הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ יהוה אֵלֶיךָ וְנָשׁוּבָה חַדֵשׁ יָמֵינוּ כְּקֶדֶם
Hashiveinu Adonai eilecha v'nashuva. Chadesh yameinu k'kedem.
Turn us, Eternal One to you, and we will return! Renew our days, as in days gone by.
final line of the book of Lamentations
As I write this column in July, just before heading off on sabbatical, I am focussing on the thought of return: my own return in August to the congregation; the continuing return to public interaction following the COVID vaccine; the anticipated return of our congregational family to our sanctuary for the High HolyDays and our classrooms for Religious School. I am both hoping for that return and realizing that any return requires hope.
The history of our people is a cycle of exile and return. As I write this article, we commemorate the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, the day when our history tells us the first Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE and the second Temple in 70 CE. During the first exile, in Babylon, our ancestors took comfort in the story of the Exodus - that God could reach out and remember our people and bring us home. Upon that return, Ezra implemented the regular reading of the Torah scroll. In the second exile, the Sages created the Rabbinic Judaism that we practice today - exchanging one central location for animal sacrifice for prayers in our homes and gathering places called synagogues. Study became one of the main ways that we transmitted our Jewish heritage from one generation to the next.
Successive historic events have led to changes in our Jewish practice. Pogroms in Europe led to a massive immigration of Ashkenazic Jews, overwhelming what had been a majority of Sephardic Jews, who had fled Spain centuries before. Here, on American shores, we created a new Judaism, to fit with the democratic ideas of the country that we joined. The terrible events of the Shoah also shook Judaism and led to a renewed commitment to the people AND the land of Israel.
Today, we live in a different world than we did a year and a half ago. Who would have imagined that our Judaism could survive more than a year of no physical gathering? Yet, as we prepare to return to our sanctuary (God willing), we have made a commitment to take the lessons that we have learned in this brief exile with us as well. Many of our congregants who found themselves unable or unlikely to attend an evening service, if it meant leaving the house (perhaps again) or traveling at night, are regulars on our Zoom services. We do not want to lose that connection to the living rooms, kitchens, dens, or homes of our congregants. While we hope to continue to gather in person, we have pledged to keep this connection, to build a community that is both on-site and on-line. Members who were hesitant to participate in Temple meetings - classes, committees, or other gatherings - have found when they can stay at home (and perhaps not worry whether their children have brushed their teeth) and still participate remotely, that there is meaning and purpose in joining. We hope to update our capabilities so that Board members and others can join us, and participate in our governance and learning.
There is no return without hope. If our people had not carried the dream of Eretz Yisraeil in their hearts and prayers for almost two millennia, there would be no state of Israel today and, perhaps, no Jewish people. We return not to the same place, but to a point further down the road. Many things will be comfortable and familiar, but some things will be new. As we enter this New Year together, let us remain full of hope. Let us restore what we may have lost. Let us rebuild the future we could not have imagined.
L’shanah tovah,
