Walensky. Tonight, I want to propose that Judaism wisdom is a treasure that has been buried right under our stoves all along, that has a unique role in helping us deal with a time such as this.

But why Judaism? Plenty of secular philosophies offer belief systems that can provide meaning, joy, and connection in our lives. Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z”l, answers this question with a metaphor – a library filled with books of different values and lifestyles. You can choose any. Then Sacks says, you come across a book with your family’s name on it. He writes:

“Intrigued, you open it and see many pages written by different hands in many languages. You start reading it, and gradually you begin to understand what it is. It is the story each generation of your spiritual ancestors has told for the sake of the next, so that everyone in this family can learn where they came from, what happened to them, what they lived for and why. As you turn the pages you reach the last, which carries no entry but a heading. It bears your name.”

Why Judaism? Because whether you were born into it or you converted or you are Jewish adjacent, you are a part of the story – this is our story to discover and write.

The traditional Torah reading for Rosh Hashanah morning tells the challenging account of Abraham casting out his concubine Hagar along with their son Ishmael. In the story, Ishmael and Hagar run out of water and fear that they are going to perish in the wilderness. Suddenly God hears the cries of Hagar and Ishmael and the text proclaims, “Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and let the boy drink.” (Genesis 21:19) The well was there the whole time; Hagar just couldn’t see it. When God opened her eyes, she recognized what was there all along, her ability to be an active agent in her own salvation. 

God opened her eyes, but it was Hagar who filled the skin with water. God sent him a dream, but it was Yosef who dug for the treasure. When we speak about prayer or ritual or Jewish learning, we call it a ‘spiritual practice’ because that is exactly what it requires, practice! In fact the Hebrew word for ‘prayer,’ avodah, is also translated as work. Engaging deeper with Judaism takes time and effort.  

My family has been baking challah for the past 18 months every single Friday. What started as a necessity when we couldn’t buy challah during the first weeks of the pandemic, turned into a rewarding spiritual practice for our family. Some weeks, we have all the time in the world and baking is a relaxing family activity. Some weeks, we’re busy and rushing around, and frankly, it’s a pain in the tuches! Nevertheless, we do it each week. 

We bake challah because it brings our family together around an ancient tradition that connects us not only with each other but also with our ancestors and the global Jewish community at a time when we have felt isolated.

The spiritual practice of ‘taking challah,” a commandment from the Torah to remove an olive sized piece of the dough to be burned up, is traditionally a time to offer prayers of healing for loved ones in need. Each week as we prepare the dough we take time to think of others, friends and family that are unwell and we pray for their healing.

Challah on Shabbat is special. It is a way of practicing hiddur mitzvah/beautifying the commandment. As we continue to spend time at home, Shabbat can be a break from the mundanity. When we say the kiddush on Friday night we mark Shabbat as a time set apart from the rest of the week. The root of the word kiddush, kadosh/holy means set apart and unique. Baking challah is one way we make Shabbat special.

At a time when many are experiencing loneliness, uncertainty, and fatigue, Shabbat offers the antidote of community, mindfulness, and rest. This is the essence of Shabbat. As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes in his book, “The Sabbath,” “There is a realm of time where the goal is not to have but to be, not to own but to give, not to control but to share, not to subdue but to be in accord.” 

Whether joining online or in person, Friday evening Kabbalat Shabbat services offer a chance to reconnect with friends and a chance to center ourselves. The service traditionally begins with six psalms to represent the six days leading up to Shabbat. Six psalms to work through the stresses of the week, to decide what we want to take with us and what we want to leave behind. As we sing Psalm 95, maybe we are thinking about that fight we had with our friend last Sunday; we know we really need to apologize. And as we sing Psalm 96, we think of that comment a coworker made about our appearance on Monday; we decide to just let it go. 

Shabbat is a treasure that has been here all along. It has been around since creation. 

There is a midrash/a rabbinic story (Pirkei Avot 5:6), that says God created ten miraculous things at twilight on the sixth day of creation, right before Shabbat, including the ram that Abraham sacrificed in place of Isaac during the Akedah.

Tomorrow morning, we will read the Akedah from the Torah scroll. We will hear about Abraham binding his son to the altar at God’s request, and almost sacrificing him before being stopped by an angel of God. After Abraham is told that this was just a test and he is not to sacrifice his son, the Torah continues, “When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son.”

The ram was there all along. It has been here since creation. Abraham needed help seeing it so he could sacrifice it in place of Isaac. The well of water was there all along, Hagar needed help seeing it so she could save herself and Ismael. The treasure was there all along, Yosef needed the help finding it so he could dig it up. Judaism has been here all along, we need to live it so we can find answers in this difficult world.

