Shavuot 5769
By Rabbi David Baum
Shalom Shaarei Kodesh,
As I gaze at my wife Alissa and the room full of boxes in our cramped New York City apartment, ready to embark on our journey to South Florida, I cannot help but reflect upon the lessons I have learned during this transition period.
Since the second day of Passover, Jews around the world have been counting the Omer. But an Omer countdown is special: instead of counting down, we count up. Each day that goes by brings us higher and higher until we reach Shavuot. Shavuot, one of the three pilgrimage holidays, is a truly special day in our calendar. On this holiday, we reenact the receiving of the Torah by our ancestors on Mount Sinai. Shavuot is a holiday which we observe by staying up all night engaging each other in sacred texts, eating lots of dairy foods like the famous Shavout cheesecakes and blintzes, and worshiping together as a community.
I have had many special Shavuot experiences in my life, but I ask myself the same question after every Shavuot as I wake up from my well-deserved sleep after a night of study: Now what? I have counted “up”, I made it to Sinai; now what am I supposed to do?
Six years ago, I walked down a flight of stairs to a very special room where I would spend much of my time in rabbinical school. As I walked into the Beit Midrash at the Jewish Theological Seminary for the first time, I saw this quote hanging outside the wall:
“Which is greater, study or action? Study is greater, because it leads to action.”
As I continued Rabbinical school, learning more and more, it became my mantra. I had to ask myself, why am I learning all of this Torah?
I found the answer to this question in my years as a Rabbinical student and the diverse work experiences I had whether I was serving as a Rabbi of synagogues in Connecticut and Fitzgerald, Georgia; or at Camp Ramah Darom where I spent nine amazing summers on staff; or as a community organizer for Jewish Funds for Justice; or as a Campus Rabbi at the University of Florida Hillel.
I am excited to bring the answer to this question to Shaarei Kodesh. I learn Torah so I can act on it, to bring all of us together, a community connected by love of Torah; Ahavat Israel, love of the Jewish people and Israel; and Ahavat Hashem, love of God.
This is what I plan to do as your Rabbi. It is my mantra.
But the action cannot happen without you. Each one of you is a vital part of our greater plan. We will build a holy community together. As your Rabbi, I want to meet everyone where they are, or in Hebrew b’asher hu sham, and I want to bring us all to a better place.
Our Rabbis teach us that we have to be uncomfortable at all times. We cannot be content to be static, unchanging. Judaism is a dynamic faith, and we are dynamic people.
Often times, we can look at ourselves standing in the shoes of our ancestors, Bnai Israel (the children of Israel). This summer, we will be reading the book of Dvarim which seems like it would be the ending to a long and rich narrative. But the last book of the Torah is actually not an ending. Bnai Israel do not enter the land at the end of the Torah, rather, they are poised to enter; they are waiting. They are standing on the edge of greatness. All of us at our congregation are standing in these shoes today.
T.S. Elliot once said, “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” I am finishing six years of Rabbinical School, but this ending is just the beginning.
As I begin my position as Rabbi of Congregation Shaarei Kodesh, I realize that we are standing on the edge of great opportunity. There is so much work that needs to be done, so many things that we will accomplish together. I hope that you will join me this summer as we take those first steps together into the Promised Land.
I am counting “up” until I begin my journey with you; counting “up” to the time when we will accept our Torah, study it, and most importantly, act on it.
Rabbi David Baum