|
|
||
HOME
|
|
True Jewish CommunityBeha'alot'cha 5765 Sermon, June 17, 2005Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon As you know, our fabulous Temple Emanu-El Israel tour was completed last week, and it exceeded all of our very high expectations. Thirty-three congregants and family members experienced Israel in a way that was religiously magnificent, spiritually uplifting, intellectually exciting, and, frankly, a whole lot of fun. But for all the high points on the trip – and there were many, from Tel Aviv to Tzefat to Jerusalem – there was one central aspect of the trip that made it rise to a level of real holiness. That was the extraordinary community that developed over the 12 days or so of touring, prayer, study, hiking, eating, learning, shopping, playing, and adventuring together. Typically, no matter how fine a group of people are involved, traveling and living together while meeting a demanding schedule leads to some level of conflict or challenge, especially when there are people from different backgrounds, of widely diverse ages – we ranged from 8 to nearly 80 years old – and with different interests and preferences. But our Temple group (I think we actually need a tour name next time, and t-shirts, like rock tours have; perhaps “Israel Live in ‘05”…) manifested throughout the activity-filled days and nights a rare combination of friendship, mutual support, and great good humor. No one was a “problem” traveler; each person was generous, helpful and generally good spirited. And everyone gained immeasurably from sharing in what our tour guide called “a genuine, organic community”. I believe that this remarkable group – artists, accountants, builders, potters, physicians, librarians, teachers, businessmen, retirees, administrators, students, writers, clergy, psychiatrists, computer professionals, nurses, and so on – represented a very real form of community, and a microcosm of what we have created here at Temple Emanu-El. For what clearly emerged over the course of our time together – and if you see a member of the tour over the next few weeks, you will notice a bit of blessed-out look to us – was that together, we became more than the sum of our parts. We were a true kehilah kedushah, a sacred community. And when we shared openly about our experiences we became a kind of extended family. Of course, that’s also what Israel becomes when you immerse yourself fully in the experience. We felt – I think every one of us, even those who had never been there before – that Israel was a second home, and that the Jews there were, indeed, our family, from our sister congregation in Hod Hasharon to the relatives, friends, and acquaintances we met. In a more immediate way, that sort of extended family, that kind of sacred community, is what we have built here at Temple Emanu-El. When we allow ourselves to fully participate in services and classes, when we work on social action projects together, and most especially when we volunteer on committees and for events and visits the sick and comfort the bereaved, we are in just such a kehilah kedushah. Tonight we honor those members of our congregation who have volunteered for committees, helped with ushering, chanted Torah, arranged fundraising events, served on boards, baked for classes and Onegs, worked in our Gift Shop, folded and mailed our bulletins, gab bared Torah readings and services, fed the homeless, prepared Shiva meals, participated in services, been the registrar for classes, run booths at Purim, chauffeured speakers, publicized our events, prepared food for our tishes, answered phones, made calls, registered guests at dinners, called potential members, arranged candle lightings and High Holy Day readers and aliyot, been witnesses at the mikvah, found guests for our radio show, sung in the adult choir, sun in the Teen and Youth Choirs, played music for services and shows and events, played in our rock band, written children’s prayerbooks, volunteered in our childrens’ classrooms, driven people to services, tutored children and adults, led our hikes, picked up prayerbooks, allocated service honors, built low income housing, cleaned up parks, filed papers – and much, much more. It is these efforts, these volunteer offerings, that make our congregation what it is: a true sacred community in Israel, a Kehilah kedusha b’Yisrael. Our Torah portion this week begins with the phrase Beha’alotecha et hanerot. When you light the lamps on the menorah in the holy Tabernacle … It speaks of the very beginning of the worship of God in community and congregation. You – all of you, who volunteer your manifold talents and your precious time, you light the lights we illumine here in our congregation. You are the lights that shine the way to true, valuable, holy community. May your work bring you some of the blessing that you create for us here at Temple Emanu-El. And may you, too, find the joy and goodness that come from serving God in this good and holy congregation, now and always. Shabbat Shalom.
|
