Divre Harav – Words from the Rabbi

Torah Art

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Divre Harav/Words from the Rabbi

About 3 1/2 years ago, the Sisterhood completed a project to create new Torah mantles.  At the same time, we cleaned out one of the back rooms in which we had stored a number of old Torah mantels.  Judy Joseph took some of them, along with an unused Parokhet (curtain) for the Ark, and made a set of wall hangings for the Sanctuary wall.  We offered the rest to donate to congregations in need.  Most of them, however, were unclaimed.  We were on the verge of discarding them by burying them in our cemetery, when I found an artist in Jerusalem, Jo Milgrom, who turns discarded objects (often of Judaica) into Midrash art.   Her pieces are sometimes whimsical, sometimes serious, sometimes poignant, and always thoughtful.  You can see her catalog on her web site, jomilgrom.com.

Jo sent me pictures and brief comments about five pieces that she created from our Torah mantles.  As we approach the holiday of Shavuot, celebrated May 18-20, we might consider what these pieces say to us about Torah.

Found and Lost and Found Again

The first piece, entitled Found and Lost and Found Again, is made of Torah mantles and a Torah reading table cover on a luggage carrier.  The Jew in the Diaspora maintains his or her identity despite wandering and exile and the ultra-mobile society in which we currently live by carrying around small symbols of Torah.  A mezuzah; a seder plate; a hanukkiah; a tallit; tefillin; a siddur or humash.  What have you carried with you during your lifetime, from one home to the next, that roots you in Torah?

Your Mother's Torah

The second piece, Your Mother’s Torah, depicts the Torah mantle with a nest inside, but is also reminiscent of a sewing kit.  Jo describes it as a mother with a fruitful nest.  We might consider using the teachings, mitzvot, stories, and wisdom of Torah to stitch together a Jewish practice and a Jewish home that is comforting and nurturing.  That home – not the synagogue! – is the primary means by which we transmit the values of Torah to the next generation.

Your Mother's Torah - closeup

Out of the Mouths of Babes

The third piece is a Torah mounted on a baby stroller – Out of the Mouths of Babes.  Like the children in the hagaddah, we teach Torah through engaging with questions.  No question is out of bounds – and sometimes the most innocent questions are the most challenging and searching.

Counterparts

The fourth piece is a poster from the Metropolitan Museum with part of a Torah Mantle mounted on  it.  Entitled Counterparts, Jo writes that “the figural trees in the poster invited the association with Torah as Tree of Life.”

Safety in Torah

Finally, the last piece is entitled Safety in Torah — what could be safer than safety pins!  It reminds me of the joke — “What do you call a Torah with a seat belt?   A Safer Torah!”  The pun requires a little knowledge of Hebrew (the word sefer, meaning book or scroll).  The piece also alludes to the notion associated with the mezuzah, representing a mini Torah scroll, that the name of God written on the Mezuzah container (Shaddai, the Almighty) stands for the phrase shomer d’latot Yisrael, guardian of the doors of Israel.  While I do not believe that either the Torah or the Mezuzah function in any way as protective amulets, there is clear evidence that people who are active in religious communities live happier and healthier lives.

The experience of viewing art is very personal and subjective – the brief comments I have written above are my impressions.  Please feel free to share your own comments and impressions.

Building Community: Legitimate Programs vs. Gimmicks

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Divre Harav/Words from the Rabbi

At  a recent meeting of rabbis of small and isolated congregations, we had a discussion about the difference between legitimate program ideas and gimmicks.

All of us struggle with building and maintaining our communities in a Jewish community which is shrinking.  There is a great temptation to grab ahold of any gimmick, trick, or slick program just to get people in the door.  Take these, for example:

Free iPad for the first person to arrive on Shabbat morning each of the next 5 weeks!

Next week – a 15 piece band accompanying the Shabbat morning service!

Tired at shul?  Starbuck’s coffee served before the rabbi’s sermon!

Sometimes we work hard to create a successful program which gets people through the door and into the seats on Shabbat morning, only to find out that all of the “non-regulars” who came and were excited by the program don’t return.  This kind of program is a gimmick – we might work hard and fill up the seats, but we haven’t made any long term impact on the community.

If, however, the program is built up over time so that it adds something to the community, it becomes a legitimate programming idea, not a gimmick.

