Introduction
and Holiday Greeting
Rabbi
Michael Feshbach
Temple
Anshe Hesed, Erie, Pennsylvania
It
is a campaign year, and Bob Dole offers himself as a bridge to the past.
President Clinton counters that he is a bridge to the future. My friends, I
want to add a nomination to the process - not for president, but in this sudden
search for the best bridges.
I nominate my
religion , my spiritual tradition of Judaism , as a bridge to both the past and
future, whose span begins at one end at a lonely mountain long ago, and whose
other ends stretches farther than any eye can see, unfolding , being built even
now. And I want to share with you my own take on that bridge , one spire among
the many that stretch out across the horizon.
My
name is Michael Feshbach. I am a Reform rabbi, spiritual leader of the
240-family Temple Anshe Hesed of Erie, Pennsylvania, (which is halfway in
between Cleveland and Buffalo for those who haven’t heard of it). I approach
Judaism from a progressive, non-fundamentalist point of view. I believe,
clearly, that G-d speaks to us as human beings...
My difference
with the fundamentalists is that they believe that G-d speaks clearly. But I
believe that all of our lives as are struggle to figure out what the voice we
heard at Sinai still wants of us today. In our own time; our own place; our own
lives…..
And I believe
that the Torah, indeed, our entire tradition that bridges so many centuries and
spans so many civilizations, is a mosaic even more than it is Mosaic , a
beautiful patchwork quilt of our people 's ongoing effort to respond to the
voice of the living G-d.
I look forward
to sharing that search with you, to offer insights and hear your responses, to
turn questions into quest and uncover the wholeness... and holiness... at the
heart of our lives.
We begin our
stroll on that bridge together next week. For now, I include below my wishes
for all of us as the new year of 5757 begins.
* *
* * *
* *
My congregation
in Erie will soon be rolling up its sleeves... and working on building a house.
Not our own for someone else.
It
is an appropriate thing, to be working on houses, as the High Holy Days come. For as we hammer and nail, as we sweat and
serve, as we, in other words , with care and spirit work on the building of a
physical house at this time of year, so, too, should we devote care and spirit
to our inner houses. Our own spiritual journeys and our own spiritual home…..
The
words on the outer wall of our synagogue are based on, but an expansion of, the
words of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah saw a vision of when our spiritual home
would be "a house of prayer," open to all. But we add more. For our
goal as a synagogue is, indeed, to be "a house of prayer, a house of
study, a house of fellowship for all peoples."
All synagogues,
all centers of Jewish spiritual life are called upon to be a house of fellowship,
a community. May our efforts this coming year wherever we live serve to bring
people together, to emphasize the care for one another that can, if we let it,
transcend all argument.
May it be, for
us, at our simchas and our celebrations , and in sadness and sorrow diminished
by being shared, may it be at a Bar Mitzvah and not a bar... where everybody
knows your name.
We are called
upon to be a house of study, an academy. This coming year, may we make the time
for study, may we be able to take advantage of all the opportunities around us,
in congregations, in community centers, in cyberspace, in the arena of lifelong
learning. May our opportunities for study both serious and fun, both intellectual
and spiritual, reading Maimonides
and making Matzah balls. May each one of us respond to the timeless call of
Torah.
We
are called upon to be a house of prayer, a place of spiritual transformation.
In a sermon in early August, I spoke of that scene from the old Milton Berle
show, in which a woman in love with Berle put her arms around him and said:
"Oh, Milton. It’s bigger than both of us."
Coming together
in prayer is more than a chore; it can, if we let it, rise to the level of
profound opportunity. For each service,
we come together but once, a unique assemblage of particular people at that
particular service. But in coming together we embrace a chance... that our
lives may touch each other’s, that our journeys may, for a moment, overlap,
which we can each find a place where we can look beyond ourselves. And, in so
doing, find ourselves anew.
This coming
year, may each of us stand on the stage in each of these arenas of Jewish
religious life. May our spiritual homes be a place where we come together to
break bread , to expand the mind , to grow in spirit and in soul.
This year may
we find our noblest ideals realized, our highest hopes fulfilled, and our lives
linked with one another in fulfillment of our ancient and ever-unfolding
mission as a holy community.
