Kol Nidre 2014 5775

Rabbi Weintraub

Congregation Agudas Israel

Kol Nidre 5775

October 3, 2014

Erev Tov, good evening,  I want to start tonight by telling you a little joke.  Since I believe that sharing credit helps bring the world to come, Alan Seidman sent it to me.

Moishe Goldberg was heading out of the Synagogue one day, and as always Rabbi  Mendel was standing at the door, shaking hands as the Congregation departed. The rabbi grabbed Moishe by the hand, pulled him aside and whispered these words at him: "You need to join the Army of God!"

Moishe replied: "I'm already in the Army of God, Rabbi."

The rabbi questioned: "Then how come I don't see you except for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?" Moishe whispered back: "I'm in the secret service."

Like most jokes, it is funny because it has a little truth to it.  We laugh at jokes, because they allow us to laugh at ourselves.  In this room, there are some for whom synagogue is a regular part of their lives and some for whom it is not.  Some of you here light Shabbat candles every week and others might not know a Shabbat candle from a Hanukkah candle.  That is simply the reality of living in 21st century America.  Some of you are happy EXACTLY as you are.  Life is good.  Others are more dissatisfied.  The American Dream is looking a little tarnished, yet even when life is great, sometimes we feel something missing.  The answer to what is missing is right here.  

We are the answer to each other’s problems.  Right here, right now, you can find Gd.  Coming into this room on a regular basis will help make your life more fulfilled.  It will make you feel happier, healthier, and more alive.  (While I cannot claim that it will physically change your health, I believe that spiritually healthy people do feel better than those not in their peak condition.  Atlantic Magazine even had an article just last week about how people’s health declines when they drop their religious affiliations.)  Your doctors tell you to exercise your body.  I am your soul’s doctor and I say you also need to exercise your soul.  Regular spiritual exercise connects you to Gd, connects you to yourself and connects you to one another.

I spoke first about your problems, now I want to talk about our problems.  Like many Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and Jewish congregations across the country, we are faced with a challenge.  Life is too good in America.  I see you looking at me like I have three heads.  Too good, you ask?  You might be thinking: “I just spent tens of thousands of dollars on my child’s college education and they cannot find a job!” or “My pension is nonexistent and my IRA will cover three years of retirement.  I worry about expenses, about bills, about what might happen if something happens and my deductible has not yet been met for my insurance.”  Maybe you lost your own job or had a period of unemployment.  These are all problems, yet amidst that tsurris MOST all of us in this room have food on our tables.  We have roofs over our heads.  There are (generally) not tanks on our streets.  Police are not breaking down our doors with “no-knock” warrants looking for drugs.  But at the end of the day, life is still too good.  Many people feel that they do not need religion or Gd anymore.  They think they can travel life alone, without the guidance of a spiritual community, without a spiritual/personal network, without clergy or spiritual leadership.  With recent winters, some of you have moved to warmer climes or to be closer to children or grandchildren.  We bring in new members, but we still have the challenge that some are no longer part of THIS holy community.

Right now, right here, I have a solution to both of our problems.  You are all already a part of the Army of Gd and I WANT YOU in the reserves.  Just like the US military reserves, I want to see you once a month and two weeks a year.  If you are currently in the Secret Service, you are already coming the two weeks a year (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), so you are halfway there.   To participate in this commitment, you simply need to pick one Shabbat services a month and start coming. The Daughters are helping to make this proposition even more enticing.  Once a month will be Simcha Shabbat.  On that Shabbat, we will have a special kiddush lunch.  If you have a birthday, anniversary, special event, we will ask you to make a small donation to assist.  When your donation is combined with those of others, we can make a pretty spiffy lunch!  The leftover funds will ensure that our kiddushes the rest of the year are tasty, too!  Whether you choose to come on Simcha Shabbat or any other week, your presence not only ensures a minyan, but allows us the opportunity to be a stronger community.  We will continue our tradition of monthly Shabbat dinners--which will hopefully allow opportunities to invite the JCC and TBJ, too!  Additionally, we will have a second Friday night service every month in our brand new small sanctuary--which will hopefully be completed soon!  Many people love the intimacy, the melodies of Friday night.  If you are one of those people, come join us.  If you have not yet discovered the blessing of welcoming Shabbat Friday night, join us, too!  Coming together to sing, to talk, to dance, to celebrate we build a holy community.

