Moving the Furniture

I have the good fortune to be part of CLAL's rabbi's without borders student cohort this year. We are a group of a dozen or so rabbinic students talking about post denominational, post-modern Judaism and what it looks like. I love it!!

I also have the good fortune of having just been hired at the Director of Engagement and Outreach at The Temple in Atlanta GA, part of the Next Dor project. My job will be to serve as the rabbi for the unaffiliated Jews in Atlanta WITHOUT pushing them to join a synagogue. This model is amazing for everyone-both those in a synagoue and those outside of a synagogue (and if you want more of my thoughts on this, please, just ask!) This is a super cool position and I cannot wait to get started.

I recent posted to our CLAL RWB listserv the following question: What do I do with my office space? What should it look like?

Some conversation has been generated and below is my most recent response. I look to you for input and wisdom. What do you think?

I wanted to pose this question to generate a conversation about engagement *NOT outreach but rather engaging Jews (all Jews, all ages) where they are at. I am attaching a document which I shared in Atlanta with some ideas on how to approach the challenge of free-agent Jews in the community at large looking for meaningful Jewish connections

I agree, "unaffiliated" has a pejorative connotation-it assumes that one who is not a member of a synagogue some how falls short of some expectation...however, maybe we need a different term...the unengaged? I like how that puts the onus of responsibility perhaps on the Jewish people to ENGAGE the unengaged.

And one last thought to spur discussion...Rabbi Larry Hoffman had his spirituality class read a piece by William James (19th c. psychologist and philosopher and stunningly astute in his observations...) in it he basically says that there is the world we live in, the world of things (the ontological world, if you will). And there is the "something greater" (God, powers in the universe, prana, Jesus, fate, the gods etc etc etc-can we call it the spiritual world?). The ontological world (I think I am using the term correctly) only has meaning because of thespiritual world. James suggest that prayer, when it works, serves as a bridge between the ontological and the spiritual.

I propose that prayer is not the only bridge. If religion is a technology, its job to do is to bridge these two worlds. Judaism offers Torah (Study/thought/head stuff), Avodah (prayer/love/heart stuff), Gemilut Chasadim (good deeds, action, hand stuff) as three modalities for bridging. I further would add that today, given that Jews no longer live in isolated, Jewish communities we need a fourth modality of Kahal or community (Relationship/caring committees/social gatherings/home stuff).

So I see these four modalities as pillars or ladders bridging these two worlds. All four need to be employed to maximize conectedness to the something greater. If we only focus on one (and these days, we seem to exclusively focus on community) then religion is no different from any other club or organization. I think Judaism has the capacity to be about more....

*the language of "head" "heart" and "hand" I adopted from The Temple in Atlanta GA.

So much to learn

Today was a great day. I spent my morning having coffee with Rabbi Alissa Wise who currently works at Mayan doing some amazing work with young, Jewish women. We met for coffee upstairs at one of the local Starbucks. What I loved about this morning with Alissa was all that I learned from her. I like to think of my self as being relatively enlightened. Well, don't we all, really. I like to imagine that I pay attention to issues of class, culture and privilege. And I am constantly surprised at how much more there is to learn...all the ways our systems favor the privileged.

Today, I was bowled away by an underlying reality of charitable giving and tax shelters. When someone makes a large donation to a charity, that money is sheltered from taxes. Those unpaid tax dollars never make it in to the general fund, never come to support government programs addressing our social well-fare. Instead, those who can give enough to shelter their money get to decide through their giving what issues are important, what issues get funded. If I have a million dollars and I decide the most important issue of the day is the national foundation for belly-button lint (or whatever thae cause may be-something serious or something frivolous) then I divert funds from the tax pool which might fund health, education, food assistance, literacy programs, hunger and homeless programs etc etc and put all that money into cause X.

Another example how privilege functions in our society today.

Thank you Alissa to opening my eyes to another unintended side effect to an originally compelling incentive to get people to donate more funds to charity.

So much to learn, so much to learn...

A reflection on Christmas

I thought today would be different. I thought today would feel urgent or festive. Instead, Mt Sinai feels empty. And I am surprised. Only one patient brought up Christmas. It was with a sigh of longing that she would miss being with the family this year. I guess I expected more of that or more families crammed in to rooms making holiday merriment. I guess I hoped Christmas would be bigger than illness and death.

And I guess it may not be. Today was, in effect, a day like any other. More red and green perhaps, more flowers perhaps...but little else.

Although, the bright side may be that the hospital is empty because many people, staff and patients alike, are home celebrating with their families and not working or recovering. I have heard that statistics say more people are released at the holidays because they are motivated to be with the people they love. I have also heard that more people who are alone take their lives because the expectation to be with loved-ones this time of year is intense.

I feel it too-the pressure to be with others. It is this force which brought me in to work today. I thought people would really want people...I really wanted people. Maybe this is how we developed the Jewish Christmas tradition of Chinese restaurant Christmas. We, as Americans, are surrounded by messages of be with family, be with others. But this is not our holiday. And so we have developed our own ritual as we have internalized the messages of Christmas.

Another scene in the hospital...an Orthodox Jewish woman is here and I know because every time I am on her floor, it is teaming with Orthodox Jewish men while their female relations crowd around the bed of their ill in a cramped hospital room. This is what I expected to find today-but everywhere. I walked by this scene like a do often as I make my way around the hospital. But today, it reminded affected me differently than usual. Today, this crowd of people showed me a story of what religion offers us-each other. It is through Christmas, visiting the sick or the Pu-pu platter which bring us together. These rituals and holidays further strengthen our relationships with those we know and love as well as to those who are part of our tribe, whatever tribe that may be.

I love Christmas because for me, it means warmth, joy, celebration and caring. Today was a great day at work because the spirit of Christmas was here even though it looked like a room full of Orthodox Jews.