Erev Rosh HaShanah Sermon, September 4, 2013/ 1 Tishrei 5774
Rabbi Reice 1
Jewish Wisdom for Transitions
In the large arc of history told in the Torah, the Israelite people, enslaved for hundreds of
years in Egypt, came out of slavery to freedom in the Promised Land through the wilderness. In
fact, the majority of the Torah is spent neither in Egypt nor in Israel; rather, it is spent wandering
in the wilderness. From crossing the sea in the Book of Exodus, chapter 14, through all of
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy the children of Israel travel, pray, rebel, receive
revelation and laws, fight wars, establish systems for justice, and live out most of their lives in
the wilderness. There, on the road between slavery and freedom; there in transition; there in the
wilderness – that’s where they lived. It is where we live, too.
It’s where I live. Everywhere I look, I see transition. The end of 5773 marks the end of
my first full Jewish year as a rabbi in this community. It was an amazing, challenging, full and
action-packed first year, but looking to the year that begins tonight, it is hard for me to identify
an area in our communal life that is not in transition.
People have been talking to me about these transitions. I have heard worry in their
voices. I have seen concern on their faces. Change is hard.
This year, 5774, marks Beth Torah’s 25th Anniversary. We will gather this fall on
November 1st through the 4th to appreciate what we have been and celebrate what we
accomplished in our first 25 years and imagine and delight in what can come in the next 25.
I am particularly excited for our transition to a new Beth Torah Torah scroll. Since our
High Holy Day season last year, I have been sharing verses for our Read. Learn. Write.
Campaign, in the Tekiah. The final verses will come out in time for all 25 to be ready to
celebrate our 25th Anniversary. And from that reading, learning and writing, we will move to
scribing our own Torah scroll. For the first time in our history at Beth Torah, we will have a
Torah scroll created by and for our community. Writing our Torah, with the guiding hand of our
sofer – our scribe, will be a new experience for me and perhaps for you, as well. Together, we
will fulfill the 613th mitzvah of the Torah – to write our own Torah. And there will be lots of
opportunities and lots more information coming to you soon. Look out for hints and treats and
surprises during this year of transition.
Another transition is in our programming life. Over the past year, our programming
model has begun the transition from a top-down approach to a more grassroots, affinity model.
In a culture of citizens, where we are known, accepted and safe, programs rise into life in
a collaborative, organic way – through affinity groups. Citizens of Beth Torah have ideas about
what is missing in their lives, about what they would like to see in the life of our community and
they partner with each other in groups of friends or family. Together, they create the programs
that will fulfill their Jewish lives, and in the process are refashioning Beth Torah.
But of all the transitions going on at Beth Torah in 5774, the one most on our minds is the
start of our Rabbi Transition. There is no bigger change in the life of our community than the
transition of leadership from Mark Levin, our Founding Rabbi, to other rabbinical leadership.
Change is coming this year. Speaking for myself, it is hard to imagine this pulpit without him.
But in this year of transition, we have a gift as Jews, because our tradition is a tradition of
change. Our ancestors faced tough transitions, and found their way. Whether the Temple was
destroyed by Babylonians or Romans, whether we were carried from Israel into captivity, or
expelled from England in 1290 or Spain in 1492, or confined to a ghetto in Italy, a mellach in
Morocco or the pale of settlement in Russia – our people have seen suffering and forced
transitions: where to live, what was possible to own or do in business and industry. Hard
changes. Those Jews looked to our tradition for comfort in those times of transition, just as we
Erev Rosh HaShanah Sermon, September 4, 2013/ 1 Tishrei 5774
Rabbi Reice 2
can today. The archetypal story of transition for Jews, and lessons for managing change, begins
in the Torah: in the wilderness, transitioning from slavery to freedom.