Tomorrow, we blow the shofar, the ram’s horn – the very horn from the very ram that God created at twilight on the sixth day. The shofar blast is a reminder that the treasure has been here all along, we just have to look for it.

The next ten days, the yamim noraim/days of awe are a time to reflect, to do heshbon hanefesh/an accounting of our souls. It is not just a time to apologize to those we hurt this year, it is also a time to make a commitment to ourselves to be different, to be more mindful, more authentic, more whole, this coming year. On Yom Kippur we will read the words of Parashat Nitzavim:

“Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” Neither is it beyond the sea… No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.” (Deuteronomy 30:11-14)

The treasure has been here all along. Judaism has been here all along. During difficult times and beyond into better times, our tradition has been here and always will be here for us, so long as we choose to engage with it.

This New Year, for our sake and for the sake of our world, may we find the answers we seek in our sacred tradition, may we find our treasure that has been here all along.

• Masks – For now, in this early regathering stage, we require congregants to mask indoors. Together, we are determining the best path towards including those who cannot become fully vaccinated, including young children for whom we model masking indoors. Each clergy member will unmask for portions of the service that clergy member leads.

• Virtual Multi-Access – Now that we will no longer access services all in the same way, the best technological solutions for us have changed. The new livestream will offer a comments feature and will not include the video of worshipers participating virtually.

• Closed Captioning – To enable closed captioning, select the “CC” icon in the ribbon on the bottom of your video player.

• Vaccination – Our congregation expects all who attend in-person to be vaccinated. In keeping with the Jewish mandate that “All the community is responsible for each other,” Jewish values obligate us to vaccinate unless health condition or age makes that impossible. Together, we protect ourselves and we protect each other, and we especially protect those whose age or health condition preludes vaccination. For further teaching on Jewish values about vaccination, go here. 

• Social Distancing – Although the science clearly guides the society and our community to reopen our in-person living, there is an emotional adjustment for some and there are special health concerns for others. Please ensure that physical contact and proximity to people are mutually welcomed by asking consent. Before sitting next to someone, ask “May I sit here or would you prefer to spread out?”

• Oneg – Weather permitting, we will hold Oneg Shabbat/Kiddush in the Forman Family Courtyard outdoors, unmasked, so we can enjoy some challah together!

• Prayerbook – Looking to follow virtually with the prayerbook? A digital prayerbook can be accessed here, free of charge. A hard copy prayerbook can be purchased here. On both, pages numbers will align with those announced in the sanctuary.

How We Gather: In-Person and Virtual Jewish Life at Congregation Rodeph Shalom

Moving Forward

On behalf of Rabbi Eli Freedman, Jennifer James our Director of Youth Learning, and Jeff Katz our executive director, with whom in collaboration I shared these plans at our Annual Meeting, I feel uplifted with a sense of possibility as I share with you our thinking about how we are preparing to gather this summer and fall.

With immense gratitude to the partnership of our Board of Directors and to its How We Gather/Reopening Task Force, led so thoughtfully by our visionary chairperson Chip Ellis, I share our plans that are rooted in principles of Jewish values and safety, that are sensitive to congregants, clergy and staff, and that are driven by Rodeph Shalom’s vision: Immersed in Jewish time, guided by enduring values, compelled to moral action, we create profound connections. 

One Community ~ Multiple Access Options

We are shaping Jewish life at Rodeph Shalom as one community with multiple access options.  There is no going back.  Eager to offer in-person ways to gather, it is clear the virtual options will remain as well.  The aim is not to create two communities or two schedules of activities, rather, we will shape experiences that can be accessed in more than one way.  Whether experiencing a program in-person or on screen, participants will know we are all a part of something greater than ourselves. 

We can finally say we are planning with optimism for potential full in-person capacity, with contingency plans for set-backs, and the understanding that everything is subject to change. Based on science and local thresholds of virus spread rate, vaccination access, and vaccination coverage, we are incrementally and with experimentation adding in-person and hybrid experiences. 

Vaccination Expectation for All Who Are Able

According to Jewish values, we are obligated to our Jewish community to vaccinate if we are able. Tradition teaches “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh / the whole Jewish community is responsible for each other.”  Now that vaccination is universally accessible to most age groups, Congregation Rodeph Shalom expects all congregants to vaccinate unless a health condition precludes it or unless one’s age group is not yet served by the vaccine (and we are excited for promising recent news for our youngest school-aged children!).  All of us who are physically able need to protect ourselves, protect each other, and especially protect those most vulnerable to the dangers of Covid-19.