Every book/blog/article about synagogues right now talks about community and relationships.  While buildings and programs are important, and we want lots of activities to get you in our beautiful new space, what gets you to stay are the connections you make.  When you talk to me; when you talk to your friends (old and new); when you realize the good you can do for others and the good they can do for you, this TRULY becomes a kehilla kedosha, a holy community.  We want CAI and Kol Yisrael to be here in another hundred years, but whatever we call it, we want a strong Jewish community.  

In joining the reserves, I want you to continue to nourish your soul by taking or teaching classes with me.  I want you to help me imagine a learning community.  Whether it means we build a Beit Midrash, a living library, or we set aside more time for Torah study, I want Jewish learning to be more central to our community.  Prayer is when we talk to Gd, but study is where Gd talks to us.  When you look at a Jewish text, you find generations speaking to one another.  The Talmud is Jews from the 2nd century discussing Sinai more than a thousand years before, flanked by conversations about those conversations four hundred years later, edited by rabbis two hundred years later and with commentaries available for the next thousand plus years to the present.  When we talk about Jewish texts, we write our own commentaries--whether in our souls or upon a page--or thoughts are helpful for imagining what our traditions will look like in another thousand years.  Judaism is a do-it-yourself religion, that thrives with community and continuity.  We pray, we study together, because alone we miss the dialogue.  Jews are not monks who read alone.  We argue; we shout; we consider every possibility before coming to a conclusion.  The argument that was rejected a thousand years before is written down, because it might just be relevant to us today!

Returning to my metaphor, I am not asking you to re-up full time.  I am not asking you to come to minyan every single day.  (Although it we wanted to start a once a week minyan, I would be excited!)  I am asking for four hours a month.  I am asking for two to three hours in shul, including schmoozing at kiddush and one to two hours attending a class, stuffing envelopes, dreaming of new activities with me or others.  Tomorrow we will ask for your financial support, but tonight I want you to consider your emotional/ spiritual/temporal support.

What would make you want to come through these doors more often?  What would it take to light the fire in YOUR soul?  Is it music? Is it Torah?  Is it art? Is it literature? Is it yoga, meditation? Social action? For some of these things, we already have great activities.  For others, we will need your help!  

Every month, I have two different book clubs.  One is in my home, where we discuss fiction or nonfiction that has either a Jewish author or Jewish theme.  Suggestions are always welcome.  If you love a book, are passionate about it, share it with us.  If you love it and can articulate why, you can help lead a fascinating conversation.  On that note, Rabbi Charles Sherman of Syracuse, has written a powerful book, The Broken and the Whole: Discovering Joy after Heartbreak speaking about the challenges of expectations and living joyfully with the difficulties and heartbreak of his son’s illnesses.  We will be reading it soon and I hope to invite him to our congregation to share his story!

My other book club is discussing the Rabbinical Assembly’s The Observant Life, The Wisdom of Conservative Judaism for Contemporary Jews.  Each month we discuss a topic from what makes food kosher, to what makes sex kosher, to what does it mean to pray as Jews.  We have discussed business ethics and the roles of parents and grandparents.  Each month is a new opportunity to join, think and discuss.  While some of us have been meeting regularly, others drop in when the topic is interesting to them.   This is your formal invitation to come back if you have missed a few sessions or join us if you have never come before!

Some of these activities will stimulate your soul.  Some will help us work more efficiently.  Yet, together, they create a sense of holy purpose.  The create a holy community, a kehillah kedoshah.  

Tonight we come together to acknowledge our shortcomings, to confess our sins and to make plans for a better year.  We are all imperfect.  We all make mistakes.  Yet when we support one another, we find ways to restore our souls.  Joining our holy community, offering our prayers, our regrets and our hopes, is truly life changing.  As you beat your chest today, feel the weight of guilt left.  Last year at this time, I spoke about how we change our habits permanently.  I mentioned that the best way to stop a bad habit was to replace it with a good one.   Let this community be the good habit.

As we continue our service, I offer my thanks to all of you.  You have taken the first and most important step of Jewish life--YOU ARE HERE.  That is a tremendous step, a huge blessing and I commend you for it.  I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, to continuing our conversations about the Jewish future.

G’mar hatimah tovah, may you be SEALED in the book of life.