There is a name for this in-between, transitional state: liminal. The word “liminal” comes
from the word “limen.” Limen means threshold, literally the plank, stone, or piece of timber that
lies under a door. It is the place you stand when you are neither inside nor outside. It is the
quintessential in-between, transitional place. It is where the Israelites were, when they wandered
in the wilderness. We are in a liminal time in our community, too.
However, when Jews cross a limen, a threshold, there is a blessing and a comfort at that
place, a mezuzah. On its most basic level, the custom of hanging a mezuzah on the doorpost
comes from a commandment recited in the V’ahavta – ‫ ּובִ ְשע ֶָּריָך‬,‫ ְמז ֻזֹות בֵּ יתֶ ָך‬-‫ּוכְ תַ בְ תָּ ם עַל‬. To “write
[these words] on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.” The words are the Sh’ma,
declaring God’s unity, and V’ahavta, commandments to love God, follow God’s laws, and teach
these traditions to your children.
But hanging a mezuzah has much more attached to it than simply following the
commandment from the Torah. Many cases for mezuzot have the letter Shin inscribed on them
or even the word Shadai – Shin, Dalet, Yud – meaning Almighty. They are commonly inscribed
on the outside of the rolled scroll within the mezuzah. Both the Shin alone and the word Shadai
are abbreviations for the same term: Shomer Delatot Yisrael – Guardian of the Doors of Israel.
There is a common beliefi, that the mezuzah has a protective power. The first time the
word mezuzah is mentioned in the Torah is the night before the Israelites are to escape from
Egypt, the night of the 10th plague – Death of the First Born. Their first liminal night – set to
leave, but not yet gone.
The Israelites are instructed to gather in their homes for a hurried lamb dinner. They are
to take the blood of the lamb and place it on their doorposts (mezuzot) and on the lintel, the top
of the doorway. The blood is to be a sign that the plague should not enter their homes. And that
protective element is linked to our mezuzot today, because in that time the protection was only
blood, and in our time, the scroll at our door contains 10 names of God.
Many people have the custom of kissing the mezuzah – touching it with their hand and
kissing their hand – much like touching the Torah during a hakafah. Whether for mystical
reasons about protection or for the practical reason of showing respect to God’s name or words
from Torah, many people connect to blessing and holiness through the mezuzah at the doorway,
our own personal, transitional place.
For our Beth Torah community, I hope that the Torah scroll we write together this year
will be our comfort, blessing and connection to holiness through this liminal time of transition.
May we come together as a community over this new Torah scroll, with each one of us making
our mark, literally – as we each make our mark on this community, figuratively.
But mezuzah is not the only Jewish wisdom for liminal times. The Torah teaches a lesson
about transitions in the closing chapters of the Book of Genesis, as the patriarchal period of the
lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons comes to an end and the story of the whole children
of Israel is poised to begin. Dr. Nahum M. Sarna, who wrote the commentary in The JPS Torah
Commentary: Genesis ‫בראשית‬, wrote about the parallels and connections in the transitions in
Abraham’s life, Jacob’s life, and Moses’ life. He writes:
“Famine drove Abraham to Egypt (12:10); now famine impels his grandson in the same
direction. Abraham’s career opened with a divine revelation; Jacob’s closes with a
similar experience. Jacob’s odyssey began at Beer-sheba (28:10); it fittingly concludes
Erev Rosh HaShanah Sermon, September 4, 2013/ 1 Tishrei 5774
Rabbi Reice 3
with a revelation at the same place. The divine Voice will not be heard again until the
advent of Moses.ii”
Through this comment we can begin to see how the narrative of the Torah creates bridges
between the beginning and the end. There is a bridge of famine, of revelation, and of place –
Beer-sheba. Even the end of the patriarchal period is linked to the beginning of the new
leadership of Moses, by the sound of God’s voice. The end of freedom is linked to its new
beginning.