Shabbat ~ July in the Sanctuary

I am overjoyed to say we plan to return to the sanctuary for Friday evening Shabbat services at the start of July!  In-person worship requires we monitor the data not only regarding virus spread and vaccine coverage but also regarding singing as a virus spreader. We are incrementally introducing more opportunities as we experiment. Weather-permitting we plan to offer more outdoor driveway mishkan service components on June 11 and June 25.  Assuming data continues to progress so positively, we plan to return to the sanctuary for Friday evening Shabbat services at the start of July.    

I feel so uplifted to picture us together in the sanctuary! With new infrastructure now in place to provide the virtual experience as well, please understand, the experience will be an adjustment for us all. When all worshippers accessed services in the same way, such as on Zoom, it provided an intimacy around the common experiences. The Zoom would not provide a superior sanctuary experience and would not leverage the intimacy of the single-accessed experience we have enjoyed this past year.  We are preparing, both technologically and emotionally, to move to an experience that was designed primarily for the virtual viewer to an experience designed for both in-person and virtual; once again, adaptability will serve us well as we adjust to a new livestream platform.

For the Shabbat services you would like to experience virtually, we will no longer create an abbreviated prayerbook designed for Zoom.  Instead, we will call page numbers.  If you would like to participate on a second device or a second screen, please use this no-cost digital flipbook:

https://www.ccarnet.org/publications/resources-repaginated/# or purchase a hard-copy prayerbook:

https://www.ccarpress.org/shopping_product_detail.asp?pid=50201 .            

High Holy Days

I am thrilled to share that we are planning High Holy Day services, both in-person and virtual for each service. For the case of set-backs with virus spread or vaccination coverage that could require capacity limitations, we have prepared contingency plans and we will likely offer an additional Kol Nidre Classical service; please continue to read all communications this summer in case we need to update you with modified schedules and plans.

B’nai Mitzvah

This past year’s B’nai Mitzvah students brought light and Torah to a dark time and taught us all the true meaning of B’nai Mitzvah!  Our B’nai Mitzvah services this spring remain primarily on Zoom but now with open seating capacity.  By the time of the fall B’nai Mitzvah, we expect the primary service to take place in the sanctuary with open capacity and full clergy on the bimah.  Families can even begin to book reception space once again for celebrations!

Berkman Mercaz Limud ~ Planning for In-Person Class

From Jennifer James’ extraordinary transformation to a zoom school to Micah Marder’s song- and service- leading to the teachers’ devotion, the parents’ commitment, and students’ enthusiasm, this has been an incredible year of learning, soul-growth, and community-building. We plan to be able to offer in-person Berkman Mercaz Limud in the fall, and have contingency plans in case there are capacity limitations at the start of the year.  Our focus remains: connection, continuity, and content and the design of our return prioritizes teaching quality, teaching time, community-building, and flexibility.

Connection Groups, Adult Gatherings

Connection Groups, Small Groups, Torah Study, Caring Community and meetings will begin slowly to introduce in-person gathering often with virtual components.  These smaller and medium sized gatherings are perfect places to experiment with approaches to hybrid, to serving food, and to cooking food.  For the hybrid virtual components, we are developing capabilities for two-way interaction in some of our spaces.

Staff Return

Our professional team members have provided immense support to each other all year, helping one another to combat isolation! We have begun a return journey staggering our transition to on site on a regular basis, working towards full staff (although some accommodations) present full time in mid-June.

Cantor Transition

Our interim Cantor, Rita Glassman, has nourished our souls all year, without even meeting us in-person!  We will have the opportunity to express our gratitude at the Shabbat service Friday, June 18.

Our permanent Cantor, Brad Hyman, will begin in July and has already started to plan with the clergy and become a part of the team. Please help us welcome him at his first service – which we expect to be our first service in the sanctuary – July 2!

My Partners

Hank Bernstein has experienced a first year of presidency like no other.  I am inspired by his clarity of thought, his perspective, his incredibly hard work, his devotion, and his Torah, and I am deeply grateful for his partnership.  I am grateful to have walked through this with a senior team and a professional staff by my side who finds that challenge drives them to creativity, energy and purpose. And I am thankful for the teaching and support of our rabbis emeriti. I pray that I thank them all enough; please join me in expressing gratitude to them.

I am profoundly grateful for the connections and support this congregation has maintained throughout this pandemic.  You have deepened my faith! 

Please be in touch to express what is most important to you in our regathering designs: clergyoffice@rodephshalom.org.

See you soon!

Good evening and thank you for joining us for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Congregants.  Our agenda for this evening is to review this past year, to look forward to our next year, to elect new members of the Board of Directors and to acknowledge the extraordinary work of volunteers.

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Who could have envisioned this past year?  We all have been challenged physically, mentally and emotionally! 

