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April 2006

At this writing it’s been nearly a month that we’ve been in our new home at Greenleaf. I still keep pinching myself to make sure it’s for real! One thing is for certain. We certainly have hit the ground running, with, if anything, a further intensification of our activities.

The thought that has gone through my mind during these weeks, is the paradigm that we’ve often discussed at BAJC, i.e. that unlike earlier generations in which Judaism for most persons could be accessed only through ritual observance and worship, it now is possible to access the wonders of our faith tradition through multiple avenues: through education, through social action, and through the spirit of community as well as through our common prayer. During the past weeks we’ve seen the richest expression of all of these. As my mother would say in Yiddish, “Kona hora!”

Jim Levinson, Sh'liach Tzibur, and immediate past president of BAJC, Rachel Prabhakar
 

The spheres of worship and community have felt of one cloth this month. Three indelible images stand out in my mind:

• Our standing together at our first Greenleaf service and reading together in English (after chanting some sentences in Hebrew) our magnificent Decalogue: the 10 commandments, while Johnny, as Hagbah, held the portion aloft;
• Baby Evie, the first child to be named in our new space, surrounded by her parents Renee and Sadie, with Renee’s parents embracing the three and speaking of Sadie as “our other daughter.”
• Our calling out the names of parents and grandparents who would have been so proud to see us in this space – and then listening to young Daniel speak about his father. It nearly took one’s breath away. Talk about experiencing holiness together…

Meanwhile in the sphere of education, our Hebrew School, each class room beautifully decorated, and with its own specially colored door, made the transition without missing a beat, as did our Adult Ed classes. (Who would have believed just one year ago what we now have in place as an adult ed program – Mazel Tov Andi and thanks!)

Finally in the sphere of social justice, our social action committee has joined with other local congregations in the planning of a special Mothers’ Day march for peace and justice, while our teen group (the Joyful Jewish Green Mountain Teens) is linking with a comparable group at St. Michael’s Episcopal to help re-equip schools in earthquake areas of Pakistan, and perhaps do something comparable in India.

And when Judy Greenberg spoke to our congregation about the spiritually-based work she and son Jacob have been doing in Nicaragua, one member said memorably, “It’s exactly because of such cutting edge acts of justice that I remain an active Jew.”  Again “kona hora.”

While Paul, Faith, Esther and I all have been recovering, a whole host of  you have stepped into the fray, led so ably by Julie, Johnny Lee and Andi. So many thanks to you all!!

B’Shalom,

Jim