Rabbi's Message

Rabbi Elyse Wechterman
Read about the Rabbi
May 2003

Friends: Last month I was invited to speak to the Unitarian Univeralist Society of Middleboro on Reconstructionist Judaism. I thought you might be interested to read my comments. It is always helpful to speak to strangers to remember who you are.

Speech to Unitarian Universalist Society of Middleboro
April 27, 2003

Good morning. Thank you for welcoming me here; and thank you, in particular, to Kimberly French for organizing this morning and inviting me.

It's been so hard to figure out what to say to you this morning. Kimberly and I coined the title of this talk so long ago so as to give me lots of room for movement when this date seemed so far off. And then, as it got closer, it became such a wide title as to be almost meaningless, giving me no guidance whatsoever.
So here I am, the morning of April 27 still unsure of what you, a community of Unitarian Universalists in rural Massachusetts would want to hear from me, a recently arrived Reconstructionist rabbi of Attleboro.
At a time when the world seems so bleak and hopeless and when religions and ethnicities seem the cause of so much hatred and anger, I have far more questions about the role of religion and spirituality, community and polity than I do answers. What could I share with you that would be both enlightening and hopeful from my tradition when I am not very sure of it myself these days?

So I'll start with a Hasidic story that I like to tell at the beginning of every Rosh Hashanah service, the start of our new year.

One man was walking in a forest, lost for many days. He couldn't find the right path- each time he thought he was getting somewhere, he found himself even more lost. This went on for days and days, wandering in the thick woods. Eventually, this man ran into another just like him - someone else who had been wandering lost in the forest.

"Ahoy," said the first man, "Now that I have found you, you can show me the way out," he said.

"I don't know the way out either," said the second. "But I do know this, do not go the way I have been going, for that way is not the way. Now let us walk on together and find the light."

I don't know the right path toward what we all seek - and I'd venture to say that you don't either. But what we both do is join in communities of like-minded people sharing our steps on the journey and keeping each other company. This is the heart of liberal and progressive denominations in America - be they Jewish, Christian, Unitarian or something else. We share a deep belief in the power of community and a commitment to searching out a path, while maintaining a skepticism and wariness of ever having believed we have found it. We think we know the wrong way to travel and cross those paths off of our lists. But the right way, if there is such a thing, is still murky and unclear before us.

This then is the challenge of all of us who place ourselves on the liberal side of the religion and spirituality. Without a commanding God or clear dogmas to guide us, how do we form paths that are authentic, true to ourselves and leading us toward that which we call God while at the same time, respectful of others and inherently pluralistic?

Let me tell you about my path, the path of Reconstructionist Judaism.
My branch of Judaism is based on the teachings of Mordechai Kaplan, a rabbi and teacher who wrote during the 1940s and 50s.

Kaplan taught us that Judaism, contrary to traditionalist assumptions, was the evolving civilization of the Jewish people. It changes over time, evolves as the Jewish people move around and encounter other cultures. It includes not only religion and spirituality, but culture, both high and low, arts, food, literature, jokes, ethnicity - if you will.

Judaism, rather than being something handed down from on high at a particular point in history, is the sum total of the practices, beliefs, mores and traditions of those who call themselves the Jewish people. Kaplan placed people-hood - and belonging - at the center of Jewish experience. Radical for his time, he turned to the Jewish people and said "You own it - make of it what you will."

And so we do. Informed by contemporary sensibilities and with a great love and respect for our tradition and its sources, we create paths of meaning for our lives today. Influenced by the feminist movement and the increased presence of women in the work force nationally, we now have women in more and more positions of leadership in our communities. This in turn had lead to the growth of new liturgies and rituals to mark moments of our lives heretofore unacknowledged by the tradition - naming ceremonies for girls; rituals to mark puberty, childbirth and menopause have been created. As have new ceremonies for coming out as gay or lesbian, seeing children off to college, retiring and all the other moments that make up the lives of women and men previously ignored by the tradition.

Newly enlightened about environmental degradation, we have placed concern for the world and all its creatures in a position of prominence when it comes to Judaism's ethical and moral teachings. Our holiday of Tu B'Shvat, once primarily focused on the land of Israel, has become an Earth Day of sorts with opportunities for re-engaging with ancient texts about humanity's relationship to God's created world. This has called for new thinking about traditional concepts of food and consumption in Jewish community and given rise to eco-kashrut alongside more traditional observances of keeping kosher.

Taught profoundly about the values of democracy and equality of all life we have rejected the concept of Jews as the "Chosen People." This has lead to a re-evaluation of our relationship with other traditions and has opened up the possibilities for us to learn profoundly from all others, and has made it possible for many of us to look at the politics of the Middle East in a new way - bringing many of us actively into the peace camp.

Lest you think that Reconstructionist Judaism is a way of being Jewish any way you want, I do feel the need to tell you that we do this all based on a deep love and respect for our tradition and look to the sources of that tradition to inform and shape our choices today. Kaplan was fond of saying that the past has a "vote, not a veto." No, our tradition does not dictate our actions. But it isn't divorced form it either. We study the Torah, Talmud, Medieval commentaries to help shed light on the forest floor as we build our paths. And we do this together in community to help us find our way.
I want to close with another story from the Hasidic tradition. This is one of my favorites.

Rabbi Nachman of Bratslov, one of the great Hasidic rebbes was a very powerful mystic. Whenever danger threatened his community - the threat of pogroms and oppression or maybe storms or fires or other natural disasters - he would go to a special place in the forest, sit in a special way, light a special fire and recite special prayers. And lo and behold, the danger would be averted.

Eventually, Rebbe Nachman died and his disciple was now leader of the community. So when danger threatened, he would go to the special place in the forest, sit in the special way and light the special fire, but he had never learned the special prayers. So instead he would say, her is the lace, her am I and here is the fire, please God, let that be enough. And it was and the danger was averted.

In the next generation, the next leader would also go to the forest and sit in the special place, but he didn't know how to light the special fire, so he would say, please God let this be enough. And it was.

In the next generation, the rabbi no longer knew the special place. So when danger threatened, she would sit in her study and say, "God, I don't know the place, I don't have the fire, I don't have the prayers, but I can tell this story - please God, let this be enough. And, thankfully, it always is.

B'Shalom
Rabbi Elyse