Rabbi’s Grater’s Monthly Message

Outreach, Part 1

Mon, 1 Dec 2008 12:00:36 -0800

In one of his seminal works, Managing the Non-Profit Organization, leadership and organizational expert Peter Drucker teaches the following in regard to non-profit institutions, “Non-profits exist for the sake of their mission. They exist to make a difference in society and in the life of the individual. They exist for the sake of their mission, and this must never be forgotten.” When I arrived at PJTC over five years ago, there was a mission statement already in place. Mission statements are complicated documents, usually involving many months or years to formulate, and if they are to be successful, they need to be revisited often to ensure their continued relevance and meaning to the community as it grows and develops. And while I am not suggesting that we enter such a process now, with the arrival of our new Executive Director, Millie Nelsen, I have been thinking a great deal about the future our congregation and what direction we are heading in. I want to offer Millie a warm welcome and express to the community how grateful I am that we have arrived at this moment in our synagogue life to be able to hire Millie for this role in our senior staff leadership. You will be hearing more about her from Stu Miller, Sandy Hartford (the tremendous chair of our search committee), and from Millie herself. Please join me in welcoming her to our community!

In thinking about mission and where we will be going in the next period of time with Millie leading the administration of PJTC, I have been focused on areas of our community that have not been given enough attention. One of those areas, in my mind, is how we are welcoming and integrating interfaith families. This is not mentioned in our mission statement, but it is certainly an area that involves a great number of families at PJTC. Over these years, I have always assumed that we were doing a good job at welcoming these families, integrating them into the community and making them feel at home. Yet, this is perhaps not the case. One of the challenges of growth, and not having someone at the helm to navigate the growth administratively, is we tend to think that we are doing some things well when in fact we might not be. And to be sure, this is nobody’s fault; it is just a reality and it is one of the reasons that we all agreed we needed an Executive Director. I had assumed we were doing this well because we were very open to interfaith families, we thought of them as full members of the community, and have done so for many, many years, and everything seemed to be going great. Certainly, for some families, it is. And sometimes, when we think one thing, we don’t act. We assumed that things were going fine, and in that assumption, we have not really done anything proactive to guarantee that things were going fine. As such, some families have not been feeling welcomed or integrated, and we have actually had a few families that have left us for that reason.

Now, we are a Conservative synagogue and as long as this is the case, there are certain rules that we have to uphold. However, there is plenty of room for growth in our educational and spiritual areas of welcoming that I think we can work on. I will be planning a workshop for the spring that will address some of these issues. If you are an interfaith family, one of the best ways for me to know how we can help is to come and talk to me personally. I am eager to learn how we can best serve you and the large number of families in this part of our community. We have tried to form a havurah of families in the past without much success, but maybe we can try again. The one thing I urge is communication. My door is always open, but I can’t fully address issues unless I know what they are. I am trying to be proactive in this case, but any and all help is most useful for me. This is an area of our synagogue that needs attention, a part of our mission where we are in need of improvement. Together, I think we can improve. At the end of November (after we went to press), I attended a national Conservative movement one-day seminar on outreach to interfaith families in Arizona. I look forward to sharing what I learned in next month’s column. Blessings of peace, hope and light as we enter 2009!

Rabbi Joshua

Stay Here, Don’t Go!

Sat, 1 Nov 2008 12:00:43 -0700

First, I want to say thank you and yasher koach to all of us for a wonderful, deep, meaningful and rich Yamim Noraim, High Holy Day season. By now, we have completed all of the holy days, ending with a festive Sukkot and fun-filled Simchat Torah! As I do each year, I pray that more and more of us will see the holy days all the way through until the end, for Yom Kippur is just the middle, with the joys of Sukkot and Simchat Torah, culminating our days in song, dance and merriment! As the rabbi in my Rosh Hashanah sermon, we all deserve the excitement and fun of dancing with the Torahs. Thanks to all who came to celebrate, and mazel tov to all the new members of our religious and Hebrew school classes who were welcomed on Simchat Torah. And yasher koach to Richard Samuelson, our new V.P. of Religious Affairs on a successful debut run as lay leader of our High Holy Day experience. And to all who participated in the services as Torah and Haftorah readers, sh’lichay tzibbur (prayer leaders), and especially to our choir, adult and teen, who deepened our prayer with their voices and music. Yasher koach to Cantor Sofer for her leadership and guidance, as well as for her davenning. We work hard to create meaningful prayer experiences and I have heard only great responses from people.

