This week's portion of Korach contains the great rebellion against Moses & Aaron. In the "Ethics of the Fathers" the early rabbis articulate two kinds of disagreement/debate. The arguments of Shammai and Hillel were debates for the "sake of heaven"... their quest for the truth will always endure. On the other hand the argument of Korach against Moses will not endure, because it's cause was ego and the quest for power, not for the betterment of the community.
A year ago at Kehilat Shalom we engaged in a debate for the "sake of heaven." We were grappling with the future of Kehilat Shalom as sacred community. Over the summer of 2011 we reflected on who we are, where we are, and where we wanted to go in the future. In September the congregation voted to remain in Montgomery Village as long as possible. It was a true discussion for the sake of our "connection" as community to God. Much of our discussion was about the reality, the facts of our community. We also debated what our options were and whether good choices had been made in the past and the present. Making sure we're clear on the facts and grappling with making the proper judgement calls are always "kosher" arguments. Making the right call is often a result of the creative tensions of difficult discussion.
Looking back on the debate though we know some of the discussion was not for the sake of heaven. Every point made which questioned anyone's intention, which doubted someone's integrity, which recommended that if you disagree ... you should leave the community - was a Korach argument. We understood the painful nature of the demographic and financial facts within the debate at the time, but such points in the debate were truly destructive of the bonds of our community. And I would add (my own sin too) that those of us who made similar points against our opposites in private, rather than in public, are equally guilty of diminishing the holiness of every person in our congregation and our quest to serve God together.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Coming to the End of the Kehilat Shalom ECC
Sunday we had a wonderful celebration of our Early Childhood Center. Past directors, faculty (past and present) and families joined in a wonderful morning of being together, reconnecting, and reflecting on the joys of our "nursery school." In many ways it has been the jewel in the program of Kehilat Shalom. The leadership of the directors, the skill and love of the teachers, the deep commitment of parents (and the friends they made) and the amazing growth of the kids in our ECC for more than 30 years have made it a special, wonderful place for everyone.
It's sad that the demographics of Montgomery Village and this side of Gaithersburg no longer can support a Jewish pre-school here. So we're in the process of selling our "School Building", ending our summer camp and ECC, and moving our Religious School (as small as it now is) into our Main Building. It's a difficult and painful transition for those who have been here through the years and remember a Religious School of over 300 children and a Nursery School of over 100 youngsters.
Last night was the final ECC graduation... 11 wonderful kids and their families celebrated. It was a wonderful program from the remarks, to the "grand" procession, to the kids singing, the receipt of their medals of graduation, and then eating! The sense of loss was palpable for almost everyone, but the joy of kids at their graduation! enabled everyone to have a wonderful evening.
It's sad that the demographics of Montgomery Village and this side of Gaithersburg no longer can support a Jewish pre-school here. So we're in the process of selling our "School Building", ending our summer camp and ECC, and moving our Religious School (as small as it now is) into our Main Building. It's a difficult and painful transition for those who have been here through the years and remember a Religious School of over 300 children and a Nursery School of over 100 youngsters.
Last night was the final ECC graduation... 11 wonderful kids and their families celebrated. It was a wonderful program from the remarks, to the "grand" procession, to the kids singing, the receipt of their medals of graduation, and then eating! The sense of loss was palpable for almost everyone, but the joy of kids at their graduation! enabled everyone to have a wonderful evening.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Retirement Party Remarks (part 3 - Last)
When I think back on all the wonderful things
More than the social justice work that has made a difference in our lives and saving lives in our larger community – what I cherish most are you…
Begin with: Special thanks for this moment: Elisa Linowes and Rhoda Press and everyone who helped. Your thoughtfulness (love the Centerpieces) and hours of work… appreciated.
Community cannot be without all the Lay Leaders… who agreed with my dreams and were the hands that carried them out… I’d like to mention everyone, but I am afraid I’d leave someone out so… I just thank you and I cherish our sacred work of community together
I’ve been blessed to work with an amazing senior staff and office staff. Bunny, Marge, Sue, Amanda + PMM guys. In my first shul I was the only full time person. In Binghamton, in the last years it was just me and the office manager. I’ve been lucky to work with some amazingly, great people: Binnie, Pam, Amy (ECC)/ Jill, Debbie, Mindy and Linda (RS) / Wendy (Youth)/ (Hazzanim) David and Kim / I've been lucky...
