Lech Lecha 2015 5776

Rabbi Philip Weintraub

Congregation Agudas Israel

10/24/2015

Parshat Lech Lecha

What is a covenant? What does it mean to join a community?  What’s the buy in?  To grow, do we want low barriers for engagement or higher barriers to push for more lasting commitments?

In Parshat Lech-Lecha, Abraham faces one of the highest of all barriers, circumcision.  He marks the covenant not just as a sign upon his body, but upon the organ of procreation, an organ which is particularly sensitive and about which men are particularly sensitive.  Just mentioning circumcision, men start wincing and wiggling in their seats.  Yet as the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham, between God and the Jewish people, it remains to this day.  Even the children of Ishmael, Muslims continue to practice circumcision, reminding us of one connection between our sometimes distant and too often violent family relationship.

Since August I have been studying Tractate Nazir, which focuses not surprisingly on the Nazir.  What is a Nazir?  A Nazir is someone who has made a vow (usually for a set period of time, minimum one month) to abstain from wine, liquor or any grape products, allow his or her hair to grow without cutting it, and to avoid contact with corpses or graves--staying away from hospitals and funerals--even for family members.  Interestingly, at the end of the designated vow period, she or he would immerse in a mikvah and offer three sacrifices, a burnt offering, a sin offering and a peace offering, as well as the sacrificial sides--bread, grain and wine offerings.  They would also shave their heads and burn their hair with the peace offering--as explained in Numbers chapter 6 and elaborated upon in the Mishnah and Talmud.  Rabbinic commentaries are split about Nazirite vows--are they good or bad?  Are they living up to some Jewish ideal or are they failing by denying themselves the goodness of God’s creation?  Is their sin offering because they should remain as Nazirim forever or because we really should never make oaths (as we learn at Kol Nidre)?

As I read about these two covenants, I think about our own community.  Communal research offers two radically different proposals for improving community--low barriers and higher ones.  One suggests that the best way to welcome people is to make it very easy.  You show up, you are in.  It seems easy, but the low barriers do not necessarily encourage strong support of the community, if a better offer arrives, then people switch!  How much loyalty do you feel to your cable or cell phone company--if you could get better service or a better deal, would you switch?  Of course you would!  Another suggests that encouraging people to participate is not enough. Shuls are not commodities or businesses, but communities.  Long term connections, real membership require long term efforts.  To be a community is not only to pay dues or to show up once in awhile, but to make a regular effort, to participate.  Don’t get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful to those who affiliate without regular participation, we cannot exist without them--but my goal here is to encourage all to see the real benefits of truly living as a community.  

As such, we have to do both.  We need engaging programs that get people in the doors once in awhile AND we have to work together to build community over the long haul.  We need to make financial decisions as individuals and as a community not simply to survive, but to thrive.  In a few weeks, USCJ will be offering meetings about helping congregations thrive--I hope that some of us can join together to show what we want from and for our community.

Returning to Abraham, when we welcome people into the Jewish covenant, it is a challenging process--study, mikvah, Beit Din.  We don’t ask the same of those who were born Jewish.  For the future of Judaism, I think we may need to rethink that.  We have to help people realize that Judaism is both incredibly enjoyable, incredibly meaningful and that to receive those benefits, real work is required!   Nothing in a synagogue happens by itself.  Dinner doesn’t get made.  Calls aren’t made.  Visits don’t happen by themselves.  Prayers and sermons don’t write themselves--although that would be a great service, wouldn’t it?  All of you actively MAKE this community and for that I thank you.

Now I need you all to be like Abraham and Sarah.  Wherever they went, they inspired people to Judaism.  We still need that today.  We need to demonstrate to all those around us--Jewish or not--that being Jewish is something to be proud of, that makes us WANT to get up in the morning, that encourages us to celebrate the gift of each day.  We don’t need to make a vow or become a Nazir; we don’t have to restrict ourselves from the gifts of God, but we do have to recognize the gifts that we have.  In this way, we tie ourselves to the Covenant and inspire the next generation.  Shabbat Shalom.