So, now what? The holy days are over, and the year has begun! What this normally means is that the waves roll back into the sea, and the crowds of people, the great energy that comes with so many of us praying together, being together, committing together to our synagogue, recedes into the background until next year. Imagine if it didn’t, though? Imagine if more us found ways to be in shul more often? Imagine if more us found ways to come to services, programs, classes, committee meetings? Imagine if more us learned to read Torah or Haftorah? Imagine if more of us stretched ourselves out of our comfort zone, out of whatever subset of PJTC you normally find yourselves, and began to fill in other areas of the shul? Might we have more chavurot active? Might we have even more classes available? Might we have more Torah being studied? Might we have more justice being pursued? Might we have more programs to be attended? I believe that anything is possible when we put our hearts and minds to it, and shul participation is no different! This is the year of the Torah, a year when we will fill our synagogue life with the writing of our own Torah. I hope that this can also be a year where we find more doorways into synagogue life, more avenues to get involved, more entry points for deepening. If there is something that you would like to see happening, let us know. Or better yet, volunteer to make it happen!

The holy days can often feel like a big family reunion, ending with some sadness that we won’t see most of us again until next year. But, unlike a family that is spread out all over the country, we are a family that, while we might be spread out religiously, can be more and more interconnected if we choose to be. Pirke Avot, the Ethics of our Ancestors teaches, “Al tifrosh min hatzibbur, don’t separate yourself from the community.” I look forward to seeing more and more of you this year! Lets fill our pews, fill our classes, fill our programs, fill our youth group, and fill our hearts with Torah, God and wonderful Jewish life! Again, shana tovah and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Rabbi Joshua

Cheshbon Hanefesh 5769

Wed, 1 Oct 2008 12:00:35 -0700

Cheshbon Hanefesh: An accounting of the soul. This is one of the activities of the season, one that hopefully all of us have been engaged with throughout the month of Elul and into Rosh Hashanah. Cheshbon Hanefesh asks us to take stock of ourselves, our actions, our interactions and our overall behavior from the last year. One of the areas that is weighing on me as I stand before God this year is a professional challenge about speaking out on contemporary issues, especially in the heated election season we currently face. Now, the law of the land is clear that I cannot endorse candidates from the pulpit, for that would violate laws separating church and state, which I deeply support. Yet, this has not stopped many pastors, and some rabbis, from doing that and risking the consequences. I won’t do that. Beyond this stricture, however, it is a wide open area and each clergy member is allowed to decide for themselves where to draw their own lines regarding policy issues, propositions and ballot measures, which we can comment on, even from the pulpit. Ever since I was ordained, and certainly since arriving at PJTC five years ago, I have wrestled with this line, both within myself and with the congregation. I was very clear when I arrived that I was a social activist, seeking to have a voice on issues of our day. I indicated that while I was not yet a political activist, I did seek to increase that role within the bounds of the law. I told the community that I believed deeply in the prophetic tradition and the Torah’s call to justice, as passed down through the teachings of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, and would use my voice on the pulpit and outside the pulpit to pursue that call. And, I requested that I be allowed to do so without hiding the fact that I was the rabbi of PJTC. And you still hired me!

I didn’t realize then, though, just how difficult it would be for me to achieve this balance. Where is the line between being an individual, American citizen and being the rabbi of a congregation? And, even blurrier: Where is the line between being an individual rabbi in general and being the rabbi of PJTC specifically? Can I speak out as a clergy member without representing the entire congregation? I believe I can, and I hope you do too.

Some rabbis are proud of the fact that their congregants have no idea what they think politically, and some rabbis pointedly preach about social issues and politics each and every week. I strive to fall somewhere in the middle. I sit up at night wondering whether I am stifling myself, or being stifled; I wonder sometimes if I have gone too far, or not far enough. As a spiritual leader, I seek to have a voice on issues that I find important, while allowing for other voices to be heard in our synagogue.

There are some who think I should never talk about issues that we might disagree on. I respectfully disagree. Yet, and I hope you have heard me say this over and over, I strive to make everyone feel welcome and a part of the community, which is why my door is always open for you to come in and disagree about a sermon I gave or position I took. I love engaging in challenging, stimulating conversations, as those of you who have sat in my office to argue with me know. We are an interesting congregation because we have so many different opinions. Where we still need some work is how we can disagree with respect and dignity — disagree with the issue, not the person. And in order to meet my own need for expression, I seek venues outside the synagogue to express my views, such as internet posts, op-ed columns and social action groups. Ultimately, these boundaries are somewhat artificial in that anyone can Google my name and see exactly where I stand on any number of issues.