I could never have foreseen this first year of my term, but my “port in the storm” during this pandemic has been Rodeph Shalom.  RS has buoyed me with the words of Jewish wisdom in the weekly RS emails, lifted me spiritually in the weekly Zoom Shabbat services, and challenged me intellectually on Saturday mornings in Torah Study.  In those and all of the many RS activities during a typical week, Rodeph Shalom has provided important grounding and focus for me and has served as a “ray of light” in the darkness of the past year for which I am very grateful.

There are many congregants to whom we need to express appreciation tonight including our Board of Directors, the Board of Advisors, members who serve on committees and task forces, and all who participate in our worship, social justice, learning and other activities. 

Our special appreciation for their outstanding performance during this pandemic needs to be expressed to the amazing RS staff—our staff has demonstrated incredible resiliency, initiative, flexibility and commitment over this past year and we are extremely grateful to them all! 

And to our extraordinary clergy—Rabbi Maderer, Rabbi Freedman and Cantor Glassman—even though we gathered virtually, you have made sure that we continue to feel connected to our beloved Rodeph Shalom and to our Jewishness, and have nurtured that connection and our spirituality with your prayer leadership, insightful D’vrei Torah and beautiful music.  Cantor Glassman has continued to provide new and traditional music and her professional expertise to our weekly Shabbat services, B’nai mitzvah training, Torah study and all activities.   A special thank you to Cantor Glassman, will take place at our June 18^th Shabbat service.

I want to spend a brief amount of time sharing with you the challenges and successes that RS has seen in the past year—

Early in the pandemic the Board of Directors established three Task Forces to work with Clergy and staff—the Benchmarking Reopening Task Force, the Disruption Task Force and the High Holy Day Task Force.  These groups helped to provide the pathways for our Congregation to continue to thrive during the pandemic and their work continues to guide us as we seek opportunities to gather in person and virtually for all activities in the future.

One of the questions I receive most often from congregants is, “How is the Congregation doing financially?”

In April and May of last year, Management, in consultation with the Finance Committee, crafted three different FY 21 budget scenarios for Board review.  The Board of Directors ultimately approved a very conservative FY21 Budget that included a deficit of $191,000.

I’m happy to report that due to the generosity of our congregants, the prudent management of our expenses, and with monies from the federal Payroll Protection Plan, we will end this fiscal year at better than a break-even point.

RS has received a second tranche of federal Payroll Protection Plan funds for the new fiscal year, and the Board approved a breakeven budget including the $354k from the PPP.    We hope that we can rely once again on congregants for their support of membership and other annual fundraising during this coming year.  However, we need to continue to do better than breaking even with the assistance of federal funds.

You may remember that on Yom Kippur last year I spoke about the financial sustainability of RS for the future and each congregant’s responsibility in ensuring the future of our sacred community.    I spoke of the incredible assets of RS—world-class clergy, beautiful facilities, our awe-inspiring sanctuary; but I also spoke of the financial needs and responsibilities that still remain.  I spoke of our congregation’s need to work on the “four-legged stool” of financial sustainability— (1) increasing membership and membership revenues (in the FY22 budget, membership revenues cover only 56% of expenses), (2) the need for additional endowment, (3) continued monetization of our facility and (4) increasing contributions to our temporarily restricted special purpose funds.  

We need to work on all four legs of the stool, and work has begun even in this difficult past year. 

• While membership has not decreased to the extent that we have seen at other area congregations, we need to work to increase our membership numbers and membership revenues. The Membership Committee has been working diligently during the year and will make recommendations in the near future to the Strategic Planning Committee, whose new plan of priorities for the Congregation is anticipated by the end of the calendar year. 
• And while the positive performance of the stock market has lifted our Endowment and other funds, we need to continue to grow Endowment principal to provide more funds for operations. I’m pleased to report that we have restarted the Quiet Phase of our endowment campaign after an 8-month hiatus, and to date have raised over $4 million.  Another piece of great news in that Susan Klehr has graciously agreed to be the Chair of the Campaign.
• As our city continues to open up, we hope that the ability to rent out our facilities to outside groups will grow in the coming year to provide a steady and significant stream of revenue.

We continue to have a structural deficit—that is, our operating revenues do not cover our expenses.  We have been fortunate in these past few years to have been able to rely on other accumulated funds from the past to cover expenses or government funds, but we need to correct this systemic issue by continuing to move forward on all four legs of our financial sustainability stool. 

Our HHD services last year were a real production in every sense of the word and the services were incredibly spiritual and moving!  As you know our virtual services were open to everyone and for the first time we used virtual t’filah. 

