Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Next Year Where? - April 2015

Bashanah haba’ah b’yirushalayim
Next year in Jerusalem - traditional last line of the Haggadah

This year, as every year, all those who go back to the haggadah after the meal will end with the traditional “Next Year in Jerusalem”.  The Reform Baskin Haggadah, which we use at our congregational seder, also adds, “Next year may all be free.”  For Jews throughout the ages, the end of the Exodus, which we commemorate on Passover, is the arrival in the Promised Land.  Yet, very few of us actually end of fulfilling the dream of our seders and find ourselves in Israel in the following year.

I would like to suggest a few ways that we can bring that dream a little closer:

  1. Travel to Israel - Two and a half years ago, we had our first successful Temple Sholom trip in many years.  This past summer, we put together a trip, but had to combine with another congregation to send our members.  Israel is a place to experience at least once in your life. It is a place to experience with family; a place to experience with your Temple community.  We have set up our previous trips in the summer, so that we can find ten days for families with school age children to travel.  Our next scheduled trip will be in summer 2016.  If you are interested in coming on a Temple Sholom trip then, or have a group who would like to travel at another time, just let us know.

  1. Help make the real Israel more like our ideal Israel - Too often, we tune out the news about Israel.  The conflict, the difficulty of having to face the realities of two populations in one land, the fear of being shouted down by friends, all make Israel a much avoided topic of conversation.  Still, it is the Jewish State and, as Jews, we are not only tied to our homeland, but we bear a responsibility for what happens there.  We do have a voice in Israel’s government - the World Zionist Congress is the place where we Diaspora Jews can have our say.  You can vote by computer until the end of this month.  https://www.reformjews4israel.org/ takes you to the ARZA (Association of Reform Zionists of America) voting site.  You can vote for ARZA’s Progressive slate, or find information about any of the other parties.  If you want a voice in Israel, you need to vote.  (There is a $10 charge for voting.)

  1. Work for freedom - American Jewish World Service works for freedom overseas (http://ajws.org/).  There are many ways that we, as American citizens, can work to protect, preserve, and extend freedom in our own country as well.  Freedom is not just the opposite of slavery.  True freedom is the ability to make the same choices as anyone else in society.  We work for freedom when we give a hand up to those who are deprived; when we stand up for the rights of others; when we refuse to be silent when others are maligned.  We are told in the Torah to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt as if we ourselves were slaves.  The point is not to suffer ourselves, but to be able to see the story of those who are still in chains.

Pesach celebrates the greatest moment in our history that was done to us: We were freed from Egypt.  Over the next seven weeks, we march to the greatest moment that we made ourselves.  On Shavuot, we once again stand at the base of Mount Sinai and enter into covenant with God.  That covenant puts us in partnership with God to fulfill the promise of creation.  Let that be our Jerusalem and let us find ourselves closer to that goal, each and every year.

Chag sameach,

Rabbi Abraham