Vayechi 5772 - A Vision for WRT Part I: Community

VAYECHI 5772 - A VISION FOR WRT PART I: COMMUNITY

Rabbi Jonathan Blake

Westchester Reform Temple, Scarsdale, New York

This week’s Torah portion is called Vayechi, meaning “he lived”--an ironic title if ever there were one, for in this portion, both Jacob and Joseph die.

On his deathbed, Jacob called his family near and blessed his grandchildren and his children one by one. His eyes, the Torah reports, had become “heavy with age; he could not see” (Gen. 48:10) But his words reveal that while his eyesight had departed he had not lost his capacity for vision. “Gather around,” he says to his family, “and I will tell you what will happen a long, long time from now” (49:1).

Peering into the future, Jacob foretells the destiny of each of his sons, the tribes of Israel, noting who will prosper and who will falter, who will live by the sword and who by the sea, who will plough fertile fields and who will feed abundant flocks. Jacob shares his vision for the future of Israel.

We admire the quality of vision in our leaders. We expect it of them, this ability to look into the future, to see the possibilities and potential pitfalls. Visionary leaders must also articulate their vision and translate their commitments into transformative action: not only seeing the future, but charting a course.

When I think of visionary leaders, I think of Thomas Jefferson who articulated his vision of these United States of America in the signature documents of our nascent democracy, and translated this vision into two terms of a remarkable presidency.

I think of Steve Jobs whose mercurial, ill-tempered personality nevertheless accompanied a rare ability to imagine technologies that we would crave, explain them to us, and change the world.

And I think of Anat Hoffman, the pioneering champion of non-Orthodox Judaism in Israel who years ago came to see what many Israelis even today struggle to see--that there is more than one way to be Jewish. She works tirelessly to change the Israeli religious landscape.

When it comes to visionary leaders I think of my mentor Rick Jacobs, whose vision for WRT we see and feel everywhere--in our vibrant worship, in our social justice commitments that challenge the status quo, in this extraordinary campus that re-defines the possibilities for any Reform Temple. And of course no vision for WRT could be sustained without the legacy of Rabbi Jack Stern, who helped to transform a burgeoning little synagogue in the suburbs into one of the most venerable congregations of the Reform Movement.

When a Reform rabbi applies for a job, our parent organization, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and its Office of Placement which helps congregations to locate rabbis to lead them, and to situate rabbis in new congregational jobs, insists that every applicant write something called a Vision Statement, a document that comprehensively articulates his or her vision of the rabbinate and the work he or she would like to do in the congregation. Two and a half pages, please.

Last Spring, I dutifully submitted a Vision Statement for consideration, and over the coming weeks and months, I will share with you its major components.

I organized my Statement around the five pillars of Westchester Reform Temple’s Mission Statement: Chavurah--Community; Avodah--Worship and Spirituality; Talmud Torah--Education; Tikkun Olam--Repairing the World; and Klal Yisrael--The Unity of the Jewish People. Then I added a sixth pillar, or, more to my way of seeing things, the sixth point of a Jewish star: Omanut v’Tarbut, Jewish Arts and Culture.

Tonight I want to spend a few minutes focusing on a Vision of Chavurah, Community, and specifically lifting up three major themes. One, inclusion. Two, reaching out beyond the walls of our synagogue. And three, deepening engagement with our members.

Inclusion. We comprise a congregation of individuals, each made in God’s image. One of my most sacred commitments as a rabbi is to affirm the rightful place of all who wish to participate in the life of our congregational community. This commitment embraces the inspiring work that our professional and lay leaders have undertaken in responding to congregants’ special needs, from students with physical, emotional, and academic disabilities to the needs of the elderly and infirm, of which this accessible bimah is an important emblem and a blessing -- I speak from recent, personal experience!

I am proud to announce tonight that WRT has just been awarded this year’s UJA-Federation Synagogue Inclusion Award, commending our efforts “to include, accommodate, and accept those congregants living with disabilities,” an honor “granted to synagogues that exhibit inclusion in all aspects of synagogue life.”

Inclusion must also extend to people struggling under the burden of financial difficulty. While financial need never excludes a family from membership, we have already begun to research appropriate responses to a community still struggling under today’s burdensome economy. By embracing people living in all socio-economic circumstances, we will fulfill the promise of the Prophet Isaiah, “My House shall be called a house of prayer for all people.”

