"“Why Sinai?” – 65th Anniversary Shabbat" (Download PDF)
Shabbat Ki Tetze
September 9, 2011
I remember it as if it was yesterday. Barbara and I came to visit in April of 1988, after it was official that Sinai and I were going to become partners. There was a wonderful Saturday night celebration, starting with Havdalah. I offered to play guitar to sing out Shabbat and was quickly told that was an excellent way to start off on the wrong foot. No, just play it straight, I was told, and keep the guitar in the case.
It was a lovely evening. So many faces, beaming, so happy, all introducing themselves at once. One man in particular was concerned that I know who he was. Four times he approached me and in a delightful loud voice declared, “My name is ALFRED KATZ! Florence smiled weakly at her husband’s boldness and delight. I saw familiar faces, the ones of leaders I had spoken with so often for four months of sharing hopes before I came: Lee and Nesha Hammerschmidt, Amy and Si Kellman, Jerry and Maye Zoffer, Linda and Ed Goldston, not to mention Flo and Mike Leebov. There was Jim and Joan Reich, when it was Jim who had started the whole ball rolling while I was in Wisconsin. And of course, Bob and Ellen Katzen – Bob wore a smile of sheer joy that his hopes from our first conversations had come true. I met a sage, Sam Goldman and his wife, Bec, who told me about the early days of the shul over the din.
And then there were Marvin and Arleen Adelson and Rick and Rhoda Dorfzaun. Marvin and Rhoda had met with me half a year before in Chicago to see if we just might be compatible.
And of course, there was the incomparable Nat Diamondstone, who showed me a sermon she had given that very month. Nat, who would be my hero and 3rd grandmother to my children. Nat, who became for me what was Temple Sinai personified.
Through it all, Shirley Kamons and Phyllis Weinkle kept smiling, but kept a steady stream of warnings to me to make sure I greeted this or that person so as not to make trouble for later.
Barbara was lovely that night as well, but I’m sure feeling as overwhelmed as I was. People kept coming up to us and sharing what was right and not so right with every previous rabbi in Sinai’s history, going back to 1946.
After that breathless evening, Barbara and I went back to Wisconsin to pack and say our goodbyes to our dear friends there. We loaded up Micah (all of 3 years old!) and all that we could move from our house in Wausau and headed down to Pittsburgh.
We rented ½ of a duplex on Monitor and when we got there, were baffled because the brand new washing machine we had brought with us wouldn’t fit down the stairs of the house! It was Mike Leebov, who after trying his magic tools, convinced us to shove the thing in sideways through a basement window!
That summer, I spent every day walking through the buildings, the mansion and the newer part containing the Leebov sanctuary. It was easy to get lost. Upstairs in the Worthington Mansion, there were still gold fixtures and green marble in the bathrooms! And the basement of the mansion was like that of a dungeon.
As I thought of how to make new start in my work with you, the holy community of Sinai, I floated many ideas in front of dozens of you. Very often, what I thought was creative was thought to be just a little bit “out there” for Sinai. And more than not, my ideas were met with two reactions: 1) That’s not the way they do it at Rodef Shalom! And 2) We can’t do it that way, that’s the way they do it at Rodef Shalom! And I found myself thinking that if we at Sinai were to achieve our potential, we had to let go of those two mindsets.
Please don’t get me wrong – our friends at Rodef Shalom are precisely that – our friends, those who helped us come into being just after WWII ended. But it was clear that we needed to find our own heading, our own direction.
So many ideas from so many people! And we tried as many as we could ! And we were more than a little surprised that our congregation that was 540 households when I began started to grow and grow it did! Past 600 families. Past 700 families! And on to 800 and more families! Such growth was a shock to our Temple Sinai family of families that had seen itself as small and close and not likely to grow that much.
And so bold new ideas were floated – how about a second rabbi? Rabbi Larry Freedman came with his wife Deborah, and eventually his two sons and served us faithfully for 11 years. And then came Rabbi Ezra Ende and Avigail and Avshalom, Avia, Ithamar and Achinoam, lighting up our lives and spicing them with a spirit found only in Israel. And then came Rabbi Ron Symons, brilliant educator, master organizer, far reaching and thoughtful visionary.
