Passover, Day 8: On to Sinai, Jewish Renewal Style!

SinaiThe Journey

Jewish Renewal attempts what may seem impossible in a secular day and age: The creation of sacred communities.  What do the rabbis, cantors, rabbinic pastors, and spiritual directors of Jewish Renewal work to achieve, wherever they are?

We remind ourselves and our congregations: We are walking toward revelation each and every day, and that we walk as a mixed multitude but a committed community.  Our intentions are to create healthy communities which consciously seek to foster and protect sacred space.  At Sinai, we will receive the law which we know is dear, a law which asks us to name our mistakes, and to commit both to listening and to speaking honestly and directly.

It is hard work.  Freedom is hard work.  Thinking constructively, acting generously, learning how to be ever more inclusive of those who have been isolated and rejected  — these are the tasks of a Jewish renewal community and of its leadership.

As is thinking beyond ourselves, into the world, as part of the world.  We go to Sinai, yes, but we remember that Rabbi Ishmael told us that the Torah was given in a no-man’s-land because it belonged to all humanity.

We walk on, to Shavuot, to the giving of Torah, to the mountain of Sinai.  We go, renewing our community, our understanding of Judaism, our hope for the world.

May your Passover lead to renewal,

Rabbi Barbara

P.S. TOO member and historian Sheldon Hanft responded to yesterday’s post about teachers and students and the honor they do one another with this beautiful note:

“My mother was a kindred soul to Rav Shmelke of Nickolsburg. The day preceding the first Seder we would go to the Streitz Matzot factory and she would gently touch the boxes to find one that was still warm from the oven. The matzot may not have been perfect but at least she knew the contents were fresh.”

Thank you, Sheldon.

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