We have our own bridges appearing before us. The 25th anniversary bridges our past to
our future. Our new Torah will come with us from this transitional time to our future. And our
traditions will bridge us: our month at reStart, our blood drives, our choir, our Chili Cook Off,
Joel’s Ride, the Golf Tournament, our affinity groups, our chavurot, our staff, our lay leadership,
our Weiner Religious School faculty, our committed volunteers from Shalom Squad on Friday
nights to those who get our Tekiah ready for mailing to the volunteers in every other place and
program in our community – because volunteers are our lifeblood. We are our own bridge. We
are the community we need to bridge and navigate this time of transition.
Reb Nachman of Breslov, the great grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, a major figure in the
development of the Chasidic Movement, and the founder of Breslover Chasidism taught an
important lesson about bridges. He taught, “‫ לא לפחד כלל‬- ‫ והעיקר‬,‫– ”כל העולם כולו גשר צר מאוד‬
“The whole world is a very narrow bridge, but the most important thing is not to be afraid.” For
us, this message means, don’t focus on the worries about everything that is changing and in
transition; focus on what to do next. On this liminal bridge to our future, put one foot in front of
the other. Take it easy on yourself. Take time to look at the blessings around you during this
year. It’s hard to notice the blessings around you and in front of you, when you are only looking
behind you. Truly, we can’t expect what is in front of us to be the same as what came before.
So, ‫ – לא לפחד כלל‬don’t be afraid of our transitions, build up this bridge. And remember, as it is
written on a poster, suspended from the ceiling in the ulam, that Reb Nachman was also famous
for saying, “If you believe breaking is possible, believe fixing is possible.”
And that is a deeply Jewish view. How we understand changes and transitions makes all
the difference. We get a chance to prepare ourselves and resolve how to understand the future: is
change good or bad? Is fixing possible? Is a mezuzah, a Torah, an anniversary celebration, a
bridge of community going to help us and strengthen us when we are feeling lost and
overwhelmed by transition?
Lord Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the
Commonwealth for 22 years, stepped down from that role this past Sunday. Rabbi Sacks writes
about how to view change in his book Future Tense: Jews, Judaism, and Israel in the TwentyFirst Century. He writes:
“Jews [do not] give way to defeat or despair. They are the people of hope.
“The Chinese ideogram for crisis also means ‘opportunity.’ Perhaps that is why Chinese
civilisation has survived for so long. Hebrew, however, is more hopeful still. The word
for crisis, mashber ‫מַ ְשבֵּ ר‬, also means a ‘childbirth chair.’ The Jewish reflex is to see
difficult times as birth pains. Something new is being born.”iii
How you view our shared transitions makes all the difference. Are we at a crisis or are
we birthing the next stage of our communal life? The Jewish reflex asks us for hope, excitement,
and joy over what new achievements and possibilities will come in our next 25 years.
But for the meantime, we are in transition and we will wander this year in our wilderness,
our communal, liminal space. We must remember that it is there, in the wilderness, that the
Erev Rosh HaShanah Sermon, September 4, 2013/ 1 Tishrei 5774
Rabbi Reice 4
Israelites encountered revelation and truth and there where they encountered miracle. In our
year, we will create our Torah, we will celebrate our first 25 years with Rabbi Mark Levin, and
we will build our bridges to Beth Torah’s future – without fear, knowing that these pains are the
pain of something new being born.
May this year of transition, 5774, be a year of truth and miracle. May our transitions be
filled with the wisdom of Torah. May we be able to make meaning during this time and may we
find comfort as things change and begin anew.
L’shanah tovah u’metukah tikateivu – May you be inscribed for a good and sweet New
Year.
i
originating in the Mechilta (from the first century CE) and perpetuated in the Babylonian Talmud (5 th-7th century
CE)
ii
Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis: The Traditional Hebrew Text with New JPS Translation/Commentary by Nahum Sarna
(Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 312.
iii
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Future Tense: Jews, Judaism, and Israel in the Twenty-First Century (New York: Shocken,
2009), 55.