Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff at Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple, Cleveland, Rosh Hashanah Eve, September 2009/5770

Transcription

1 1 IT SNOTYOURGRANDMA SJUDAISM RabbiCharlesA.KroloffatAnsheChesedFairmountTemple,Cleveland, RoshHashanahEve,September2009/5770 According to my family s oral history, my great great grandfather ownedataverninthejewishpaleofrussia.onedayrussiancossack soldiers burst into the tavern, demanded drink for all, and then slaughteredhim,hiswife,andoneofhisdaughters. It is clear in the year 5770 that Judaism here in Cleveland or in Westfield, NJ, where I live, is not our ancestors 19 th century Jewish shtetl. Every moment of every day their physical survival was on the line. Confronted by military conscription and endemic anti Semitism, theyfacedableakfuture. Nor is it my grandfather s Judaism. He was one of many Kroloff relatives peddlers who migrated west from New York s Lower Eastside whoeventuallysetupshopinsiouxcity,councilbluffs,and Des Moines. They created supportive family enclaves, living in short proximity to each other, not quite a transplanted shtetl, but a solid

2 2 familystructurewhichembracedthemastheyfacedthechallengesofa strangecultureandanunforgivingeconomy. NordoesourJudaismresemblemymother sinatlanta.growingup as she did in the shadow ofthe Ku Klux Klanlynching of the Jewish businessman, Leo Frank, she enjoyed a comfortable childhood that placedahighpremiumonself consciousassimilationintothesouthern ethos. I grew up shaped by the decimation of European Jewry, the establishmentofthejewishstate,andthepropheticmandatethatwe Jewswereexpectedtofeedthehungryandfreetheoppressed.Mine was a world in which Jews were gradually becoming more secure and assumingleadershipineveryaspectofamericanlife. Today sjudaismisnotourgreat grandmother sjudaism.it snoteven thejudaismofourchildhood.notevenclose! Forthelast40years,weJews likemostamericans havebeenon themove. Americans change their residence, on average, once every five years. One out of every five Americans moves every year. Never before in history have so many people lived alone. Never before have families

3 3 beensogeographicallydispersedandneverbeforehavefamiliesbeen sosmall. We Jews live very differently than our great grandparents. We intermarryattherateof50%.wejoinsynagogueslaterandweleave themearlierthanourancestorsdid.ourtiestoisraelareweakerthan theyhavebeensincethecreationofthejewishstate. WhatworkedforJewsin1909oreven1959doesnotworktoday.A hundredyearsago,ifyouweretovisitanothercityandattendshabbat services,youwouldbeinvitedhomeforlunch andmaybefordinner too! Fifty years ago, you could travel to that same synagogue and might neverevenbeapproachedbyalocal.butthatwasnotabig turnoff because you probably were not expecting much of a welcome. Individualism and growing Jewish pride were enough to sustain you. The move to the suburbs was on and synagogue membership was exploding,nomatterwhatwedid. To describe what has happened since then, let me tell you about a churchnearmyhomethatwasfoundedin1966.ioftenpasseditand noticeditssign: St.Helen sromancatholicchurch. Onedayaspiffy

4 4 new sign appeared. It read: St. Helen s A Roman Catholic Community. Thatsaiditall.St.Helen sdiscoveredthat,yes,itsparishionerswanted achurch,buttheywantedmuchmorethanthat. Whatisitthattheywanted? TheywantedCOMMUNITY Dr. Larry Hoffman reminds us that, once upon a time, in the villages that made up America, pretty much everyone was part of a natural community consisting of a few hundred souls, organized around a centralchurch(forus,asynagogue), thatpeoplecouldeasilywalkto. Aconvenientimagethatcapturesthiskindofcommunityisthegeneral store, where people gathered to get the news, exchange gossip, and leavemessages. Whatthegeneralstorewasforfarmers,thesynagoguewasforJews thetaken for grantedsocialcenterpieceoftheirlives.everyonejoined, andatleastonoccasion,everyoneshowedup.thesceneevokesthe oldjewishjoke:schwartzsays, Idon tgotoshultotalktogod.but myfriendklein hegoestheretotalktogod,andigothere totalkto Klein.

