Rabbi's Message

Rabbi Elyse Wechterman
Read about the Rabbi
February 2007

Musings

Part 1 - Caring and Community cont’d

On Friday, January 19, Barbara Gordon and I met at the Village at Willow Crossing, a retirement and assisted living community in Mansfield, and helped five lovely residents brave the freezing temperatures and into our cars. With Bertie, Goldie, Tootie, Rena and Martin, we arrived at our warm synagogue to begin what became one of the loveliest and most enjoyable Shabbat evenings at the synagogue I can recall.

This was the night of Kitah Zayin’s class dinner and service and it was at their invitation that the assisted-living residents joined us. Several weeks earlier, Kitah Zayin and I (with generous parent chaperones) visited Willow Crossing for a Hanukkah program with the Jewish residents. At that time, the students met and interacted with the residents, shared latkes and grape juice and told a version of the Hanukkah story. In turn, the residents gave our students gifts of candy dreidels they had made earlier in the week. The students jumped at the suggestions that we invite these residents to our class dinner.

When the residents arrived at the synagogue, the students graciously helped them to their seats, served them dinner, interacted with them and then escorted them into the sanctuary for services. The students were gracious and graceful – mature and composed as they welcomed these virtual strangers into their spiritual home. It felt natural and easy!

But it wasn’t always this way.

In preparing for our visit to the home, several of the students admitted to being nervous – they were generally shy and didn’t feel comfortable talking to strangers; or they were uncomfortable around old people, not knowing many up close; or they were worried that they wouldn’t know what to say.

And to be honest – there were a few moments of awkwardness now and then. But not for long as students and guests got to know one another and class parents joined in to make the evening a delicious success for all involved.
It’s tempting to pat ourselves on the back for this wonderful mitzvah that we performed. These folks don’t often get to synagogue and they don’t often have Shabbat dinner in their mostly non-Jewish facility. It was a mitzvah for us to include them. But really – it was the residents who performed the mitzvah. They are the ones who got on their coats and got into small cars in the freezing cold winter, going some place they had never been and trusting us to get them there in safety, feed them, make them comfortable, and safely get them home again. Their’s was the bigger leap of faith that evening – and for that we are indebted to them. In accepting our hospitality and in opening themselves to a relationship with our students and families, they have allowed us to be – at least for that Friday night – exactly the kind of community we want to be. And for that – Bertie, Goldie, Tootie, Rena and Martine – I am very grateful.

Part 2 – Fighting for peace

On Sunday, January 21, I had the opportunity to hear two individuals from warring communities share their stories of struggle, transformation and ultimately friendship and commitment to peace. Elik Elhanan – a former Israeli soldier and Sulaiman Al Hamri – a former Palestinian resistance fighter and prisoner shared their experiences growing up on opposite sides of the “Green Line.” Sponsored by the Rhode Island Chapter of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom (a pro-Israel/pro-Peace organization) and our congregation, these two gentlemen represented an organization called Combatants for Peace – a coalition of former Israeli and Palestinian fighters dedicated to non-violence and peaceful co-existence.

Elik spoke movingly and powerfully of his years in the Israeli army and of his growing awareness of the cyclical nature of the violence in the region. He told the audience of the violent forays his unit would make into Lebanon in response to an act of violence by the Palestinians and the eventual reprisals – usually more violent – that would come in response. He described how his 14-year old sister was killed by a suicide-bomber in Jerusalem. And he described how he no longer believes that there is any solution to the problem other than a negotiated settlement between the two peoples.

Sulaiman, in turn described the frustrations of life under an occupation that made it impossible for him to go to school, for his friends to work and the culture that pushes young Palestinians into the resistance. He described the education he received within an Israeli jail, where he learned mostly more methods of resistance and violence. And he described the death of his best friend at the age of 16 by an Israeli soldier’s bullet. He described also, his personal journey from hate and warfare to a commitment to working toward peace with Israelis.

These two men shared their opinions on the political situation, they talked about their respective communities – but what captured my attention most was the relationship they had forged with each other – a relationship they describe as friendship and that can only be seen as miraculous given the world in which they live. Both men, wounded and hurt by the other side, did not simply live in the anger their experiences produced – but took that anger and turned it into a search for a relationship with the other.

And this brings me hope.

Anywhere in the world where people try to reach out to one another, to listen, understand, hear and share their stories, there is hope. It must be our job in the United States to support those who do this work and to urge for more conversation, more discussion, more negotiations – not fewer – in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.

Part 3 – Our Journey

In just a few weeks, 21 members of this congregation – with another 20 from Hillel B’nai Torah in West Roxbury – will be boarding an airplane and beginning our pilgrimage to Israel.

We will see and do much and have lots to talk about when we return. Plus you can keep an eye on our progress via our new blog.

But in addition to the deeper relationships we will forge with the land of Israel and its people, I am also truly excited and looking forward to the deeper relationships we will forge with each other. Traveling together will give the 21 of us a chance to see each other in a different light, to revel in each other’s learning and insight and to build greater energy for our sense of ourselves as Jews and as members of Agudas Achim. It is this energy that will come back with us – and when we share it with you – may have the power to transform our congregation.

Conclusion – Whatever else we do, whatever else we say, the true meaning of this community can be found in the relationships we build and the others we nurture.

B’Shalom
Rabbi Elyse

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