This is my first column as president of BAJC. For the past three years, I have had the honor of being a Board member, ritual committee chair, high holy day chair, fundraising committee member, Torah study and service leader. During these years, I have truly felt blessed to be a member of BAJC because of all the wonderful people that I have met at services and social events. As I assume the presidency, I am very much aware of all the folks that have preceded me in building a wonderful Jewish foundation in Brattleboro on which we can continue to build.
By the time you read this, we will be celebrating Rosh HaShanah together and I am confident that the services will be meaningful to you--as will, I hope, my Rosh HaShanah talk about the story of Haggar and Ishmael and the differences between revelation and discovery.
We are now getting ready to conclude another cycle of Torah by reading the last parashot of Deuteronomy, Parashat Ha'azinu (32:1-52) in which we read the last poem of Moses as he prepares to watch the children of Israel enter the Promised Land.
Give ear, O heavens, let me speak;
let the earth hear the words I utter!
May my discourse come down as rain,
My speech distill as the dew . . .
(Deuteronomy 32:1–2)
The religious perspective on hearing is that we must make something meaningful out of what we hear. Are the sounds we perceive mere noise or are they something more? The blast of the shofar awakens us to wrong and brings tears of remorse. We can hear the cry of children who are hungry and be moved to help them. To hear something, therefore, is not just a matter of waves in the air, tiny bones, and nerve impulses: It is how we respond to the sound that is truly important. To listen is imperative in our tradition. Although most people think that sight is the dominant sense, in our central prayer we say, Sh'ma Yisrael, "Hear, O Israel." Why hear? Perhaps it is because sight is so overpowering that what we see is hard to deny. Hearing, however, is more subtle. To truly hear means taking time to listen and then to reflect. To hear means making an effort, for God's Voice rarely overpowers (which is why our sages, of blessed memory, called it Bat Kol, literally the "Daughter of a Voice").
So, in his final discourse, Moses reminds the people to pay greater heed to the sense of hearing--in essence, to listen more attentively. As we begin a new year, the sound of the shofar still fresh in our ears, we too would do well to listen more attentively. What in our everyday lives do we hear? Do we listen to the young or ignore them? Do we take time to hear the stories of our elders or only pay attention to the interests of our own generation? Do we hear the pleas of the hungry, not only those across the oceans but also those just a few blocks away? Is it G-d's voice we hear or only the sigh of the wind?
To put congregational listening into action, I am proposing that the BAJC Board conduct a series of meetings in members’ homes, getting together to LISTEN to the concerns and thoughts of congregants about the future of BAJC. In the spring of 2009, the Board will participate in a retreat to develop a strategic plan based on what we have HEARD from members. Sign up sheets will be distributed later this month and I strongly encourage you to attend one of these meetings so we all have a chance to listen to each other.
Ha-azinu, "Give ear, take heed, listen!"
B’Shalom,
Marty
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