As some of you know, I experienced the privilege of attending the CCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbis) Conference this week. It’s an opportunity my colleagues and I look forward to. We catch up with old friends. We pray together and learn Torah in enduring and creative ways. We get a sense of what rabbis in congregational settings apart from our own are doing as we all work hard to create meaningful relationships, invigorating Shabbatot, and spaces where all can feel that they are able to show up, to contribute, and sometimes simply to be… whatever shape they are in.
Too many things kept this annual conference from reaching its best potential over the past few years – most of which can be lain at the feet of the pandemic. So there was an extra measure of joy this time around. This does not mean there were not serious issues to reflect on, for there were and are. But in the words of writer and physician Rachel Naomi Remen, “perhaps the secret to living well is not having all the answers, but pursuing unanswerable questions in good company.”
At the forefront of such questions and issues, as you can imagine, is Israel. We were blessed to have our Israeli rabbinic colleagues with us, who could speak to the heartbreak they experience, the daily life tasks under duress, the ongoing trauma and the holy work of finding hope in the midst of all of it. To that end, I’d like to share a blessing composed by Rabbi Oded Mazor with you. The “turning” he refers to has its roots in Purim, a holiday that celebrates the unexpected and flies in the face of convention:
May it be Your will that we are able to hold together the diverse needs of one community: to cry and to laugh, to mourn and to dance, to celebrate as always and to sit alone in silence.
May it be Your will that already in this month we witness a real “V’nahafoch Hu,” turning reality in a new direction; not of killing, fighting and destruction, but of salvation, demanding goodness, words of peace and truth.
As it was for our community gathered in Philadelphia over these days, so may it be for our community here in Cheshire whenever and however we gather. May we find new beginnings with the coming of spring – beginnings animated by respect, engagement and generosity. Like our ancestors who brought the most beautiful things they had, who brought the offerings of their hearts to adorn their mishkan in Pekudei, our weekly Torah portion, let us bring the same to our holiest enterprises together.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Gutterman