Our fund-raising effort in late fall and winter was successful in meeting its budget with a program the included 3 sessions on cooking Jewishly.  Thanks to the generosity of patrons, congregants and the sponsorship of the Joseph W Rosenbluth Fund we met our goal.

Caring Community continued to be active during the last year with the following activities:

• In addition to the calls that are normally made to congregants each Passover, telephone calls were made on an ongoing basis by Caring Community to connect with and check in with congregants. Thanks to the many members who helped connect to our congregants.
• RS offered support specifically to those struggling with addiction and mental health with our recent panel conversation with Michael Solomonov, which chipped away at stigma.
• Fran Martin has led a regular Congregational Check-in, which has been important for so many experiencing isolation during this time.
• In addition to the ongoing work of our Connection Groups, a small group pilot program was established with around 10 people to meet once a month over a sustained period of time to provide a place to belong, speak and share, and hopefully thicken relationships.

It was been an interesting year for RS’s Social Justice work.

• In previous years our Breaking Bread on Broad activity had provided breakfast, learning and other fun activities for students from our neighborhood, in the RS facility during the summer months. Because of COVID, the in-facility component of the program was not possible last summer, but the distribution of food was still held at the Green Street entrance.  What was previously just a summer program has now expanded to a year-round program offering food, health products and other necessities weekly to students and over 130 immigrant families in need.   Thanks to Ellen Poster, Dan Seltzer and many other volunteers, a few of whom we will honor later in our program.   
• In previous years our Congregation established an Anti-Racism Work Group, which has continued to meet during this year to do the sustained work on anti-racism in ourselves, our community and our world. The efforts of this group also helped inform the Board of Directors who approved a resolution supporting the principle of the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement.  The group and the Board were guided by Jewish values and by the Jewish wisdom of the Torah and Talmud.  The BLM resolution now lives on the RS web site.
• Our Equity, Inclusion Diversity Task Force, called “EID”—Hebrew for “witness,” is currently working on an audit of all we do as a congregation, in order to ensure that different groups, especially those vulnerable to feeling on the margins, feel a sense of belonging at RS.

Our Education programs have continued for this past year:

• The Buerger Early Learning Center reopened in September 2020 and has been steadily increasing its number of children.
• Jennifer James and her team have provided a virtual Berkman Mercaz Limud program to continue to engage and educate our children; the virtual BML has been an outstanding offering and a highlight for these families, whose attendance has been excellent.
• Torah Study is a mainstay of Adult Education and its virtual presence has attracted new faces including existing and new congregants and non-congregants to its weekly Saturday morning group; and
• Days of Learning, a lay leadership-led program, offered excellent educational opportunities during two different periods of the year.

I want to take an opportunity to thank the members of the Board of Directors—the fifteen directors have operated as a very efficient and effective body, with each member adding their expertise and voice on the issues at hand.  It has been my pleasure and honor to serve as your facilitator.

In conclusion, it is my hope and expectation that this coming year will feel different to all of us, that we will begin gathering in person and continue to make and reinforce those profound connections with one another!

Thank you!

Statement for Black Lives from Rodeph Shalom Board of Directors and Rodeph Shalom Clergy

Who here still has one of these? [middah bracelet] Last year, in conjunction with my Erev Rosh Hashanah sermon, we gave out these middot bracelets. Middot are the character virtues taught by mussar, a values-based approach to Jewish ethics and character development. The bracelets were meant to serve as simple reminders, like a string around your finger, to work on a middah/a particular character trait. Last year we gave out three bracelets: binah/seeking meaning, nitzachon/perseverance, and rachamim/compassion. 

For those who took a bracelet last year, a few questions to reflect on: Which bracelet did you choose? Why? How long did you wear it for? What effect did it have on you?

Last year, I shared stories from our Reform movements overnight camp, Camp Harlam. Stories of campers living out these middot; showing kindness, perseverance, and understanding. This summer, there was no camp; there is a pandemic. And so, this year, I want to share some stories from the pandemic, examples of middot/character traits to help us get through 2020 and beyond. 

I reached out on social media and asked what middot have been most important during this pandemic? In your responses, three middot really stood out: savlanut/patience, hakarat hatov/gratitude, and achrayut/social responsibility.

Have you seen the viral video of Israeli comedian Yonatan Gruber helping his mother learn Zoom? Have a quick look at this clip.

The first time I saw this video, I could not stop laughing. But what really got me was at the end when Yonatan and his mom could finally see each other face to face. They were getting frustrated but they didn’t give up; their patience paid off with a beautiful moment of connection.

I imagine many of you can relate to our first middah, savlanut/patience. Maybe you’ve also had to persevere through the impatience of learning a new technology. Or maybe you had to push through the impatience of teaching it. 

