Rabbi Julie Greenberg's Erev Rosh HaShana 5767
Sermon
Responding to the call of the imaginary shofar, each
one of us has shown up, here, right on schedule to
be part of these sacred rites.
In a world with bombings and terror, military
rampages and sectarian violence, coming together in
prayer is such a good thing. What a holy contrast to
the strife of the world. The prophet called for a
place of God for all people to pray. As we step into
this place of worship to herald the New Year may
that place of God be the whole earth and may our
Jewish prayers fulfill our piece of that whole.
Year after year I marvel at what draws us each here
at this season. There is no coercion. No one has to
be here. Expressing free will and free agency, the
Jewish people and fellow travelers around the world,
show up at this time. Is it the turning of the
season that clues us in? The leaves begin to turn,
summer has ended. Is it the start of a new school
year (I think many of us continue to think along
those academic calendar lines even long after we are
students)?
There probably are many different reasons that bring
each one of us to this place at this time. But I
think one thing that unites us is that most people
here long for a spiritual home. You may long for a
home because it would reflect the Jewish home you
had as a child. Or you may long for a Jewish home
because you never had one as a child. The idea of a
spiritual home that links our deepest roots and
highest aspirations and brings them together in
community is so powerful.
The concept of home is amazing. Home is a place
where you belong. Where you are seen. Where you are
sheltered, comfortable and cared for. Where you are
counted on. In the ideal home, the big people get it
right and the children are safe and protected. Home
is a place of love, nourishment, nurturance.
That’s the idealized concept of home. We all know
that the reality, even in the most wonderful homes,
is very different. The reality is that there are
tensions between people, there are major life
stressors that have to do with work and loss and
transitions. In some homes there is fighting or even
hurting, both emotional and physical. In real life,
home is never a static picture. It is a moving
picture, an endless video of efforts to love,
efforts to repair, efforts to build. Fragile real
people make home, through all the ups and downs of
life, for better or worse.
But when we show up at the synagogue door, there is
a strong desire to be home. A longing. A hunger for
that place of peace and acceptance that many of us
carry with us as a vision.
This is a beautiful vision, a necessary vision, a
potentially transformative vision, and we see its
power in that here we all are, ready to honor our
New Year by coming home to this place of worship.
Our prophet Isaiah also held out the vision, “My
House shall be a place of prayer for all people.”
The problem is that each one of us has a unique
experience of what it means to be home. Home is a
universal value but our particular experience of
home is not universal. For one person it might mean
quiet, respectful conversation with long reflective
silences. For another person home is lively
discussion at a high decibel level with constant
interrupting and shrieking. For one person
appreciation is expected and for the next it would
be embarrassing to be publicly appreciated. For one
person the Hebrew language provides a sense of
comfort and tradition, for the next person Hebrew is
alienating and discouraging.
We each carry our own home history within us. The
patterns of our previous home history are deeply
internalized. If you are programmed internally from
your home experience to be left out, you’ll probably
find places where you’ll be left out again and again
and this isn’t all bad. You are likely to repeat
that pattern for two reasons. Number one, this is
what feels normal because you’re used to it. But
number two, this is where your most liberating work
can be done because if you work through this very
stuck place you’ll be free. We keep returning in
life to our most stuck places, over and over again
because these places have the most potential to free
us if we can work them through.
The most intense spiritual work any of us can do is
to learn to thrive in intimate relationship. God
shows up in the form of your mate, or your committee
members or your annoying next door neighbor. God is
present in relationship. When relationship is trying
for you, this is a message, a gift from God, that
this is the place for you to learn and grown. The
better we learn to navigate through intimacy,
holding on to Self while connecting to other Selves,
the more we manifest that sacred web of
inter-connectedness that is godly.
Our tradition welcomes the stranger. This means to
welcome what is strange to you. The people whom we
tend to cut off from or dismiss are the very people
our tradition chooses to embrace. My House shall be
a place of prayer for all people, says Isaiah
(56:7). Not just those who agree with me. Not just
those who look like me or with whom I am most
comfortable. Not just those who share my level of
mental health, or IQ or physical ability, or brand
of Judaism , or experience of home.
I have a dear friend Felice who is very involved in
her synagogue in another state. Recently she poured
out her frustrations to me: the lesbian havurah
doesn’t understand progressive Judaism; the
mainstream community doesn’t understand lesbians;
the progressive Jewish community doesn’t understand
children. None of them are politically active
enough. Finally we just had a good laugh realizing
that Felice could sit on a rock all by herself and
have a complete union of lesbian, progressive,
child-friendly, politically active Judaism but she
would be all by herself.
Here is a great suggestion for when we bump up
against what is strange to us:
Curiosity
We need to learn to see home through each other’s
eyes. A fantastic place to start is right here in
intimate Jewish community. You know the teaching,
the best way to have a good friend is to be a good
friend. The best way to have a wonderful home is to
make a wonderful home for others. Learn what makes
someone else feel comfortable in this home. Make
this home work for others.
But we don’t want to stop here. We need to learn how
to make home for our city, for our country, for our
planet.
Expanding this out into the world, we have the
opportunity to realize the full manifestation of
HaMakom, the name for God that means The Place.
In this world, the value of being able to build A
community, just one community is huge. It’s a micro
laboratory of what needs to happen again and again
all over the world until we truly live in a world
that is a place of prayer for all people.
Welcome to the New Year, 5767. Shana Tovah!