Adonai Prepare Me to be a Sanctuary Erev Rosh Hashanah Sermon Rabbi Jordan M. Ottenstein, RJE Congregation Dor Tamid Johns Creek, Georgia September 20, 2017/1 Tishrei 5778 At the beginning of this evening s service, when our cantorial soloist, Mike Zuspan, and I entered the sanctuary he was singing a beautiful song: Lord prepare me, to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true, with thanksgiving, I ll be a living sanctuary for you. V asu li mikdash v shochanti b tocham. Va ananchnu n varech Yah me-ata v ad olam. A shaker hymn combined with words from the Hebrew Bible that tell us, Make for Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them, and we shall bless God from now until eternity. This song, which we felt was an appropriate way to begin these yamim noraim, these days of awe, speak of the power of our place in this room. We each have come here tonight for a purpose. Many of us have come to celebrate the birthday of the world on this day we know as Rosh Hashanah, many have come to seek introspection and begin a process of t shuvah, a turning from the places where we missed the mark last year to a new and better place in the year to come, some have come to see friends and family, in some synagogues, and I know it is not the case here, some will have come because coming to synagogue on the High Holy Days is just what Jews do. But whatever the reason is that you have come into this room tonight, our presence together has created a sanctuary, a holy space that has invited the Divine presence to dwell within. And it is on this holy night, this Rosh Hashanah, where we celebrate the birthday of the world, that we are given the unique and holy opportunity to create a sanctuary in three ways: through introspection and t shuvah, through a connection with God, and though the building of a kehilah kedoshah, a holy community. We are currently in a period on the Jewish calendar known as the aseret y mai t shuvah, the ten days of repentance. These days, which begin tonight on Rosh Hashanah and will continue until the final blast of the shofar on Yom Kippur, allow us the time to make ourselves into a sanctuary, a holy vessel. This process begins with a sincere introspection in which each of us, as individuals, looks inside ourselves in order to take stock in who we are and decide who we want to be in the year to come. In his book, Living a Life that Matters, Rabbi Harold Kushner teaches that, If we think of all the people in the world spread along a continuum of virtue, there will be a few saints at one end and some truly horrible people at the other. Closer to the sinners end, we will find people so angry at the world that they feel entitled to hurt others, people so focused on their own feelings that they don t care about the feelings of those they cheat and betray. Closer to the saints end of the continuum, we find people more like ourselves, good people who sometimes do bad things for reasons we don t entirely understand. What makes people like us, basically decent people, violate our own sincerely held moral standards? What made Jacob, [our 1
patriarch] deceive his father [in order to cheat his brother out of blessing and birthright], or King David seduce another man s wife? 1 There are many reasons that we choose to stray from what we know is right, and good, and decent. Yet it is the work of these days, the work of t shuvah that encourages us to try and understand these reasons and to curb our desire to repeat these behaviors. In the Talmud, Rabbi Eliezer taught, Repent one day before your death. His students, baffled, asked him, But how can we possibly know when we will die? Rabbi Eliezer replied, All the more reason you should repent today, just in case you die tomorrow. 2 The teaching of t shuvah is that you don t have to be a static, stagnant being, dwelling perpetually in the mistakes of years past. You can choose to make t shuvah, affirming that life is dynamic and people change. Find the courage to ask for forgiveness from the people you have hurt. Find the strength to forgive those who have hurt you and the audacity to forgive yourself. Open your hearts and embrace the people around you most importantly those you most often take for granted. 3 Commit to make a change for the better. But really, the Hebrew word t shuvah comes from the word meaning to turn. Let us turn from that which leads us to sin, temptation and evil, and turn to the better in order to open ourselves to the future and open ourselves to the Kadosh Baruch Hu, the Holy One of Blessing. And it is when we open ourselves to the holiness of God, that we can, ourselves become a sanctuary. The words we opened with, v asu li mikdash v shochanti b tocham, build for Me a sanctuary and I will dwell among them. It says, them, meaning that God will dwell among them, the people, rather than in the sanctuary. God will dwell among us when we open ourselves to the Divine. And yet, for many of us, belief in God is difficult. Regardless of if you grew up in the Jewish community, or outside of it, many of us grew up with a God that was anthropomorphized, usually as an old man, with a long flowing beard, who could control the world. There are numerous examples of God taking human form in the movies and on TV that help reinforce this view. Think of George Burns in My God, Jim Carey in Bruce Almighty, the many portrayals of God on the Simpsons, and even Alanis Morisette in the movie Dogma. And the list goes on. But for many of us, this understanding of God becomes hard to believe in as we get older. But, as Rabbi David Wolpe teaches, the particular understanding of God is less critical that the act of acceptance. 