Related to the Hebrew words lisbol/to suffer and sovel/a burden or load, Jewish tradition teaches that patience is the ability to bear the burden of your feelings without reacting. Savlanut does not mean that you are always in a completely calm and unruffled state of mind, but rather that you are aware and conscious enough of your emotions that you do not allow them to get the best of you. 

The cause of our impatience is usually not the situation itself, though that is how it might appear to us. A situation that perhaps infuriates us might not cause the slightest bit of concern to another person. We experience impatience only when we strain against a situation we cannot control.

Earlier in the service, when we took the Torah from the ark, we sang the words, “Adonai, Adonai, El Rachum, v’Chanun, Erech Apayim…” Quoting from the story of the golden calf, we describe God as merciful, compassionate, loving, and erech apayim/slow to anger. 

Can you imagine?! God parted the sea, freed the Israelites from slavery, gave them manna and how did they show their graittude? By building an idol! 

Talk about patience?! It must have taken a lot for God to bear a burden like that without losing it. But here’s the thing — God does lose it. So much so, that in a moment of impatience, God almost wipes out the entire nation of Israel. And then Moses gently reminds God of our covenant; God’s promise to us, v’yanichem Adonai/and God is merciful and spares the people.

We are created b’tzelem Elohim/in the image of God. We seek to emulate God’s erech apayim, God’s slowness to anger, God’s savlanut, God’s patience. But even God needs help sometimes in this hard work. So what will be your Moses? What will help you to be mindful in those moments of frustration? What image, phrase, or other prompt might remind you to bear the burden of your feelings of impatience? How will you cultivate savlanut this year?

Our next middah is gratitude. In his book, Flourish, University of Pennsylvania professor Dr. Martin Seligman encourages readers to try the “What Went Well” or “Three Blessings” Exercise. Here’s how it works:

Every night for the next week, set aside ten minutes before you to sleep. Write down three things that went well today and why they went well. Here are a few examples:

“I’m thankful for the chance to walk around outside this afternoon.”

“Thank you, God, that my family is healthy.”

“I’m thankful for that phone conversation with my parent, spouse, partner, friend, sibling, child, or grandchild today.”

Our Jewish tradition guides us to say 100 blessings a day. That might seem like a lot right now – but three blessings a day is certainly doable, and I think you’ll find it comforting and empowering. Simply spend a moment during your day reflecting on three things that went well or that have blessed you in some way.

Research suggests that this simple gratitude practice will increase your well-being and decrease anxiety and sadness because it focuses your attention and awareness on the good in your life. It cultivates emotions like joy, love, hope, awe, and serenity. Judaism calls this spiritual practice hakarat hatov, literally, “recognizing the good.”  

Often translated simply as gratitude, hakarat hatov, is a middah that I witnessed first hand this summer during Breaking Bread on Broad, our program that provides free educational activities and nutritious meals to the children of our neighborhood. This year, with social distancing requirements, we offered a contactless, outdoor, weekly pickup for families in lieu of our in-person program.

I expected families to be disappointed at the change. To be frustrated. To grieve another loss of normalcy. Instead, all I heard was gratitude. 

One immigrant family from Honduras timidly asked one week if we had any diapers and menstrual products. We didn’t, but our volunteers picked some up the following week and when the family arrived and saw what we had for them, they had tears in their eyes. The profound sense of gratitude from this family for such necessities that many take for granted is a model for us all. 

These families, our neighbors, understand the power of hakarat hatov. How will you cultivate hakarat hatov in this coming year? How will you be grateful? How will you recognize the good?

Our final middah is achrayut/social responsibility. Coming from the Hebrew word, acher/other, achrayut is the moral belief that we as individuals, have a responsibility toward the other and toward society as a whole.

Many of you have probably heard the phrase: My mask protects you and your mask protects me. This is achrayut/social responsibility. When you wear a mask, you are practicing achrayut.

There is even a blessing for putting on a facemask:

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu, Melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav, v’tzivanu al sh’mirat ha-nefesh.

Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Sovereign of the universe, who has sanctified us with commandments, commanding us to protect life.

We are compelled by our tradition to think beyond ourselves in order that we might preserve life. The Holocaust survivor and Jewish theologian, Viktor Frankl understands achrayut to mean, “Being conscious and being responsible. By becoming responsible agents for social change we actualize not only our humanity but also our mission as Jews.” This is not just about doing something nice for others. This is our very mission in life.