Ah … Judi
I will not repeat what I said last March at your pseudo-retirement celebration
We may have a legal address in Olney, Potomac or the Village but we have shared a second home, Kehilat Shalom for the past 16 years. We don’t just come to work, we treat this physical place as home and everyone who comes inside its circle as extended family with all the mishugas of family. Thank you for being on the same page as me 98% of the time and helping in ways to numerous to count to carry out my vision - and thank you also for the 2% … when seeing all the nuances makes my work better. / And for 6 weeks from now, I again wish you great times with family, grandchildren and especially with Fred in your next stage of the fullness of life.
Tali & Diane…
Thank you all … for all the joy and sacredness of relationship: reflected in some numbers from my spreadsheets.
73 weddings
76 conversions – with 3 to go this month
142 funerals
153 baby namings or brises
461 children bnai mitzvah (not counting the 20 or so adults) with 5 to go
In so many of these moments, I have felt the Presence of God and that Spiritual Power and Love has energized me throughout my term as your rabbi.
Thank you for the honor and joy of serving this wonderful community.
More than the social justice work that has made a difference in our lives and saving lives in our larger community – what I cherish most are you…
Begin with: Special thanks for this moment: Elisa Linowes and Rhoda Press and everyone who helped. Your thoughtfulness (love the Centerpieces) and hours of work… appreciated.
Community cannot be without all the Lay Leaders… who agreed with my dreams and were the hands that carried them out… I’d like to mention everyone, but I am afraid I’d leave someone out so… I just thank you and I cherish our sacred work of community together
I’ve been blessed to work with an amazing senior staff and office staff. Bunny, Marge, Sue, Amanda + PMM guys. In my first shul I was the only full time person. In Binghamton, in the last years it was just me and the office manager. I’ve been lucky to work with some amazingly, great people: Binnie, Pam, Amy (ECC)/ Jill, Debbie, Mindy and Linda (RS) / Wendy (Youth)/ (Hazzanim) David and Kim / I've been lucky...
Ah … Judi
I will not repeat what I said last March at your pseudo-retirement celebration
We may have a legal address in Olney, Potomac or the Village but we have shared a second home, Kehilat Shalom for the past 16 years. We don’t just come to work, we treat this physical place as home and everyone who comes inside its circle as extended family with all the mishugas of family. Thank you for being on the same page as me 98% of the time and helping in ways to numerous to count to carry out my vision - and thank you also for the 2% … when seeing all the nuances makes my work better. / And for 6 weeks from now, I again wish you great times with family, grandchildren and especially with Fred in your next stage of the fullness of life.
Tali & Diane…
Thank you all … for all the joy and sacredness of relationship: reflected in some numbers from my spreadsheets.
73 weddings
76 conversions – with 3 to go this month
142 funerals
153 baby namings or brises
461 children bnai mitzvah (not counting the 20 or so adults) with 5 to go
In so many of these moments, I have felt the Presence of God and that Spiritual Power and Love has energized me throughout my term as your rabbi.
Thank you for the honor and joy of serving this wonderful community.
Retirement Party Remarks (part 2)
So: Going back to the Torah: What’s the Promised Land?
Like Moses (I’m not planning on dying though) passing the mantle of leadership to Joshua, I can see the land but I can’t tell you exactly what it is.
I’m not sure… but I believe that you and my successor can go there.
Which leads to my second thought:
Give the new rabbi whoever he or she is a chance to succeed
Whether you’re definitely staying, definitely leaving, or have left a while ago… Please
1) Check out my successor
2) And please: find a way to support this community
I am not this community, only its spiritual leader for 1/3 of its existence and hopefully within a month there will be a new vision and articulation of what our community is striving for
So I was thinking: who could be a Role Model for a last sermon?
Preached a couple of years ago: Mitch Albom’s: Have A Little Faith
Rabbi Al Lewis was one of my homiletics’ teachers at Seminary
pg 210
"He could have used the occasion to reflect on his accomplishemnts. Instead he asked forgiveness. He apologized for notbeing able to save more marriage, for not visitn gthe homebound more, for not easing more pain of parents who hd lost a child, for not having more oney to help families in econoimc ruin. He apologized to teenagers with whom he didn't spend enought time teaching."
My top two: apologies for all the follow up phone calls to sick or grieving / thank you notes that should have been written that just never got mailed. That’s my next to the last thought.
Like Moses (I’m not planning on dying though) passing the mantle of leadership to Joshua, I can see the land but I can’t tell you exactly what it is.
I’m not sure… but I believe that you and my successor can go there.