The difference between gimmick and good programming idea can often be determined by whether it fits into the mission and vision statement of the congregation (see the end of this article for a statement of our mission and vision), and whether the organizing group is committed to maintaining the program for a long term period of time.

The three tongue in cheek examples I gave above do not support our mission as a congregation — it wouldn’t matter how many iPads we gave away, it wouldn’t affect the energy of our Shabbat community.

Scholar in Residence weekends can be an example of a very expensive one time program that might fit into the mission of the congregation, but doesn’t necessary have a long term impact – it brings people out once, but doesn’t build consistent community.

Our religious life committee in general has done well in choosing programming wisely and supporting it long term.  The Sanctuary Shabbat speaker series has been ongoing for 3 1/2 years, and I believe has contributed to our Shabbat community. This year, by the way, I feel especially good about integrating the Scholar in Residence into Sanctuary Shabbat and choosing a scholar who did not charge an outrageous fee.  We had an enjoyable learning-filled weekend and didn’t have to feel guilty about spending $6000 and not drawing DeVos Performance Hall size crowds.

We have consistent (and always fun) parties on holidays like Sukkot, Simhat Torah, Purim, Shavuot, and Lag Ba’omer.  Because they are an ongoing program, our community has come to expect and look forward to gathering together to celebrate holidays.

Help us continue to be successful! The Religious Life committee itself is relatively small, but the job is does is critical to the success and growth of our community.  The committee is therefore seeking to create a “Religious Life Auxiliary,” a group of people who would be on call via phone or email to come help set up or cook for a program, or clean up afterwards.  You will not be required to come to meetings – simply respond to an email request to show up a certain time on a certain date to help.  If you are willing to be a part of the Religious Life Auxiliary, please contact Rabbi Krishef (Rabbi@AhavasIsraelGR.org or 949-2840).

Mission Statement of Congregation Ahavas Israel:

Congregation Ahavas Israel creates a vibrant egalitarian Conservative Jewish community helping each individual follow his/her spiritual path using traditional Jewish practice.

Vision Statement:

To achieve our mission, we strive to be to be a community which embodies Torah:  To make every decision and every act reflect our commitment to Torah.

Stuck in a Rut? Pesah Tells You to Get Unstuck!

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Divre Harav, Words from the Rabbi – Bulletin article, March, 2010

I am grateful to the leadership of Congregation Ahavas Israel for giving me a three month Sabbatical.  The time away from active rabbinic work was renewing and refreshing, but it is very good to be back at the synagogue.

While away, I visited with a number of pastors to learn about the creation of a sermon from a fresh angle.  Within Protestant churches, the sermon is the focus of the service much the same way that the Torah reading is the focal point of a traditional Jewish Shabbat morning service.  We devote about 1/3 of the service time to the Torah reading, and about 1/2 of our time on Shabbat morning is devoted to the Torah service, adding in the Haftarah and the sermon.  In the churches I visited, the pastors devoted an equivalent amount of time within their service to the sermon.  Because their sermon functions as the main vehicle for hearing sacred Scripture, they tend to be longer and more carefully structured than most synagogue sermons.  They also tend to use Biblical verses to appeal to the emotional and moral sense of the congregation, often teaching a specific belief or theological approach to God, while most synagogue sermons tend to appeal to the intellect and teach a specific Jewish practice or behavior.

I don’t believe that one style is inherently better than the other.  What I learned from the project is that it is easy to get into a rut, preaching and teaching in the same style and appealing to the same part of the brain week after week, just because it is familiar and comfortable.  The work I did as a graduate coach in a Dale Carnegie program reinforced the same message — that most of us are stuck in a rut, doing the same things over and over again, repeating the same habits and the same mistakes, because we are afraid of trying something new.

This is a good lesson to be reminded of in conjunction with the celebration of Pesah.  The Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitzrayim, a word that connotes narrow places  (probably taking its name from the fact that the fertile part of Egypt is a narrow strip of land on either side of the Nile).  In a metaphorical sense, when we are stuck in Mitzrayim, we are living our lives in a constricted place. We are stuck inside a narrow box.  Pesah is the time to look at the narrow box in which we are living, look at those behaviors which keep us stuck in a rut, and free ourselves.