As we grew, our music needs changed. From directors like David Durkop, Ron Doiron and Paul Haebig, we found our wonderful and beloved Jeremy O’Dell. And our choir, which had made its laborious treks up the winding stairs to the balcony, gave way to the beautiful, authentic and engaging voice of Sara Stock Mayo. Now when we talk about the choir, we speak of those intrepid individuals who volunteer to grace this bima many times during the year.
Change is a constant, we all know that. Many of the builders of this congregation have passed on to their eternal reward and it has been my sad duty to bury so many of them.
Yet our vision is renewed every year, if not every season here at Sinai. Partly because so many in our family have wonderful ideas to share, but also because the times, well they are ‘a changing, too. Squirrel Hill is not the same neighborhood it was in the 80’s, much less the way many of you remember it in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Our Jewish population has flattened, even if it is growing by a few families a year. Many are very afraid that we cannot financially support all the institutions of the Jewish community the way we used to and that we must be prepared for changes that might be wrenching for us all.
In the middle of thinking about these issues this summer, a taunting e-mail came across my computer. It was from someone I did not know and had no reason to placate. But it fairly burst out of the screen. The writer put it simply, “Given the rejuvenation of traditional Judaism, why does Reform exist at all?” And as the import and weight of the question, mocking as it was, sunk in, another question came right behind it: “Why Sinai?”
Let’s tackle the first one first. The simplest answer is the most powerful. Without Reform Judaism, millions of Jews in every generation in America since the 1880’s would have abandoned their faith and our people. Given the choice of recreating shtetl life in America or embracing its new and exciting opportunities, our people chose to embrace modernity. It was Reform Judaism that facilitated that our leap and acceptance into our adopted country. It was Reform Judaism that declared that if you had to keep your store open on Shabbat morning, we would read Torah on Friday night. It was Reform Judaism that taught that we needed accommodate ourselves as to the new realities of science and technology. It was Reform Judaism, after the fading of socialism, that kept up the banner of social justice for workers, the poor and minorities.
And in the last 50 years look what Reform Judaism has championed! Civil Rights – the 1965 Civil Rights bill was crafted in the Religious Action Center of our movement in Washington, DC. Our movement finally ordained the first woman rabbi, Sally Preisand, in 1972, one year after I finished high school. Our movement stood up against the Vietnam War when that position was not popular and it has championed women’s refusal to go back to dangerous, back alley abortions. It was Reform Judaism who, after its early misgivings about Zionism, embraced it enough to sponsor two kibbutzim in the Negev desert, one moshav in the North, the premier secondary school in Haifa and the jewel of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem. Every one of our movement’s rabbis, cantors and educators is required to spend the first year of their studies in Jerusalem, as I did way back when.
It was Reform Judaism which boldly declared that we were tired of losing our children to our people just because their fathers were Jewish and not their mothers and adopted a path to their acceptance. It was Reform Judaism who boldly declared that Judaism should throw open the doors to converts and banish traditional fears and rejection of them. It was Reform Judaism that, after careful study, decided on principle to ordain gay men and lesbian women, that it was God who made men and women who they were sexually and that if the Torah didn’t account for that, we would have to change how we understood Torah.
How much poorer Judaism would be if there was no Reform Judaism to struggle to harmonize authentic tradition and the challenges of modernity!
And before we meekly accept the title of renegades from Tradition, let us remember that in this week’s Torah portion, we read of the stubborn and rebellious son, who must be punished by public execution. It was our Sages and Teachers, who looked at the literal words of Torah and declared that no child ever fit the description of the stubborn and rebellious son. And when questioned what the passage was doing in the Torah, if it was not going to be carried out, those same Sages and Rabbis declared that the only purpose of these verses was to get us to study Torah!
Bold innovation! Creativity unbound! That is how our tradition had met complexity and challenge two thousand years ago. It is our Judaism, Reform Judaism that tries to carry on that tradition. We do so according to one simple formula – like our beloved teachers from before, we do not take the Torah literally, we take it seriously!