Which leads to my second thought:
Give the new rabbi whoever he or she is a chance to succeed
Whether you’re definitely staying, definitely leaving, or have left a while ago… Please
1) Check out my successor
2) And please: find a way to support this community
I am not this community, only its spiritual leader for 1/3 of its existence and hopefully within a month there will be a new vision and articulation of what our community is striving for
So I was thinking: who could be a Role Model for a last sermon?
Preached a couple of years ago: Mitch Albom’s: Have A Little Faith
Rabbi Al Lewis was one of my homiletics’ teachers at Seminary
pg 210
"He could have used the occasion to reflect on his accomplishemnts. Instead he asked forgiveness. He apologized for notbeing able to save more marriage, for not visitn gthe homebound more, for not easing more pain of parents who hd lost a child, for not having more oney to help families in econoimc ruin. He apologized to teenagers with whom he didn't spend enought time teaching."
My top two: apologies for all the follow up phone calls to sick or grieving / thank you notes that should have been written that just never got mailed. That’s my next to the last thought.
Retirement Party Remarks (part 1)
MAY 12 REMARKS
Several short thoughts for this bitter…sweet moment
First was triggered by Tuesday’s Op Ed by Eugene Robinson about European Austerity
He tried to make the case: Europe needs to grow… that the solution to it’s problem.
And: We know about Kehilat Shalom’s austerity literally over the last 4 years
Short term, like Europe, we cannot grow our way out of our fundamental fiscal conundrum
We do have a small window of opportunity once we sell our School building to try to rejuvenate
I am not without hope
That hope comes from here (hold up Tanach) and from Jewish history
Communities have faded from the map but Judaism creatively evolves especially in hard times
The 1st Temple was destroyed >2500 years ago and Judaism should have died out like the 10 tribes – but prophets and the first synagogues saved the Jewish pathway to God
When the 2nd Temple was destroyed @1900 yrs ago, the rabbis made Jerusalem portable through study of torah and acts of loving-kindness, which we still live today. We have found creatively radical solutions to challenges that should have erased our legacy.
In the 30s, sociologists predicted the end of Orthodoxy in the US and in the 50s the end of Reform Judaism. Both are still going strong. And for the past 20 years the “experts” have predicted the end of Conservative Judaism and we’re hemorrhaging … but still alive and kicking. Yes… We’re in crisis, but like our ancestors we quest for new solutions to our present day challenges.
It begins here (Tanach) Bereshit…
God creates the world in an act of unconditional love. God is creator. God organizes, God is intentional, God is creative and God evaluates creation. How absolutely radical when compared to the pagan myths of gods! We are not whims of the gods, we are partners in the on-going work of creation – to repair our imperfect world. And in the middle of Genesis through the rest of Exodus and the Torah, the patriarchs and then Moses become God’s hands in the world… organizing, being intentional, and evaluating their creation of sacred community and inspiring a model of ethics and holiness to the whole world. Being created in the image of God means: we do God’s creative process for the well-being of ourselves and our community.
Technologically and sociologically in just the last 10-15 years the world has changed radically. Synagogues in the next decade across the liberal spectrum will be grappling with those changes…
But we’ve evolved before and we can do it again.
To connect with the “emerging adults” we’ve going to have twitter and use the internet and only God knows what else will be the next technology. I know those mediums are fundamentally about sharing information and expanding connections, not about relationship and depth. But the ability to share the wisdom of Judaism / and to build connection / and to connect people questing … is an untapped potential for those willing to invest in the process.
The next decade is going to be hard for shuls. For shuls: Technology,/ economics,/ kinds of affiliation/ and use of facilities/ will all see experimentation and the stress that goes with the risks of transitioning to something new and better
Several short thoughts for this bitter…sweet moment
First was triggered by Tuesday’s Op Ed by Eugene Robinson about European Austerity
He tried to make the case: Europe needs to grow… that the solution to it’s problem.
And: We know about Kehilat Shalom’s austerity literally over the last 4 years
Short term, like Europe, we cannot grow our way out of our fundamental fiscal conundrum
We do have a small window of opportunity once we sell our School building to try to rejuvenate
I am not without hope
That hope comes from here (hold up Tanach) and from Jewish history
Communities have faded from the map but Judaism creatively evolves especially in hard times
The 1st Temple was destroyed >2500 years ago and Judaism should have died out like the 10 tribes – but prophets and the first synagogues saved the Jewish pathway to God
When the 2nd Temple was destroyed @1900 yrs ago, the rabbis made Jerusalem portable through study of torah and acts of loving-kindness, which we still live today. We have found creatively radical solutions to challenges that should have erased our legacy.
