Lech Lecha (Sermon): Installation Speech

I would like to try something new. In addition to writing about the weekly Torah portion, I am going to try to post occasional sermons of mine, so that if you were unable to attend services, but were still curious to see what I said, you could do so on the blog.

I am going to start this series with my speech at the Installation service which took place this past weekend, Saturday, October 31st. Here was my sermon to the congregation after I was formally installed by Rabbi Louis Kaplan, Rabbi Emeritus of the shul:


-->

I always tell my B’nai Mitzvah students that they have to start their speeches with a greeting and a thank you. I don’t want to risk being a bad role model with some of them in the room, so I’m going to start the same way:

Welcome! Thank you all so, so much for being here today. This is truly a wonderful day for Rebecca and me, and we are thrilled and honored to be sharing it with all of you.

Thank you especially to Amy Pollack and the Installation committee members for putting this all together; thank you Cantor Friedrich for being here even though you originally had a Bat Mitzvah to go to elsewhere; thank you Lou Stesis for your presentation earlier; thank you Rabbi Kaplan for your kind words and your wonderful installation; thank you to all my family members and dear friends who have come to share this simcha with us; thank you Mayor Gerner of Swarthmore for honoring us with your presence, and the members of SWIM (Swarthmore-Wallingford Interfaith Ministerium).

I would also like to extend a very special thank you and welcome to my good friends, the minyannaires. To all of you who come to our daily morning service, you make it one of the most enjoyable parts of my work here, and I love praying, learning, chatting, and eating breakfast with all of you. Thank you!

I know I should be used to this by now, but I still marvel at how often the Torah portion of a certain week fits beautifully into the occasion going on right then. That is certainly true today; we couldn’t have picked a better Torah portion for an installation weekend!

In the very first words of our parasha this week, we see Abraham setting out on the journey of his life. God tells him to leave his parents’ home, the land that he knows, and everything familiar, and set out for a new destination and a new destiny. In my phenomenal Torah study group on Wednesday mornings, we talked about this, and how scary it was for Abraham to leave these things behind. We cannot even appreciate fully today how leaving one’s land, which was crucial for survival, and leaving one’s relatives – who were the only support system available, used for protection, alliances, and defense – was really unthinkable in those days.

It was truly a leap of faith for Abraham, frightening yet thrilling all at the same time. Which it just occurs to me is basically how we describe Halloween, which is celebrated today: frightening yet thrilling. Though somehow I think it was a little different for Abraham…

AND, his wife had to leave her family behind and start over as well. We sometimes forget to mention how challenging this must have been for Sarah as well.

I think you can all see where I am going with this; namely that Rebecca and I are in a similar situation… minus the desert and the camels, of course. But move for us has been daunting yet exhilarating, and it involves new challenges and new adjustments, but also wonderful friends, a strong and vibrant community, and of course a World Champion baseball team (please God, let them repeat)!

But that’s not all. I want to point out something else. The Torah tells us that Abraham and Sarah (who were actually still Abram and Sarai at the time, their names hadn’t been changed by God yet), packed up their things, took their nephew Lot with them, and also brought along, “Ha-nefesh Asher Asu” – which our Chumashim translate as “the persons that they had acquired.” Literally, it’s actually more like, “The persons (or lives) which they had made.” Many commentators suggest these were converts, that Abraham and Sarah were history’s first missionaries. We don’t know exactly what this refers to, but regardless, it is clear that they were leaving with a whole caravan of folks.

And you know what occurred to me when I was looking at this? It’s not that Rebecca and I are setting out on a journey, and Ohev Shalom is the destination (much as I know that many of you like to think of your congregation as The Holy Land). We’ve gathered you up with us. You’re coming along for the ride, and we are all setting out on a journey together.

This is it, this is the beginning of our journey. It is a journey of forming relationships; a journey of being there for one another through simchas (the joyous times) and tragedies, and every lifecycle event in between; and it is a journey of creating community.

But this expedition isn’t about the destination. Even Abraham’s wasn’t really about the eventual arrival, which was perhaps why God didn’t tell Abraham the destination at the start. It is, instead, about the process. And in order for us to change, to grow and evolve, I would like to mention a few things which I hope to see us achieve here at Ohev as part of our process.

