Being on top of being on the pulpit

Another note on preparing for the High Holy Days…
This year, I am on the weekend prior to a Monday evening Rosh Hashanah. Man, that is tough stuff to do while still in school.

I look forward to the day I can dedicate my focus to either school or work. Doing both at the same time presents and exciting and exhilarating, but sort of crazy-making, set of challenges.

I taught Christianity 101 to the tenth grade, delivered a sermon on Friday and lead services with Starr Trompeter, the Cantorial intern, then Saturday I lead a ninety minute Torah study with services on Saturday morning. Serge was away installing the newly ordained Tom Gardner into his new synagogue in Louisiana. And you know what, now that it is Sunday and I am on this side of Shabbas, that was awesome!!! I had so much fun! But I was a little nervous and a bit overwhelmed by the experience because I still had class and stuff during the week. Prepping for and being present with both school and the pulpit was a lot! This is the first year I have had both a full course load AND a full pulpit position (15 hours a week that is) I have a new appreciation for my classmates who have been doing this for the last two years. I understand much more about them and their experiences to date.

I am working hard this year on honing my sermon skills so here it blog readers…
Please, tell me what you think…

Shabbat Shalom. This is the last Shabbat of 5768. Next Shabbas will be 5769 and we will be in the modle of the 10 days of repentance between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. It would be nice if all the work of repentance could fit in to just 10 days. However, our Rabbis knew it takes more than a week and a half to do a complete cheshbon nefesh, accounting of the soul, for one entire year. We also have the month of Elul, the month which precedes Rosh Hashana on the Jewish calendar, to prepare. Remarkably, because Torah and Judaism seems to be continually brilliant in this way, during these weeks of Elul our Torah portions are all focused on blessings and curse, sins and good deeds. These weeks and weeks of graphic descriptions of all we have done wrong and all the ways we can do right remind us that our modern Brooklyn Heights community is just like this ancient Israelite one. The power to do right and the live the lives we should is within our hands.

Each week, however, we learn a little bit more about the subtleties of repentance and what our responsibilities are. In this week's portion, Nitzavim, which means to take one's stand, we learn a powerful lesson about our role with one another. The portions begins with the people standing before God and resigning on to the covenant with God even after they have heard all the bad things that will happen if they break faith and all the good they will incur if they follow God's ways. Then they are reminded of these blessings and curses but they are then encouraged that succeeding in this task and living this way of life is not beyond our reach. The people are then charged with the ultimate choice: Choose life that you may live. It's great Torah and I recommend that you read the whole thing, it is really quite profound.

In between the people signing this contract and the encouragement that they can succeed at this lofty endeavor, there is this strange verse. "Concealed acts concern the Lord our God; but with overt acts, it is for us and our children ever to apply all the provisions of this Teaching."

What on earth is that doing here? This verse surprised me so I did some research and found our Rabbis of old felt, basically, that this verse teaches us that God punishes for the sins we commit that no one sees such as the bad stuff we let ourselves think about or the mean things we might do and get away with, but the community is responsible to hold the individual accountable for the overt acts of wrong which we each commit.

In the broader context the message is when a Jew does not do all the things laid out here in this section the broader community is responsible for enacting the consequences as laid out in the Torah. In effect what this means is if we, as a whole Jewish community are cursed by God, it is not because an individual sinned, but because the community allowed that individual to sin and allowed that person to get away with it. I love this idea because it makes all of us responsible for one another and accountable to one another. If you sin, it is not just on you. You are not left alone looking bad, we all stand together looking bad. And at the same time, if you succeed it is not just on you, we all stand together looking good. Your sin BECOMES our sin, your success becomes our success. As we say, it takes a village to raise a child, but this comes to teach us that through a child we may raise a village.

On Wednesday evening I stopped in at a cramped Manhattan bodega for a quick errand. While in the tiny shop, three middle-school aged boys making a lot of noise and a bit of trouble entered. The store clerks were on edge and the tension in this very small space was mounting when suddenly, this woman in the store spoke up. "Your mother does not want you talking that way and you know it. If you came in here to buy something, buy something and if not, then just go home." And then, they did, they left.

It was a stunning moment. She was living this Torah. She saw herself as responsible for these young boys. If they had done wrong, she would have been an accomplice through her silence, we all were. If the boys had stolen candy or if the store clerks had escalated the exchange in to an argument, then the punishment would have been not just on the boys but upon all of us who were present, all of us who saw an opportunity to make a wrong right and did nothing. She also merited ownership over their success in getting out of the store without getting in to trouble as well.

There are a few days of preparation left before the high holy days. Being accountable for our sins is not just the job of each individual, but of our community as a whole. We are here not to berate one another, but to raise one another up. If one person repents and is a better person this year than last, we all reap the benefits. Here are some talking points for the Kiddush after services. How is your High Holy Day preparation coming? Here is what I have been doing…This is what I am thinking about taking on…I will begin with myself. This year, my prep is coming along retty well, but it is hard to make the time to reflect and giving a critical self-look is challenging. This year, I resolved to be more involved in politics and being active in shaping the world around me. To that end, I registered to vote and have re-upped my commitment to recycling. I think these things are important to do and easy to overlook. Can you help me with this? Can you take a stand with me and make sure you vote? Make sure you use paper instead of styrofoam and hang on to your plastic bottles until you can throw them in the recycling bin?

At this High Holy Day season we are reminded, we are responsible for one another. It is our task this day to nitzavim, to take a stand, to actively work together to bring ourselves and each other closer to the people and the community we all aspire to be.

Shabbat Shalom