5 5 WhenIwasstudyingtobearabbi,IhadastudentpulpitinaFairmount without the letter u, Fairmont, West Virginia. One evening, after Fridaynightdinneratthehomeofalong timecongregant,wewalked together to shul. On the way, he disclosed to me that he did not believeingod.atwhichpoint,inaivelyasked: sowhyareyougoing tosynagoguetonight? Hisanswercameswiftly: becauseineedtobe withotherjews. Whatiscommunity today?communityisanattempttorecoverthe lostsenseofbelongingthatusedtocomefromnaturalgroupings like the general store. Community is a place where we find relationships thatsupportusandnurtureus. I randomly checked the websites of 20 Reform and Conservative synagogues throughout America. Sixteen described themselves as a Warm ora CaringCommunity. Whatishappeningwithinthesecaring,religiouscommunities? Foronething,Healingistakingplace allkindsofhealing. Icannotbegintocountthenumberofpeoplewhohavetoldmeover theyearshowmuchcomforttheyreceivedwhentheywereobserving shivaandcongregantsshowedup,sometheyneverknewbefore.it madelittledifferencewhattheysaid.theirsheerpresence atatime

6 6 ofvulnerabilityandpain broughtthemournersconnection, relationship,andassurancethattheywillmovebeyondtheirlosstoa betterday. LastYomKippur,duringtheafternoonserviceintheSanctuary,we invitedmembersofthiscongregationforthefirsttimetoascendthe bimahandspendsomemomentsofmeditationorprayerbeforethe openark.(wewilldoitagainaweekfrommonday.)onewomanwho hadbeenstrugglingwithcancerforsomeyearstoldmelaterthatthis wasthemostpowerfulmomentofhealingshehadeverexperienced. Atthatmoment,allofus whetherweremainedinourseats,stood silently,orascendedthebimah allofushadcreatedasacred communityforthatwomanandforeachother. Wearebecoming acommunitythatbelievesthatnojewshouldeverbealone duringtimesofillness,loss,ordifficulttransition; acommunitywhereyoucanbringthedeepestconcernsofyour soulandthesoaringpursuitsofyourspirit; acommunitywhereyoucanshareyourownpersonalnarrative, assuredthatyouwillbeaccepted notbecauseofstatus,or

7 7 position,orforwhatothersthinkofyou butforwhoyouare andforthesearchthatyouareon. Whathappenswithinthiscommunity?Yoursimchas,yourjoyoustimes aremultipliedanddeepened.iambutonerabbi,yeticanrelate hundredsofstoriesaboutpeoplewhohavesheppedmorenachasthan theyeverthoughtexistedbecausetheysharedtheirweddingblessing, ortheirnew born snaming,ortheirconversiontojudaismonthe bimah inthepresenceofcommunity.onefridaynight,manyyears ago,amannamedbob,whohadstudiedforconversionwithme,stood onourbimahtobewelcomedintothefaithofjudaism.theceremony waslovely,butthemostmemorablepartoccurredjustafterheleftthe pulpit.assoonashereachedourcenteraisle,membersofour congregationspontaneouslyfloodedoutofthepewstoembracehim, tohughim,torejoicewithhim.andthetearsflowedfroma communitythathadtransformedanotherhumanbeing. ToparaphraseRabbiLarryKushner, Organizedreligionmayhaveits problems butitislightyearsaheadofdoingitallalone. Thisbuildingisbeautifulandfunctional,butitisonlyavesselforaset ofsacredrelationshipsandsacredactsthatflowwithinitandoutfrom it.itismanywonderfulpeoplewhodosacredactsallthetime.

8 8 GOD In his book, Finding a Spiritual Home, Rabbi Sid Schwarz gives us examplesofsacredcommunities.oneisinbethesda,marylandwhere prayer has come alive because it is communal; it is musical; it is spirited.itisaservicewheremanyvoicescanbeheard;aservicethat recognizesthateveryoneofushasapersonalstoryandeachofthose storiesisanauthenticsearchafterthespirit. I attended such a service at our daughter s Montclair, New Jersey synagoguelastyear.wherea45 year oldman,ajew by Choice,told usabouthisstrugglewithanaggressiveformofprostatecancer.after describing his medical challenge, he told his fellow congregants that their outreach to him combined with his personal faith had given him the strength to go to work as an editor at The New York Times everydayandtheoptimismtobelieveinhisfuture. His spiritual odyssey was not crunched into a rigid liturgical form, but instead was spontaneously embraced and deepened by that communityofwarm,caringsouls. Letmeinsertatthispointoneurgentappeal.ItisaboutShabbat.If you want this synagogue to be in every sense an appealing place where the spirit flourishes, you must create a vibrant Shabbat