Here are five things which we have either started implementing, or hope to start soon. They also represent some of my observations of life at Ohev Shalom in my first three-and-a-half months here:

1. Our wonderful new cantor, Steven Friedrich, and I have started to reimagine the B’nai Mitzvah program at Ohev Shalom. What do we want to teach our children? What tools do we want to give them to make them engaged and interested Jewish adults? How do we help them combine their Judaism with other causes that matter to them? And how do we make their simcha a celebrated occasion for the whole community?

§ These are some of questions we have been asking and trying to answer. It is a work in progress, but we have begun.

§ One aspect I am passionate about is the Mitzvah Project. As a part of becoming a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, each child chooses a task relating to a Mitzvah, a commandment but also a good deed, an act of loving kindness. This is already being done, but now we want to figure out how that project can help the congregation or the wider community? How can the child come to see it as an expression of their Judaism, and make it something they can keep pursuing after the party is over?

§ In addition, the Cantor and I are working diligently to create a large group of Torah readers for the synagogue. We are hoping to keep most, if not all, our B’nai Mitzvah kids reading Torah long after their special day, as well as bring back any kids, young adults, adults, and seniors – anyone who has read Torah or would like to learn to read Torah, to become part of this new group.

2. I am also working to create a Gabbai Corps. Volunteers who will help run our services, some of whom are already working today. If you are already engaged in our services, or would like to become, we want to empower you to help run the worship service. As a group, the gabbaim will learn about why the services are structured the way they are, what prayers need to be recited, and all the skills and tools needed to make our tefillot run smoothly. We also hope to create camaraderie within the group, and build a core of service goers and service leaders for years to come.

3. Reaching out to our congregants everywhere, and even beyond our community, I am hoping to work with our Chesed/Mitzvah committee(s) to increase our outreach. They already do phenomenal work, and I am so impressed with their dedication. But are we getting to everyone who is homebound? Are we in touch with all of our members on a regular basis? Are there additional services we could be providing, programs we could run out of the synagogue building, or support we could offer people in their homes? It’s not going to happen overnight, but if we are serious about being a community, about relying on one another and helping each other through tough times, this must be a priority.

4. Cantor Friedrich has started his tremendous work with the school, and you can already see major improvements, and a lot of excitement growing among students, parents, and teachers. We will continue our efforts to revamp the school, to improve the curriculum, provide teacher training, offer parent programs, and keep our kids engaged and excited. The cantor and I have a lot of great ideas, and we are also working closely with the Jewish Federation and the Conservative Movement.

§ In addition, I have begun working with the adorable kids at Kehillah, the early childhood education program in our building. Jaimi Schaffer, the director, and I have a great relationship, and I hope to continue to create close bonds with Kehillah, and with the young families who send their kids there.

5. And finally, I can’t wait to revive the old Ohev Players. We have a stage here, people. It is crying out to be used. My wife will (perhaps somewhat reluctantly) admit to you that she has seen me perform in a Hebrew version of “Bye, Bye Birdie,” a.k.a. “Shalom Birdie” in New York. I’ve also performed in Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, and My Fair Lady, all of them in Swedish! (The Swedish Cockney accent from My Fair Lady is pretty hilarious!) But I’m still waiting for my English debut…

§ Here at Ohev, we’re not just all about religious services, education, and Social Action. This is our community, it should be fun, artistic, vibrant, and accessible to people of all ages. Performances on that stage are coming back, folks. Just you wait…

And those are just a few things happening here. We have more ideas and programs coming up as well, but honestly, that’s not even my main point. To make it on his journey, Abraham needed his wife first and foremost, but also his nephew, the camels, the goods, and last but certainly not least, the people who came with him from Haran. In this story, that’s you guys. This is your journey as well. It was your congregation long before it was mine, but now it’s ours together, and if we truly want to make it our very own Holy Land, we can do it. But we’ve got to do it together.

Thank you all SO much for welcoming us into your community. We feel like we’ve found a home here with all of you, and we can’t even wait for everything that lies ahead.

Shabbat Shalom!

-->