And Inclusion means interfaith outreach. We draw strength not only from our Jewish members but from all who accompany us on our Jewish journeys. When Kelly’s own spiritual quest--a journey that began long before we met--led her to choose to become Jewish, I came to understand the importance of interfaith outreach. I also came to inherit an extended interfaith family. My mother-in-law and brother-in-law are not Jewish but their feelings of warmth toward Judaism and the Jewish people derive directly from how they were treated at Rockdale Temple in Cincinnati where Kelly celebrated her conversion. Interfaith outreach will become an increasingly important theme as interfaith marriages touch more and more of our families.

Reaching out beyond the walls of our synagogue. WRT emerged first among area congregations as a sponsor of a program called Next Dor NYC, which uses one-on-one networking and group programs to create community among people in their 20s and 30s in New York City. Over the summer I enlisted seven other partner congregations, each of whom may have dozens of people in their 20s and 30s who grew up in our congregations and whose lives now revolve around the city. We cannot expect them to commute to Scarsdale, Rye, White Plains, Roslyn, or Short Hills for Friday evening services, Monday night classes or a Sunday morning program. But dozens are now showing up regularly for Next Dor services, programs and social gatherings in the city. If you have a friend or a relative in this age bracket who would like to get involved, just let me know.

I’m also encouraged by the enthusiastic response to the application of social media, not only from our youth, but also from veteran Torah Study participants who tune in each week to WRT’s Torah Study blog. Our new website, www.wrtemple.org is clean, clear, and updated regularly so if you haven’t logged on lately, check it out.

When I interviewed for the position this summer, one thoughtful search committee member asked, “As senior rabbi, do you think you’re still going to want to spend your time using social media like Facebook and Twitter and video blogging?” I responded, “The real question is, why is the entire professional staff of a large, presumably cutting-edge synagogue like ours not already doing the same?” New technologies provide new opportunities, like live-streaming services which can reach members and non-members, travelers and the homebound, college students and city-dwellers alike: a powerful way to reach the unaffiliated.

Engaging our Members. When it comes to creating sacred community, “high-tech” is just a tool in service of “high-touch,” which means leading with compassion, openness, and humility. Deepening our pastoral caregiving, with an emphasis on sustained interaction with congregants in need of comfort and healing will be a priority for all of us.

The Caring Community of WRT which reaches out to people in times of sorrow and celebration is already hard at work meeting the emotional and spiritual needs of our 1,200 households undergoing every manner of life transition. And a caring team of Shiva Service Leaders has joined the clergy who remain on call to assist in homes experiencing bereavement.

We rabbis and cantors also regularly visit congregants at White Plains Hospital. Hospitals are not authorized to disclose confidential information about patients, so we request your help in notifying us about visitation requests. In all these ways and more, my vision encompasses a community where each of us feels held and embraced and understood--from our youngest to our oldest members, from our families with young children to our empty-nesters, from our toddlers to our teens, from those without children to those living through divorce or bereavement.

In the end, though, my vision of community is not primarily about the clergy and what we bring to the table. I read an article in this week’s New York Magazine in which the author, Justin Davidson, a classical music critic, is given an opportunity to live out a fantasy, to conduct a rehearsal of the New York Philharmonic. He chooses the Overture to Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and soon discovers that despite a conducting class here and there back in his school days, he has no idea what on earth he is doing. He turns to Music Director Alan Gilbert for advice. “‘Just beat clearly and they’ll take care of it,’ he advises.” And James Ross who, with Gilbert, runs the Juilliard School’s conducting program, has this piece of wisdom to offer: “The sound is all around and behind you. You have to gather it from there.”

Ross asks him to set aside the baton, close his eyes, and turn his back to the orchestra so that he’ll listen more and insist less.... “[W]e have to realize the emotional life of the music is going to be there, no matter what’s going on inside us.”

This is what I know about this extraordinary community: the emotional life of the music is going to be there, no matter what’s going inside us (i.e., the professionals, the clergy).

I know I speak for my exceptional colleagues when I say that we will try to beat clearly as we take this journey together. But my experience of this congregation has taught me that you’ll take care of it--you, the community, you the people--you, who make the music.