4 Accepting that there is a being that is higher than us, that has influence over our lives, is more important than an understanding of what that being truly is. Emunah, Rabbi Wolpe continues, a combination of trust and belief, is viewed by the Jewish tradition as something one gradually apprehends by plunging into the world with eyes open, by participation in the life of study and the study of life. 5 In other words, Rabbi Wolpe is reminding us that we are Israel. We are the ones who, from our ancestor Jacob, are praised for the ability, and the holy chutzpah to wrestle with our creator, to grapple with our understanding of the Divine. Furthermore, as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel used to teach, the reason graven images are forbidden by the Torah is not that God has no image, but because God has just one 1 Kushner, Harold S. Living a Life that Matters. Anchor Books. New York. 2002. Page 40. 2 Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 153a 3 Brous, Rabbi Sharon. At the Edge of the Abyss. Found in: Hoffman, PhD, Rabbi Lawrence A. Who by Fire, Who by Water: Un taneh Tokef. Jewish Lights Publishing. Woodstock, Vermont. 2010. p. 143. 4 Wolpe, David J. The Healer of Shattered Hearts: A Jewish View of God. Penguin Books. New York. 1990. Page 7. 5 Ibid. 2
image: that of every living, breathing human being. 6 Or as Rabbi Wolpe put it: Each person is a Different embodiment of the Divine spark. 7 Each one of us has goodness inside and that goodness is the spark of Godliness that we are endowed with by being created b tzelem Elohim, in the image of God. And it is through engaging with that spark that we can turn ourselves into a sanctuary, for the Divine already resides within, we just need to acknowledge it. And yet, it is not enough for the Divine to dwell among me, or you, or him, or her. The Torah tells us that the Divine presence, the shechkinah, will dwell among them, among all the people, among each of us when we create a sanctuary, a holy dwelling place for our community. But what does it mean to be a member of this community? Of any community? It is about the experience of belonging. Author Peter Block explains that, first and foremost, to belong is to be related to and a part of something. It is membership, the experience of being at home in the broadest sense of the phrase. It is the opposite of thinking that wherever I am, I would be better off somewhere else. Or that I am still forever wandering, looking for that place where I belong. The opposite of belonging is to feel isolated and always on the margins, an outsider. To belong is to know that I am among friends. 8 This sense of belonging, this understanding of community, of being at home is clearly evident in many Jewish practices and teachings. Primarily, they can be found in Torah. Next week, on Yom Kippur, we will read the words from the Torah that say, Atem n tzavim kulchem hayom, You are standing here this day, all of you 9 to hear the words of Torah, to commit to something bigger than yourselves and to join together in a kehilah kedoshah, a holy community. Or, as Robert Putnam, professor of Public Policy at Harvard and author of the book Bowling Alone, teaches, A community s well-being simply has to do with the quality of the relationships, the cohesion that exists among its citizens. 10 And in fact, Congregation Dor Tamid, and all Jewish institutions for that matter, has a goal. This goal is "not self-preservation; it is to engage Jews with Judaism. It's not gaining more members; it's gaining more Jews. It's about people, not programs. It's about deep relationships." 11 Therefore, for each of us, as members of this community, in order to get the most from our Judaism we each need to become a "Relational Jew, a Jew who views Judaism as impacting virtually all of one's relationships." 12 This is not to say that our only relationships should be with Jews, rather our Jewish identity, ethics, and values should shape how we form relationships with others. For Jewish identity is not measured by how many services you attend each month, or how much money you give, or whether you light Shabbat candles. Even though all of these things are important, and indicators of "Jewish identification...internal Jewish 6 Green, Arthur. Seek my Face: A Jewish Mystical Theology. Jewish Light Publishing. Woodstock, Vermont. 2003. Page 27. 7 Wolpe. Page 36. 8 Block, Peter. Community: The Structure of Belonging. Berrett-Hoehler Publishers. Inc. San Francisco. 2009. xii. 9 Deuteronomy 29.9 10 Block. Page 5. 11 Wolfson, Ron. "Relational Judaism." Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing. 2013. p. 22. 12 Ibid. p. 27. 3
