Before Richard Gere rides off on his chopper to go scoop up Deborah Winger at the end of An Officer and a Gentleman, he watches his drill sergeant (Lou Gossett, Jr), preparing a brand new group of officer candidates. He smiles as he listens to the sergeant’s familiar banter and looks at the new class, young and terrified.
I don’t ride a chopper, but I relate to that scene. One class graduates and the next class begins. It is like the sea, a rhythmic, infinite flow that never stops.
Ok, maybe it’s just that I’m being nostalgic. After all, tonight is Midrasha graduation. A number of our seniors will speak from the bimah tonight, sharing their thoughts on their Jewish journeys. It is an emotionally and spiritually meaningful experience to listen to our oldest kids share thoughts and feelings about their connection to Beth Avodah. Their ongoing relationship to their temple and the people with whom they’ve grown up will be a permanent part of their experience set. It will hopefully lead them to continue to embrace their Jewishness. It will also, I hope, help them stay clear on what it means to live a Jewishly ethical life.
I constantly complain to anyone who will listen (the number is pretty low), that we don’t have enough time with our kids. I wish we could do more studying together. I wish we could explore more deeply the most perplexing issues of the day. I wish we could get deeper into the meaning and contours of Jewish history. Alas, I am destined to keep on wishing…
But I don’t have time to be nostalgic, because a new group of students will step up. A new Israel trip will take off in February 2020. In fact, tonight, the current fifth grade will be officially recognized as moving into the on-deck circle on Monday nights as they begin preparing in earnest for their bnai mitzvah. Just as the sea continues to ebb and flow, so too does life in our temple community.
Having said that, I must hasten to say that with every wave of students at every transitional stage, we analyze who they are and what we can do to meet their needs. In fact, we try to do that with ALL temple planning and programming. A couple of generations ago, the central message was to keep everything status quo. The synagogue was about preserving eternal truths and practices. Change was a dirty word. Not anymore.
We understand that change is a necessary component of our work. Most congregants don’t want it to be the way it always was – whatever that means. We all expect beta versions of so much in our lives: the technology we use, the ways we communicate, the ways we determine what matters to people… How can we not respond to how the broader community is changing, and how our own temple community is morphing.
We are committed to shepherding TBA through this transitional time on a trajectory of change. Staffing changes, building changes, cultural changes; these are considerable determinants in how we chart our movement forward. And make no mistake: we will continue moving forward!
I’m looking at the list of graduates and remembering many of them from preschool days. Such nostalgia! And then I look at the list of fifth graders attending tonight’s service, and I’m thrust toward the future. That’s temple life.
There’s no standing still in this life. We are aware that seeking to preserve past ritual and programs that have lost their meaning for the sake of “that’s how we’ve always done it,” is dangerous and utterly counterproductive. Such behavior leads to a quiet, underutilized building. No, we’re not taking the “Judaism in amber” road. Reform Judaism demands that we continue to embrace change, even when it causes us some vertigo. Reform is a verb.
Join us tonight at 615 for Shabbat services. Come for the nostalgia. Stay for the future.
Shabbat shalom,
Rebhayim
PS I’m sure that, by now, you’ve read of the fires deliberately set at two Chabad centers. We are all horrified that such a thing might occur so close to home. I sent the following email to the Chabad Jewish Center in Needham:
Shabbat shalom to you and the leadership of the Chabad center. My congregation and I want to reassure you that we stand with you. This crime will not go unpunished, and we pray the perpetrators will be found quickly. In the meantime, if there’s anything we can do for you, know we stand ready and in complete solidarity. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Keith Stern and the members of Temple Beth Avodah.
I also spoke to Rabbi Mendy Krinsky and reassured him that we are willing to help in any way we can. Knowing that we are aware and supportive during this time of tension and concern was deeply appreciated by Rabbi Krinsky.
Before Shabbat 