I was speaking with a recent Bat Mitzvah student in our congregation. She told me about the loss in celebrating her Bat Mitzvah during a pandemic: no big party and, more importantly, none of her extended family could travel to be here. But she also told me about how making these sacrifices made her proud that she was doing a mitzvah. By putting the health and safety of others first, she was taking her place as a Jewish adult in fulfilling the mitzvah of achrayut/social responsibility.

How will you cultivate achrayut this year? How will you think of others and practice social responsibility?

That Bat Mitzvah student, the Honduran Family, Yonatan Gruber and his mom, they aren’t super heroes. They don’t have some secret, magic ability that makes them more socially responsible or grateful or patient than the rest of us. It’s hard and they have to work at it just like the rest of us. 

It’s difficult enough to change in normal circumstances, let alone during a pandemic. But it’s worth it. The world feels overwhelming right now. We can become paralyzed to the point of inaction by the enormity of the problems in our lives and across the globe right now. But if we can just work on one piece of ourselves this year, we have done a small part to repair the world. 

Mindfulness, working to repair our inner character flaws not only helps us, it helps the world. We do this work because we want to be the best version of ourselves for our friends, neighbors, family, and community.

We practice savlanut/patience to be a more caring friend, parent, child, or spouse. 

We practice hakarat hatov/gratitude to be a more appreciative member of our community. 

And we practice achrayut/social responsibility to repair our broken world. But achrayut also helps repair our own brokenness; it gives meaning to our days and our lives. Helping others allows us to see beyond ourselves.

These are the middot that are going to get us through the rest of 2020 and beyond. Being grateful for what we have, finding meaning in our lives by thinking of others, and having the patience to understand that there is only so much we can control and that sometimes we just need to bear the burden.

We can do it. We can be our best selves. We can get through this together. 

I don’t have any middot bracelets to give out this year to help you. But you don’t need them. You already have the capacity for change inside of you. That is the very basis of t’shuvah —  repentance or return — the belief that every person has the ability to change for the better. This is the greatest gift we are given; the opportunity for renewal each year, the chance to reevaluate our lives, and to be the person we are meant to be. 

This New Year, may we have the strength and determination to make real change in our lives, to practice patience, gratitude, and social responsibility, to repair our lives, and to repair our broken world. 

Ken y’hi ratzon/May this be God’s will. Amen. Gut Yuntif.

Who shall live and who shall die? Who will be tranquil and who will be troubled? Life’s profound uncertainty is embedded in our ancient High Holy Day words.

The Unetaneh Tokef prayer on Yom Kippur asks the hardest, deepest questions of our lives and leaves us without answer. We do not claim to know. Yet, about one thing we are clear. In response to the hardest questions, Unetaneh Tokef concludes, proclaiming these words to God: “You urge us to return from our ways and live. Until the day of death You wait for us.” 

Amid the mystery, in this we believe: Human beings have the capacity to change. To do better. And God is waiting.

Even in this unprecedented time, when massive numbers of people are ill or dying, when livelihoods are at risk, when societal injustices reveal tragic impact to the most vulnerable, when we feel the pain of distance, when nearly everything is out of our hands… even in these times, when I need to pre-record this sermon, not knowing precisely, what the reality or news headlines will be, when you hear my words… I have faith, that our tradition’s timeless wisdom was written, for just this moment.  For every moment.  We are pre-recording.  And it does not matter.  Because the wisdom of our tradition is eternal.

From cradle to grave, across time and space, from the beginning.  Tradition teaches: when human beings were created, God did not start with a city, or even start with one household—or one bubble, as it were. God creates a single person first. Why? The Talmud declares: For the sake of peace among humankind that one should not say to the other, “My parent is greater than your parent / my lineage is greater than your lineage / my race is greater than your race.” The entire purpose of the creation story could be to teach us this message of equality: We all come from the same.  

But, we have yet to shape a world that honors oneness. And God is waiting. 

For the sake of peace among humankind that no one should say, my race is greater than your race, as individuals, as a community, and as a society, we must be compelled by the Unetaneh Tokef’s faith that we have the capacity to change.  For our world needs change.

And that change needs us. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel taught: Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim; We must take sides.  The injustice of systemic racism violates our tradition’s teaching of equality, and pervades every element of our society—a society that has yet to address seriously, or attempt to redeem itself for the enslavement of millions of people.  2020 has been our tragic teacher, shining a light on generations of racial inequities. 

Let me tell you the story of my grandfather. First generation American, a proud patriot, Grandpa Sol returned from the Second World War and fulfilled his two dreams. He married his beloved, my grandmother, and he built his business.With a GI Bill loan, Grandpa Sol purchased a home, acquired equity, and positioned himself as an entrepreneur.  Grandpa chose Montauk, the small fisherman’s town at the eastern end of Long Island, where he was captivated by the most beautiful beach he had ever seen. There, Grandpa picked up his hammer and — an incredibly hard worker — with his own two hands he built the motel, that would become the family business. 

