The double portion of Torah we read this week, the last one before the Holidays, is called Nitzavim-Vayeilech. The portion frames some of the most inspirational verses in all of literature including the stirring passage that we will read in our community on the morning of Yom Kippur, in which Moses concludes the covenant between God and the People of Israel.
This has been a most special week for me and for Kelly; just Tuesday night I accepted the invitation of the congregation of Westchester Reform Temple to serve as its next senior rabbi, an honor held by very few rabbis in the 58-year history of this distinguished congregation, and most recently (meaning, the last 50 of those 58 years) by only two rabbis, two of the greatest rabbis of their respective generations, two men I am proud to call my rabbis, Jack Stern of blessed memory, and Rick Jacobs who has taught me so much. Really, this is, in more ways than one, kinda like trying to follow Michael Jordan after he left the Bulls. (I mean, Rick even taught me how to use a sports metaphor in a sermon! How’d I do, boss?)
As I considered the Torah portion this week, my thoughts raced from one idea to another. So many things to talk about, so many ideas I am eager to share with you! The portion begins with an image of all the people in the Israelite community standing together: “You are standing here today, all of you, in the presence of Adonai your God, your officials, your tribal heads, your elders, your magistrates, every Israelite person; your young ones, your women, and the stranger who resides among you, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water…” so maybe I could talk about my vision of an inclusive community here at WRT.
It includes my favorite pep talk about the Jewish people’s encounter with our sacred tradition: “See, the Instruction I command you this day is not too wondrous for you, nor too far away. It is not in the heavens… nor is it across the sea; no, it is so very close, in your mouth, and in your heart, and you can do it”; so maybe I could talk about my vision of sacred study and sacred action here at WRT.
Or, maybe I could try to come up with something to say about the second half of this week’s reading, in which Moses announces that he’s about to depart, and that leadership will be handed over to his successor, Joshua. Moses leaves much parting wisdom for his people and his successor, three times exhorting them to “be strong and courageous.” He even puts in place a kind of transition plan, which includes downloading a lot of advice to Joshua and reminding the people to study and follow the Torah. It’s kind of like that wonderful scene in the Coen brothers’ recent movie A Serious Man in which the wizened old Rabbi Marshak whispers his final word of advice to the nervously expectant Bar Mitzvah: “Be a good boy.”
But as I read this section, I began to lose courage, especially when I got to the very end of the parasha in which Moshe Rabbeinu, the departing leader, the outgoing rabbi, as it were, says to the people that, after he leaves, “you will surely become corrupted, and deviate from the way which I had commanded you. Consequently, evil will befall you in the long run, because you did wrong by God.” Yikes.
So instead I took a deep breath and looked again at this double-parasha, and stopped short, actually, right at the title. Nitzavim - Vayeilech. As I contemplated these two words, I realized that the entire message I wanted to share with you tonight is encapsulated in these two words. Nitzavim - Vayeilech. The first word, Nitzavim, means to stand still. The second word, Vayeilech, means to go forward. It occurred to me: so much of living a meaningful life is about knowing when and how to stand still, and when and how to move forward.
I am reminded of an old teaching that compares these two dimensions of living to two different forces observable in Nature. One is the power of the wind that can sway the mighty oak. This is the power to move forward, to push things forward. The other is the power of the oak that can withstand the power of the wind. This is the power to stand still, even in the face of mighty forces.
Moving and standing still, standing still and moving: the twin dynamics of our lives. I have met rare individuals who excelled at both; people who, for instance, could stop and grieve a beloved spouse who died too soon, give thanks for the blessings of their years together, and then, when the period of their mourning had come to an end, their period of standing still concluded, somehow summoned the courage to move forward with their lives and even find happiness again, in work or play or relationships or all of the above.
Standing still and moving forward, Nitzavim-Vayeilech: the ability to stop and appreciate where you are, when you are there, before moving on to the next thing. The Torah tells us that God summoned Moses up Mount Sinai with an unusual phrase: Alei Eilai ha-hara, v’heyeh sham. Come up the mountain to Me, God says, and be there. The apparently redundant phrase--“and be there”--puzzled the Rabbis who believed the Torah to be perfect and therefore incapable of carrying extraneous words. I mean, after all, where else would Moses be after coming up the mountain? Would he not already “be there?”
Examining the phrase closely, the Kotzker Rebbe (so named for his town of Kotzk in Poland), taught that even if a person strains to climb all the way up a high mountaintop, and reaches the summit, it is nevertheless possible for him or her not to be there. “Even standing on the very peak itself, one’s head may be somewhere else.” What the Kotzker was saying is that getting up the mountain is often the easy part. The hard part is standing there, Nitzavim, not being distracted away from that place and that moment.
One of my favorite writers, the beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti was interviewed not long ago in the New York Times. He said, “In the 60’s, there was a famous slogan, ‘Be Here Now’…. Today, with the cellphones, the fax, the Internet, the whole schmear -- the slogan you have today is ‘Be Somewhere Else Now.’” How true! How many of us can’t even make it through dinner with our families without stopping to check our cell phones, our e-mail, the Dow Jones? How hard we sometimes find just being here. Nitzavim then Vayeilich. Stand still, then move forward.
In the coming weeks and months, together we will do both: stand still and move forward. These activities do not mutually exclude each other. Actually, if we do it right, they will reinforce each other.
We will stand still in order to discover who we are, where we are, right now. Our exceptional lay leaders have already begun this process by conducting a series of Community Visioning Conversations, hearing from congregants how they feel about WRT right now and what they might hope for the future. I will need to stand still--not only to collect my thoughts--but also to encounter who we are and what this congregation is, with open eyes, and, especially, to encounter you anew. Kelly and I are eager to be introduced and re-introduced and I look forward to sharing with you the ways in which the temple will provide such opportunities for our congregants. We will need to stand still in order to honor the two decades of devoted service that Rabbi Jacobs has given to this congregation, and to acknowledge what it feels like for all of us simply to be here after his tireless efforts to bring us up the mountain. The view is already spectacular. Nitzavim, we will stand still.
But standing still does not mean to stagnate. We will move forward. We will not fear change the way so many synagogues fear change. We will discover new ways of praying together; experiencing Shabbat and holidays together; learning Torah together, becoming an ever more inclusive and caring community, encountering our neighboring Westchester communities of faith; traveling to places in the world in which the Jewish people have made their mark; doing God’s work on earth in our commitment to a more just and equitable society; exploring the intersection between Judaism and the arts; creating a synagogue whose vitality and vibrancy continues to set a benchmark for the Reform Movement and for progressive synagogues everywhere. Vayeilech, we will move forward.
Each one of these ways of moving forward represents a piece of the vision statement for Westchester Reform Temple that I have already shared with our search committee and that I look forward to sharing with you. On selected Friday nights and at other times throughout the coming months, I will be exploring and expounding different elements of my vision for Westchester Reform Temple. Some of my words may lift you up; some may bring you down; and some may bore you to tears. But I hope to offer all of them in the spirit of what it means to be a rabbi: to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. (More of the former, I promise.)
Nitzavim-Vayeilech: standing still and moving forward. I am overjoyed (and not a little bit overwhelmed) to accept your invitation to be here, with you, as we undertake the two dimensions of our sacred journey... together.
Amen.
"... The apparently redundant phrase--“and be there”--puzzled the Rabbis who believed the Torah to be perfect and therefore incapable of carrying extraneous words. I mean, after all, where else would Moses be after coming up the mountain? Would he not already “be there?”"
ReplyDeleteBE THERE - "For 40 days" (Rashi).