I want to say one final thing. One of the areas that I have dedicated most of my extracurricular time to is peace in the Middle East. It is central to my rabbinate, and I have made my views about Israel known from day one. And it is one of the areas that I wrestle with most, especially in having groups and speakers here at PTJC with whom I disagree. However, as I have shared with other synagogue leaders around the country when I am asked how I can be so openly dovish in a pulpit setting, I firmly believe that for my voice to be heard on an issue, I need to allow the other side to be heard as well. I tell other rabbis that while I preach my views and am proud of them, I have found a way to allow other views to be heard in the community. Unfortunately, in my work with Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, where I serve as National Secretary, it has been difficult to get our group, and therefore our view, heard in synagogues where the rabbi disagrees with us. Brit Tzedek views are not permitted to be heard if the rabbi is not on board. So, I am proud of our synagogue, where a plurality of views are heard. I believe in free speech, and in welcoming a variety of opinions, even when I have strong views and opinions in many areas.

As we approach God this Yom Kippur, I wanted to share openly and honestly what is weighing on my heart and soul. I will be praying for my life, asking God to forgive me for wrongs committed, errors made, feelings hurt and goals missed. I hope that you are doing the same. Cheshbon Hanefesh: let us all open our hearts, heal our souls, and start this year anew, striving to be as compassionate, humble, and open-minded as we can. May we all be sealed for life and health.

Shana tovah and gmar chatimah tovah!

Rabbi Joshua

High Holy Days 5769

Mon, 1 Sep 2008 12:00:12 -0700

I can’t believe that this will be my sixth Yamim Noraim at PJTC! As we enter the month of Elul, the holy season that leads us to the doorway of Rosh Hashanah, I want to invite everyone to begin to deepen our engagement with the life-force inside, the soul, as we prepare to stand before God, pour out our hearts in prayer, sing, cry, repent, forgive, make amends, set goals and beg for another year of life. As I have done in the past, I will sending my daily meditations (some of them slightly modified from previous years, some of them the same), and I encourage you to join me in taking time each day to focus on the interior work that is the essence of the High Holy Days, work that needs preparation if we are to find greater and richer meaning in the upcoming hours and days we will spend together in prayer.

As we do each year, Hazzan Sofer and I are working to create an atmosphere of prayer that will have something of meaning for as many people as possible. We have been seeking some new melodies (not too many!), and working to make sure that we can participate as fully as possible. For Yom Kippur, we have brought in several talented congregants, including some of our wonderful teens, to help make the Martyrology service a bit more creative and more meaningful. Aesthetically, we will be making one fairly significant change that I want to tell you about in advance. As a way of a easing communication and connection to the choir, conductor and accompanist (Leeav Sofer), we have decided to put our shared table on the cantor’s side, leading services completely from over there and are moving the cantor’s podium for the Torah reading to my side of the bimah. Other than being a bit visibly jarring at first (if you have been here a long time), there should be no other logistical issues. It will make the services run much smoother from our perspective, and the Hazzan and I are very excited about this small adjustment. As always, I welcome your feedback. (But, please not before you see and experience the bimah! Predetermined feedback is for you and God.)

Finally, as I did last year, I want to share some of my initial thoughts for the High Holy Days sermons. Since we are beginning “The Year of the Torah,” which you will hear a great deal about in the coming months, my sermons will all deal with some aspect of Torah. I envision Erev Rosh Hashanah to be about “personal Torah,” what it means as an individual to experience Torah; Rosh Hashanah 1 to be about communal Torah, my main talk about the project and how Torah affects us as a congregation. Rosh Hashanah 2 will be an actual study of Torah, not a sermon. Kol Nidre will again be a guided meditation, seeing Torah as a cosmic force and tapping into that through silence and visualization; and finally, Yom Kippur will explore how Torah calls us to be global citizens, dealing with major issues of the day. Sitting here in the beginning of August, that sounds great! We shall see what emerges.

With deep humility and gratitude, I anticipate leading tefillah, praying with you together. In the spirit of teshuvah, renewing and repenting, if there is anything I have done to hurt you, personally or communally, I beg your forgiveness. S’lach li. May our time in prayer together, beginning with Selichot and ending with Simchat Torah, bring us deep meaning, joy, renewal and hope. Franci, Noah, Ella and I wish each of you, our PJTC family a Shanah Tovah, a new year of life, health, peace and serenity. May God bless us, our people Israel and our entire human family with a space in the Book of Life. Thank you for trusting me as your spiritual leader and allowing me the privilege to serve you and God in this wonderful congregation.

