This week I had the privilege of attending the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Investiture and Ordination Ceremony. I celebrated as my former classmates left the cocoon, the innocence of the Seminary, and began to spread their wings into rabbinic and cantorial life. I saw new rabbis and cantors who will be across the country, in NY, NJ, Kentucky, Florida, California, Texas, Canadian provinces and everywhere in between. A good friend of mine has turned her internship at my in-law’s Oceanside Jewish Center and will continue her holy work there. Rabbi Yonina Creditor will accept her commission into the United States Navy and will serve sailors and airmen across the world.
Rabbi Menachem Creditor, a colleague, formerly of Boston, now in San Francisco wrote of his sister’s ordination: (
http://rabbicreditor.blogspot.com/2012/05/witnessing-magic.html?m=1 )
Today's Commencement and Ordination Ceremony at the Jewish Theological Seminary were simply magical. Tinged with the Divine. Better. Deeper than that: permeated with God. A school where once mysticism was de-emphasized at best began today's ceremonies with a mystical text by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. Speaker after speaker spoke from their souls about the urgent needs of the world they dreamt these emerging Jewish Leaders could answer. Today was pervaded by a sense of calling.
It was, as Rabbi Danny Nevins, Dean of JTS' Division of Religious Leadership, pointed out, the fortieth day of the Omer, forty days of waiting for the Sinai revelation, "a day of anticipation and of completion—a day when our students become our teachers and begin their journey of sacred leadership." Chancellor Arnold Eisen reminded us that the morning's festivities occurred during the week in which we close the Book of vaYikra/Leviticus and take our first step "into the wilderness," into an unsown land, a journey of discovery and covenant where sacred leadership is the key to survival. Better. Deeper than that: Today was a charge to us all to remember that holy leaders are called to unlock the vast potential of God's Promise.
It was truly an incredible moment, which had me nostalgic for a year ago, when I walked across the stage, although I think we made a better choice in having our ceremony under the tent, rather than in the auditorium! Graduations are magical for another reason. They are liminal moments. They are moments that are neither here nor there, but clearly the journey between the two.
Our Torah portion this week, Bhar-Behukotai is in a very similar liminal space. Today we read the end of the book of Leviticus, the book of Vayikra. We momentarily conclude our receiving of laws from Sinai and prepare to journey further into the Midbar, the wilderness. Next week we will be in the wilderness, which is the literal translation of Bemidbar, the sefer we frequently call book of Numbers. The parsha ends with the stark:
אֵלּה הַמּצְות, אֲשׁר צִוּה ה' אֶת-משׁה--אֶל-בּנֵי יִשׂרָאֵל: בּהַר סִינָי (Sorry, had to delete some vowels to get blogspot to connect the letters!)
“These are the commandments that the Lord gave Moses for the Israelite people on Mount Sinai.”
In this week’s parsha, we are neither here nor there. We are still at Sinai, but we are packing our bags. We are listening to Moses, present with Moses, and yet our minds are thinking of the future. What will Israel be like? What will life be like in the Promised Land?
The JTS graduates are thinking the same way. They have been nourished by Torah from JTS, by studying with faculty, with regular chevrutot. Torah has been more than a part of their lives at JTS, just like it was more than a part of our souls at Sinai. Torah was their life; Torah was our life! Can we continue that in the “real world”, when we have responsibilities to congregants, students, administrative rolls, classes to teach, pastoral visits to make, and of course, our own families to take care of.
The good rabbinic answer is YES and NO. You’re right and you’re right. Torah can, and to really be effective as a rabbi, must be central to our lives. Yet, it can be easy to get out of the habit of regular Torah study. We have to be disciplined and set aside time.
As Hillel taught in Pirkei Avot
וְאַל תּאמַר לִכְשׁאֶפּנֶה אֶשׁנֶה, שׁמּא לא תִפּנֶה:
(Sorry, had to delete some vowels to get blogspot to connect the letters!)
“Don’t say, ‘When I have leisure, I’ll study, because it’s possible you won’t ever have leisure!”
On that note, you can always change your schedule--so if you get out of the habit, you can get back in!
Now, CAI, just in case you thought I was only thinking of rabbis, Torah is important for all of us. The more Torah we learn, the more Mishnah we learn, the more Talmud we learn, the closer we find ourselves to the Holy One. Differentiating between two modes of Jewish worship, Professor Louis Finkelstein, a 20th-century Jewish scholar and one of the most famous Chancellors of JTS, said, “When I pray, I speak to Gd; when I study, Gd speaks to me.”
In the coming months, I will be introducing more classes. I hope you will join me! I’m eagerly awaiting the new full-color, English translation of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz’s work on the Talmud. If you prefer your iPad, Artscroll and Koren (Rabbi Steinsaltz), are both producing Talmud study apps with the original Hebrew and Aramaic text, as well as word by word translations and explanations. I look forward to studying them together with you! The joy of these translations is that even if you have NEVER studied Talmud, even if you can barely read Hebrew, we can find meaning in our ancient texts together!
(
http://www.korenpub.com/files/products/Color%20grouped%20pages.pdf and
http://www.korenpub.com/EN/products/talmud/new_talmud/EEEE )
Before I close, I want us to return our minds and our souls to this room. Just like our ancestors, we are in a liminal space. By studying Torah, by hearing Torah, we bring ourselves mentally, spiritually to the space of our ancestors. We join our souls at Sinai and prepare ourselves for a journey to the Promised Land. Now that we have taken that journey, we must bring that sacredness, that holiness into our lives, through study, mitzvot and deeds of lovingkindness.
Shabbat Shalom.