I have to admit, I only gave a taste of this to my correspondent. But, for all the insulting insinuation, I thank him for forcing me, for forcing us to clarify why we embrace Reform Judaism so passionately.
And what about Sinai? Our dear Sinai? Family of Families, those who Stand at Sinai, does our Pittsburgh community still need us? What should I say? Do I even have to answer?
Yes, Temple Sinai is a force for good in our in our community and for all of our members as well. Your rabbis are leaders in both interfaith dialogue and attempts to bring Jews together for common cause and serious talk. Your cantorial soloist is respected through the Pittsburgh Jewish community. We are not afraid to stand up in public for the lowly and downtrodden through PIIN, the Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network – we are the only synagogue that is a member, representing the entire Jewish community and its issues in dialogue with Muslims, Catholics and Christians. This is the place where both conservative and liberal voices on Israel can come together without their commitment to the Jewish state being questioned or ridiculed. This is the place where we tell the story of Jonah, adults and kids together, with 6 foot handmade puppets and original music! This is the place where we have our famous, nationally recognized Yom Kippur Beit Midrash, where the leaders in business and academia and media and all Pittsburgh come to teach on Yom Kippur afternoon!
When people talk about their kids’ Jewish education with Rabbi Symons, they are excited, energized and eager to get their kids enrolled. It is merely a bonus that he makes our Hebrew students ice cream sundaes to celebrate their successes and barbecues for the almost 90 kids in our Monday Teen School. Is it any wonder that almost 70% of our kids stay in our program beyond Bar and Bat Mitzvah? And it is Jackie Braslawsce who pushes our kids past their limits to raise money for tzedaka and travel to see Jews across the state. She even gets them (and me) to go whitewater rafting on the Youghigeny!
Our Centers concept is talked about nationally as people seek to adapt our ideas to their synagogues. Our reach and membership extend from Cranberry Township to Bridgeville and virtually ever place in between. And yet, we do not stand for shortcuts or simply ignore tradition or the greater Jewish community. Sinai has been a positive, constructive voice in Pittsburgh since before my tenure and will be for decades to come. Sinai is the place that has inspired one woman, Lynn Magid Lazar, to become president of all the Women of Reform Judaism of North America!
Over the next few years we will combine our efforts with others when it makes sense – this year we will share the morning services of major holidays with Rodef Shalom. Not the High Holidays. No, no, no. Not the High Holidays. Sukkot, Pesach and Shavuot.
We collaborate with virtually every synagogue and Jewish organization in bringing live broadcasts of the 92nd Y presentations, cutting edge evenings with movers and shakers and thought leaders from all over the country.
Sixty five years! What an accomplishment! In our tradition, the Chapters of the Fathers declares that at 60 you have a beard (za-kan), and at 70 you have white hair (sei-vah). At 65, we are just a little graying around the temples!
Why Sinai? Because we have so much energy, creativity, spirituality, caring, learning, social justice work to offer. Because we are not afraid to try and fail and try again. Because we embrace our faith and renew it and ourselves at the same time. Because we believe in faith, Torah and peoplehood as shown through the countless daily acts you perform to keep our doors open wide for all.
Why Sinai? Because, we believe in the words of this week’s incredible Torah teaching about our role in making this world a better, more just, more peaceful, more loving place: “You shall not subvert the rights of the stranger or the fatherless…When you beat down the fruit of olive trees, do not go over them again; that shall go to the stranger, the fatherless and the widow…Always remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore do I enjoin you to observe this commandment!” (Deut. 25.20-22, excerpted)
Why Sinai? It is what our highest hope and deepest dream. It is what inspires us each time we walk into this sacred community. Sinai represents our best selves, for ourselves and each other. It is more than a dream, it is our very lives, our best home, our blessing that we grant each other, an antidote to the greed and fear that would swallow us whole.
This is Sinai. Our Sinai – our history, our dream, our home. Our home. Our home.
