Shana Tova!

It is wonderful to look out and see so many of you here.

There is something very special about being together—in this beautiful sanctuary –built almost 100 years ago! — on these holy days, with people of so many different ages and stages all taking time to stop, reflect, and to begin again.

I am especially honored to be standing here as your Congregation President.

I want to begin with a story.

Some years ago, someone decided to introduce me to another member of Rodeph Shalom. Apparently, the reasoning was: the two of us were both psychologists, so surely, we would have a lot in common. Well… not exactly.

We came from very different theoretical backgrounds, and we had very different life experiences. At our meeting, we started talking about a sermon we had recently heard. She thought it was insightful. I thought it flew in the face of virtually everything I knew about cognition and memory. We could have decided right then and there that this relationship wasn’t going anywhere. Instead, we did something that turned out to be much more important. We listened to each other — really listened. I didn’t persuade her. She didn’t persuade me. We simply shared what we thought—and listened to why the other person thought differently. And somehow, out of that disagreement, came a friendship. Today, she is one of my very best friends.

Over the years, we have had plenty of difficult conversations. We still don’t always agree. But we share Shabbat. We celebrate Jewish holidays together. We learn together. We play together. We engage in moral action together. And through all of this, we have discovered something important: you don’t have to agree with someone to be deeply connected to them. It is easy to feel connected to people who agree with us.  Those relationships are comfortable. We value them.

But how many spaces are there in our lives where we can feel safe enough to truly disagree with someone else?

Where we can we say, “I don’t see it the way you do, but I want to understand why you see it that way.”

Our Jewish tradition has understood this for a very long time. Open a page of Talmud and you will find brilliant people disagreeing with other brilliant people. Sometimes passionately. It’s part of our tradition.

At RS, we share fundamental Jewish values and we still can arrive at very different conclusions about what those values require of us and that is one of the things I love most about Rodeph Shalom.

I’ve been a member since 1985, when Stuart and I were married here. Our two sons celebrated their B’nai Mitzvah and Confirmations here. When our children were young, I saw some things I thought we could improve in our Sunday School. Before long, I found myself chairing the Sunday School Committee. Soon after, I became Vice President for Education. I studied what it meant to be a Reform Jew with Rabbi Fuchs. I spent three years studying Torah with Rabbi Kuhn. And somewhere along the way, I realized that I wasn’t simply a member of Rodeph Shalom anymore. I had become part of it, and it had become a part of me.

I am deeply grateful to so many of you. You who have given so generously of your time and energy and to all of you who have supported RS financially –whether your gifts were large or small, they all have made a difference. Synagogues are places where we bring our souls.  We come here with joy, questions, hopes, sometimes disappointments and yes, sadness. While the synagogue can’t make everyone happy, [I’ve been Congregation President long enough to know that!], we can help people feel heard.

So as we enter this New Year, my request to all of you is simple: Reach out. Listen to someone you don’t normally talk to. Join an engagement group. Come to a program. Volunteer. Come to Shabbat Services. Study Torah. Or simply sit next to someone you don’t know and introduce yourself. You never know. You might disagree about something — and that might be the beginning of a profound connection.

As we enter this New Year, I hope each of you will find your place here at Rodeph Shalom and I hope you will help someone else find theirs.

Thanks to all of you for being here—for showing up, for caring, for contributing, for listening, and for being part of this community.

May this be a year of connection and may we all be written and sealed in the Book of Life for a sweet, healthy, meaningful, and peaceful New Year.

Shana Tova!