9 9 community.thestrongest,mostrelevantsynagoguestodayarethose where a large percentage of the membership celebrates Shabbat at home,attemple,withvibrantsong,anddeeplyfeltprayer,withgood food,andpersonalsharing.mostliberalsynagoguesarenotthereyet, butmanyareontheway.iexpectthatyouwillbepartofthatjourney atfairmounttemple. Thisisnotyourgrandma sjudaism.butitisbecomingours ifweare listeningtothevoicesofthosewhosearch.someofthesesearchers are the younger Jews of America who may affiliate later than their parents, but who are nurturing a religious spirit in their own unique way.areyousurprisedtolearnthattheyaremoreinclinedthantheir parentstotalkaboutgod. Theyhavedeeplymovingpersonalstories. Theylovemusic,especiallyifitisparticipatoryandpersonallyengaging. One large synagogue in New England dumped its traditional liturgy, handedoutpercussion,andjewsunder35,whomtheyhadneverseen before,showeduptopray.thisservicetonight,inthischapel,reflects thatspirit.itisnotyourgrandma sjudaism! Our synagogue offers what we call Shabbat Hallelu once a month: with prayers set to contemporary Jewish folk music, all kinds of

10 10 instruments, and dancing in the aisles. I will never forget a mother, perhaps40 years old,seatedinthethirdrowinfrontofme.hereyes were closed; her arms wrapped around her four year old child, her bodytiltingslowlyleftandright;herspiritengagedinthepureecstasy ofshabbatcelebration. ThesewomenandmenareattractedtoReformJudaismbecausewe are more interested in whom we can include and less interested in whomtoexclude. Among the most spiritual members of our Jewish community are the intermarriedamongus. Late last month I met for the first time with my class of second year rabbinic students at Hebrew Union College in New York. I asked the studentstointroducethemselvesandsharetheirbackgrounds.well,i wassweptawaybywhatiheard.iwasbreathlessattheendofthe class.nearlyhalftheclassgrewupwithonenon Jewishparentorwith a parent who was a Jew by Choice. This was not Rabbi Barnett Brickner s rabbinic class; not even Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld s, or Chuck Kroloff s,orarturokalfus,evenjoshcaruso s.that showfastjudaism ischanging.

11 11 IwanttodosomethingnowthatIhaveneverdonebefore.Iwantto thank the mothers and fathers in this congregation some who are heretonight whoarenotjewish,butwhoareanintegralpartofa Jewish family; many of you have created a Jewish home, or you carpool,oryouprayorstudywithus.iwanttohonoryouandexpress our appreciation to you for raising Jewish children and bringing your ownuniquestrengthtothisnew,inclusivejewishcommunitywhichis emerginginamerica. Earlier this year many of you met Alyssa Stanton, now RABBI Alyssa Stanton, the first African American to be ordained by a mainstream Jewishseminary.WhenHebrewUnionCollegeordainedthisCleveland Heights native, it declared: our doors are open wide to the representatives of this new America; when the 60 white families of Temple Bayt Shalom, in Greenville, North Carolina, invited her to be theirrabbi,theydeclared:ourstrengthisindiversity;ourfutureisbuilt oninclusion. A few years ago, when Chevrei Tikvah became part of this Fairmount Templecommunity,youalsoaffirmedinclusion,diversity,openness. ThisismythirdHighHolydayexperiencehereinBeachwood.Notonly hasitbeenagreatprivilegeforterryandme,butithasalsobeenlong

12 12 enoughtorecognizethatanshechesedispartofthistransformational process that is reshaping the synagogues of America into sacred communities. You have outstanding lay and professional leadership. One of the most respected young rabbis in the Reform movement, Rabbi Rob Nosanchuk, has accepted the call to be your senior rabbi. The Associated Press reported this week on the courageous welcome hehasextendedtoanislamicmosqueinnorthernvirginiatosharehis synagogue s facility during their time of need. He is not only an exceptional rabbi but, most important, he is an extraordinary human being,atruemensch.heispartofanewgenerationofrabbiswitha perspectiveforourtimes.heisnotgoingtobethekindofrabbiwho will dream for you. He knows that you and he can dream together. Andsoyouwill. You will nourish a community where your moral values are lived through deeds of human kindness. Your initiative with CBCO, Congregation based Community Organizing, has already begun to makethosedreamsareality. You will create the supreme joy of Shabbat, with songs that nourish thespirit.

13 13 Youwillbuildacommunityoflearnersandpray erswholookforward to being together, with numbers large enough to produce a new spiritual culture, but intimate enough to care about the spiritual journeyofeachother. Maythewordsyousingandthedeedsyouperformalwaysreflectthe presenceofgod. CLEVELANDHH09NOTYOURGRANDMA SJudaism9/17/09