Rabbi Joshua

A Community of Caring

Fri, 1 Aug 2008 12:00:26 -0700

I hope that everyone is enjoying summertime! One of the things that I love about summer, from a work perspective, is that I get some time to think about bigger picture issues, long-range planning, brainstorming and contemplating what kind of community we will be in three years from now, or five years from now. During the year, with the pressures of running day-to-day activities, there is little time for future planning. Summer is that time. I am so very excited and proud that we are in the process of hiring a serious new staff person for our congregation. With the arrival of an executive director, someone who will be engaged and actively working for the future of PJTC from an administrative and programmatic perspective full time, I will have more time to think about and create some of the desired spiritual components that I see we need in our community.

I am also very proud of our congregation, and especially our board of directors, under the leadership of Stu Miller, for working diligently and methodically, building on the previous years of growth and dynamism, in order to pass an annual budget of $1.1 million dollars, crossing that threshold for the first time. It is a huge milestone, and I am elated that we have worked together to grow our community and expand our horizons. I am personally looking forward to working with a new visionary partner, helping our already great PJTC staff family to achieve even higher heights, while simultaneously working to cement deeper roots within our already existing community. I am truly anticipating a year of excitement and new pathways for all of us!

One of the areas that our new executive director will focus on is supporting our committees. We have incredible people doing amazing work, but I know that you all need some help! We have achieved awesome things in our community, and with full-time staff support, our committees will be able to thrive even more. One of the areas that I feel is most in need of staff support is our Health and Healing Committee and our Bikkur Cholim Committee, including the Big MAC, which is expertly run by Edie Taylor. In the past two years, under the dynamic leadership of Diane Burr, as chair of Bikkur Cholim and Health and Healing, there have been some wonderful new initiatives: a successful lecture series, starting a Caregivers Network support group at PJTC, increasing our connection with older and home-bound congregants (with many hours put in by our rabbinic intern Adam Stein), and we have offered some very deep and meaningful assistance to individuals in their times of need. However, there is so much more that we can and need to do, and Diane is going to be stepping down as the chair of these committees in September (although she plans to stay involved, thankfully!). I spoke with Diane recently and we talked about, what else, the future, (remember, it’s summer!). We brainstormed about how to strengthen the committee, creating a larger “community of caring,” reaching out to more and more people, and not just in times of crisis. Diane said, “When we hear about something, we help. But we need to have some preemptive care too.” We talked about having a rotating chair of the Bikkur Cholim Committee. It is quite a lot for one person to keep track of all the ill, home-bound, and more acute people in need, not to mention folks just growing older and living alone, other people dealing with mental illness, financial issues, healthcare issues, housing issues. We have people with all of these issues in our community, and tradition calls upon us to first recognize that this exists, and then do something to help. In the recognition, including preemptively becoming aware of issues before they turn serious, we are helping to create healing in a profound way. We need more people, especially men right now, to sign up to help be community healers.

We need drivers, daycare for working moms or seniors, people to visit and play checkers, chess or talk with folks. We’d like to pair up seniors with younger kids and vice versa, maybe some knitting classes, reading groups during the day, taking care of those in need, not just when folks are sick. By engaging with people we have the chance to help prevent sickness from occurring or noticing it before it is too late. Preventative medicine is something that we do not take seriously enough here in the United States. We also need doctors, dentists, lawyers and financial advisors who can volunteer time and services for people in the PTJC community who could benefit from them. Tikkun olam, tzedakah, these are global matters that demand big visioning, in addition to the daily ways in which we give to the community. We need to live the words of our liturgy: chen v’chesed v’rachamim, grace, kindness and compassion: a total community of caring. We are ready to go deeper, and we need everyone’s help! Please call Jane in my office if you want to get more involved and we will be in touch. Perhaps you can volunteer to take on a month of leadership for this committee. If we share the load, it is easier for all. I thank Diane for all she has done, jumping in with both feet, right after joining PJTC, and building a wonderful foundation for greater healing. Yasher koach! Let’s take Diane and her committee’s work and keep building.

Enjoy the rest of summer, come to shul and pray with us, relax and be grateful for more moments in each day. Good luck to all our PJTCniks heading off to college! This August, I complete my fifth year at PJTC — my family and I feel very grateful to be part of this wonderful congregation. Shalom and blessings!

Rabbi Joshua