In the 30s, sociologists predicted the end of Orthodoxy in the US and in the 50s the end of Reform Judaism. Both are still going strong. And for the past 20 years the “experts” have predicted the end of Conservative Judaism and we’re hemorrhaging … but still alive and kicking. Yes… We’re in crisis, but like our ancestors we quest for new solutions to our present day challenges.
It begins here (Tanach) Bereshit…
God creates the world in an act of unconditional love. God is creator. God organizes, God is intentional, God is creative and God evaluates creation. How absolutely radical when compared to the pagan myths of gods! We are not whims of the gods, we are partners in the on-going work of creation – to repair our imperfect world. And in the middle of Genesis through the rest of Exodus and the Torah, the patriarchs and then Moses become God’s hands in the world… organizing, being intentional, and evaluating their creation of sacred community and inspiring a model of ethics and holiness to the whole world. Being created in the image of God means: we do God’s creative process for the well-being of ourselves and our community.
Technologically and sociologically in just the last 10-15 years the world has changed radically. Synagogues in the next decade across the liberal spectrum will be grappling with those changes…
But we’ve evolved before and we can do it again.
To connect with the “emerging adults” we’ve going to have twitter and use the internet and only God knows what else will be the next technology. I know those mediums are fundamentally about sharing information and expanding connections, not about relationship and depth. But the ability to share the wisdom of Judaism / and to build connection / and to connect people questing … is an untapped potential for those willing to invest in the process.
The next decade is going to be hard for shuls. For shuls: Technology,/ economics,/ kinds of affiliation/ and use of facilities/ will all see experimentation and the stress that goes with the risks of transitioning to something new and better
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Retirement Party
My Retirement Party this past Saturday was lovely. People spoke eloquently. Kids were wonderful with their presentations. My father, sisters, and my immediately family were inspired. For me it was bittersweet.
It's still hard to pick up and move on. I know for my physical and spiritual well-being it's time ... but for half my life I've been a pulpit rabbi and now I'll be teaching or doing chaplaincy. Actually I'm ready for the change.
Left do before June 30 (biggies): three conversions, seven bnai mitzvah total, and four more classes including the siyyum for Bible Study, when we finish Devarim and 10 years of Torah learning.
It's strange to be lame duck with so much still to be done, but I'm ready to ... really follow through on my job search.
It's still hard to pick up and move on. I know for my physical and spiritual well-being it's time ... but for half my life I've been a pulpit rabbi and now I'll be teaching or doing chaplaincy. Actually I'm ready for the change.
Left do before June 30 (biggies): three conversions, seven bnai mitzvah total, and four more classes including the siyyum for Bible Study, when we finish Devarim and 10 years of Torah learning.
It's strange to be lame duck with so much still to be done, but I'm ready to ... really follow through on my job search.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Our Student Rabbis and My Plans
It's a strange time for me. For the second weekend in a row we are interviewing Friday Night, Shabbat morning, and Sunday Morning wonderful rabbinic students to be the next rabbi of Kehilat Shalom. They're all amazing, talented, soon to be ordained rabbis with skill sets for the rabbinate of 21st Century. It's been great emailing, shmoozing, hosting, and trying to help them think through their decision about their professional future. I hope one of them will love Kehilat Shalom as much as I have and become it's next spiritual leader.
As for me, my cover letters and updated resumes are ready to go out. After all my months of networking I'm not as interested in not-for-profit work. Primarily I'm looking to my first love, to be able to teach full time, probably Day School. I'm also exploring part-time CPE Chaplaincy with stipend, in conjunction with part-time teaching. As long as I'm teaching I know I'll be fine. I need CPE (Continuing Pastoral Education) because the one aspect of chaplaincy I have consistently found significant is hospice counseling. At some future time with proper training, I know I would be energized by supporting souls approaching the end of life and their loved ones.
Really looking forward to spending the day with my Dad in NY on Monday.
Shabbat Shalom.
As for me, my cover letters and updated resumes are ready to go out. After all my months of networking I'm not as interested in not-for-profit work. Primarily I'm looking to my first love, to be able to teach full time, probably Day School. I'm also exploring part-time CPE Chaplaincy with stipend, in conjunction with part-time teaching. As long as I'm teaching I know I'll be fine. I need CPE (Continuing Pastoral Education) because the one aspect of chaplaincy I have consistently found significant is hospice counseling. At some future time with proper training, I know I would be energized by supporting souls approaching the end of life and their loved ones.
Really looking forward to spending the day with my Dad in NY on Monday.
Shabbat Shalom.
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