identity is shaped by the relationships in [your] life." 13 It is through creating strong Jewish relationships that we can all hope to get the most out of our experiences in this community. And it is the development and deepening of our relationship to the Jewish community that will help ensure the future of Judaism. But why does Judaism need a future? Rabbi Eli Kaunfer answers this question by stating, "Because Judaism offers a system, a covenantal language, a heritage and tradition that responds to the human need for meaning, substance and connection...it is called Torah...the sum total of Jewish sources and texts--the wisdom stored up in our textual heritage. Torah has the power to draw us into conversation...the power to push us to ask bold questions and to transform our relationships." 14 Judaism's future is linked to our relationship to it, and our relationship to Judaism can help guide and enrich our lives. It is our relationship to this community, to Judaism, and to the Jewish people that causes us to understand, deep within, the dictum: kol Yisrael arevim zeh b'zeh. All of Israel, all of the Jewish people are responsible for one another. It is this relationship that led to countless volunteer hours to help the Jews of the Soviet Union. It is this relationship that has led Jews the world over to support the State of Israel. And it is this relationship that leads us to have a communal sense of pride when one of our own does something well or a communal sense of shame when one of our fellow Jews does something terrible. How many of us were hoping that Bernie Madoff was not Jewish when his crimes came to light? How many of us take pride in Sandy Kofax or Albert Einstein? It is our connection and our relationship to the Jewish community that leads us to experience these emotions and reactions. And it is our relationship to the Jewish community that leads us to this sacred space on this sacred day. On the secular New Year, January 1 st, it is a tradition for many people to make New Year s resolutions. So, I am going to propose one for this community, gathered here tonight. Make a commitment to make relationships, to opening up our hearts to one another, to new experiences, and to new interactions. And there are many opportunities for new interactions each day at CDT. One surefire way to find them is to work with our Engagement Committee and participate in the Moments program, where you can donate a moment, a time of interaction with our community by attending programs, volunteering, or serving on a committee. The committee works hard to tailor these moments to each person s individual interests, known to them through the survey that is currently being collected on our website and Facebook page. So, when you walk in the doors of this holy place, for a predetermined moment or to attend a class, program, or service make sure that you know your community, your family of congregants that is here to pray with you, learn with you, repair the world with you, and strengthen the Jewish community with you. For we are part of an almost six thousand year tradition that, at its base, is communal and covenantal in nature. Emmanuel Levinas, a twentieth century French Jewish philosopher taught that from the moment of birth, we are obligated by the mere gaze of another. The very essence of relationship is the responsibility to engage the Other, to respond. 15 And by responding to the covenant, we can form the foundation of our community a group of people bound together in relationship based upon a reciprocal responsibility and relationship to Torah and each other. There are many in the Jewish world who feel lonely and isolated. They claim We come to services, to programs, and we don t know anyone. Our kids go to Sunday school together, but 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. p. 63. 15 Ibid. Page 37. 4
we don t know the other parents. We are lonely. And we must change this. We must create and develop this community so that no one ever feels this way when walking into our sanctuary, into our community, into our synagogue, our spiritual home. In his famous philosophical treatise The Lonely Man of Faith, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik unpacks the two images of Adam in the Torah. In the first chapter of Genesis, Adam is created in the image of God and given dominion over his environment. Soloveitchik calls this first Adam a majestic man who, like an individualist, sees the world and relationships as functional, transactional, pragmatic. This Adam uses his creative abilities to impose his will on the world. The second Adam is different. In chapter 2 of Genesis, God proclaims, Lo tov he yot ha adam l vado, It is not good for man to be alone, and with God s intervention and Adam s contribution (a rib), Eve arrives to relieve the existential loneliness of the individual. More importantly, Soloveitchik teaches, this second image of Adam presents him as a covenantal man who is in relationship with God. By accepting the notion that he cannot thrive alone, Adam the lonely man in chapter 1 becomes the lonely man of faith in chapter 2, understanding that living in a relational community, building relationships with God and with other human beings, is the path to bringing a redemptive interpretation to the meaning of existence. 16 In other words, we know, and our Torah reiterates the lesson, that we must look to community, we must open our hearts, and our homes, and our synagogues to those who are seeking a Jewish life, in order to find meaning, purpose, belonging and blessing. By opening up our community to one another, by creating a place for everyone in this community, and by creating covenantal relationships with the other members of CDT, we will truly build a mikdash, a sanctuary, not only of the bricks and mortar of this building, but of our own selves. And by doing that, by becoming a living sanctuary for God and for the Jewish people, we will truly be able to strengthen our community, and the Divine Presence will surely be able to say v shochanti b tocham, I will dwell among you. Ken yehi ratzon. May this be God s will and our path in this New Year. Shanah Tovah. 16 Ibid. Page 39. 5