His life tells the story of the American Dream; and his life tells the story of more than one kind of bigotry. While my grandfather built his motel, he had to physically stay there all night long, to protect his property from local anti-semitic vandals. And that same grandfather who was an ongoing target of antisemitism, that same grandfather had returned from the War, to a mortgage no black man could have accessed, and it probably didn’t even occur to him, that this was the case. My grandfather grew his business, and his wealth, and I had a college fund, before I learned how to spell my name. That’s my white privilege. Antisemitism and white privilege within my one family’s story. 

Some of us have unearned privilege, because we are white or male or straight or with physical ability.  So, if we work very hard we are more likely to attain success, than is a person who works very hard but lacks that particular privilege.  Privileges on the surface benefit us.  

But if I am entitled to a college fund, in a society originally built on the enslavement of human beings, does that really benefit me? What does that do to my soul?  To our soul?  How can we be whole, in our privilege, how can we be whole, if others are not?  The inequity does not only damage the underprivileged groups; it infects our entire society and all of us who exist within it. It damages our souls.

Tonight in our vidui/our confession we prayed to make atonement as we spoke the words: Al chet shechatanu lifanecha b’zadone uvishgaga/The ways we have wronged You deliberately and by mistake. I do not believe members of my family were deliberately racist, or that members of our congregation are intentionally racist. Still our participation in racist structures, deliberately or by mistake, damages our souls, and makes us responsible for repair.  For repentance.

God urges us to return from our ways and live. Human beings have the capacity to change. To do better. And God is waiting.

In his consequential book, How To Be An Anti-Racist, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi of Boston University teaches: The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify it and dismantle it… Being an anti-racist requires persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination.”  Naming his own racism as he describes his journey of change, growth, responsibility and repair, throughout the book, Kendi teaches: the good news is racist and anti-racist, are not fixed identities.  We have the capacity to change.  

What Kendi calls self-examination and change, you and I call t’shuvah/repentance and Cheshbon hanefesh/the accounting of the soul — our rigorous work of change, growth, responsibility, and repair. The Talmud instructs: repent the day before your death. Every day potentially the day before our death, every day we repent. 

God urges us to return from our ways and live. To do better. And God is waiting.

Together, let us ask: What does racism do to our soul? As a congregation, let us commit to persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination, that we may consistently identify racism and help to dismantle it.  

In our congregational work, we will focus on African Americans’ experiences; we will center brown and black voices—both from within the Jewish community and from the greater community.

I invite you to participate in learning and action with our Anti-Racism Work Group where we discuss racism in a trusted space, and strive for difficult conversations in order to understand more deeply how racism pervades our world, and what specific actions we can take next. 

Let us commit together, to the sustained work of anti-racism in ourselves and in our world. 

I was moved by Ibram Kendi’s journey and by his bold conviction—that we need to consistently identify racism and dismantle it.  He lets none of us off the hook. Such a strong message could offend his audience, his readership. Yet Kendi takes his message all the way. What is the source of his courage?

At first, while Ibram Kendi was working on his book, he felt afraid to write his deepest truths.  He feared his personal storytelling would feel too vulnerable, and his stance, too bold.  And then, Kendi was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, at the age of 35.  All of a sudden, nothing was stopping him. This book was his last chance. He no longer worried about how it would be received; by the time readers consumed it, he would probably be dead anyway. He became fearless, and he said exactly what he meant.  It was death—the scariest thing of all, that urged Kendi to take his purpose all the way, to not be held back by fear—it was facing mortality that revealed Kendi’s greatest courage.

What will facing mortality reveal in us?  Yom Kippur—its question: who shall live and who shall die — Yom Kippur is our diagnosis. Our near-death experience. All of a sudden, nothing is stopping us; nothing is coming between us and our truth. This is our last chance. We no longer worry about how we will be received.  So we become fearless, we do and say exactly what we mean.  Only intensified with pandemic, mortality scares us into an honest, unmasked investigation of our lives, demanding we ask: what is possible, what is at my essence, how can I have an impact, what are the hardest truths I need to see, from what can I no longer avert my eyes. Facing our mortality–the scariest thing of all, that we may reveal our greatest courage. All year, God has been waiting.

A great shofar will cry and a still small voice will be heard; and it is telling us: 

God urges us to return from our ways. 

Until the day of our death, God will wait for us. 

Amid the mystery, we know we have the capacity to change. To do better. 

May our mortality, reveal our greatest courage.  

God is waiting.