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Interestingly, I have heard this very same sentiment expressed
by congregational rabbis, encouraging their congregants, in the
interest of congregational well-being, to take on responsibilities
and venture forth audaciously without depending on the rabbi.
Clearly, the important issue here is not rabbi or no rabbi, but
rather whether or not this independent, intrepid spirit is present.
On the basis of such a criterion, any visitor to our High Holiday
services who witnesses the breadth and depth of congregational
participation in our services would give this congregation high
marks indeed.
It is precisely this spirit which I find so compelling and so
attractive, not just at the High Holidays, but throughout the year.
A few examples, just from recent weeks:
- At a Shabbat morning service,
a physician in the congregation delivers an eloquent and carefully
researched d’var Torah
on the week’s parhsah describing the evocation of the heart
in the portion, and relating this to current medical understandings
of that physical organ.
- The next day, a group of congregants meet
with two students from a Lubavitch yeshiva to discuss tikun olam
and to debate actively the means by which this might be accomplished.
- A week later, five adult women meet to continue their exploration
of the Shabbat morning service and to delve into understandings
of suffering from different faith traditions, all of this in preparation
for their forthcoming Bat Mitzvah.
- Meanwhile, two members scour
wire services and websites daily to keep interested congregants
fully up to date on the constantly changing situation in Israel
and the Middle East.
- And, at the same time, still other
members are busily at work on so many other projects: working
with contractors and inspectors, and with brooms and pruning
shears in an effort to expedite our move to Greenleaf; planning
a fund raising auction; preparing Hebrew School curricula;
updating our website; completing a teen essay on the creation
of common ground between Jews and Christians; working on one
of the local or international tzedakah projects in which our
congregation is involved…and, of
course, the list goes on.
From every indication, the Brattleboro Experiment envisaged by
our founding mothers and fathers is alive and well.
B’shalom,
Jim
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