Rabbi Kort created this video to share with our Small Groups.
TBO Website Admin
Posts by JonaRose Feinberg:
Rabbi Rachel Kort
Temple Beth Or, Everett
Rosh HaShanah Morning 5781
There is something special about this sermon. I wrote it in the forest at Deception Pass. I did something I’ve never done before. I went camping by myself. Just me, my laptop and a really long extension cord. It was so nice to be surrounded by lush, majestic pine trees.
Barukh Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh Ha’olam oseh ma’aseh b’reshit.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, who continually does the work of creation.
These difficult times we are living in have given me a greater appreciation for nature. They also make me feel closer to people I have lost in life, especially my dad.
Before I left to go camping, my mom asked inquisitively, “When did you discover you like camping?!? The Kort Family is more of an indoor family, enjoying concerts and museums. But I think my dad would have understood why I like camping and why I went into the woods to write and revive myself. We grew up minutes from Lake Washington. I remember playing for hours along it’s sparkling shore. My dad would snooze. Every so often, a breeze would come along, rouse him from sleep and he would declare: ‘This breeze is a mechaye.’
‘Mechaye’ is one of those Yiddish words, rich with meaning, impossible to translate into just one word in English. A delight, a pleasure, from the Hebrew ‘mechayei’ meaning something that vitalizes and rejuvenates. Think of the Gevorot, the second prayer of our Amidah that declares God’s Power. Baruch Atah Adonai, mechayei ha-kol. Blessed are You, the One who gives and renews all life. (Miskan HaNefesh)
Dr. Quing Li, is an expert on traditional Japanese art and science of forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku. Li describes Shinrin-yoku as a bridge to the natural world. She teaches:
The key to unlocking the power of the forest is in the five senses. Let nature enter through your ears, eyes, nose, mouth, hands and feet. Listen to the birds singing and the breeze rustling in the leaves of the trees. Look at the different greens of the trees and the sunlight filtering through the branches. Smell the fragrance of the forest and breathe in the natural aromatherapy…Taste the freshness of the air as you take deep breaths. Place your hands on the trunk of a tree. Dip your fingers or toes in a stream. Lie on the ground. Drink in the flavor of the forest and release your sense of joy and calm. This is your sixth sense, a state of mind. Now you have connected with nature. You have crossed the bridge. (Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness)
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the 18th century Hassidic master, had a similar practice: “Grant the ability to be alone” he would pray. “May it be my custom to go outdoors each day. Among the trees and the grasses. Among all growing things. And there I may be alone and enter into prayer. To talk with the one that I belong to.”
When I have connected with folks these past months, so many people have shared how much they are appreciating nature. Camping, gardening, birdwatching, hiking, kayaking, walking, even if it is just around the block, or enjoying a sunset at the end of your driveway, we’ve experienced and appreciated the revitalizing power of nature while physically distancing.
In the midst of a health pandemic, we are experiencing a climate crisis. I was remembering the beginning of the secular New Year. Folks all over the world enjoy bringing in the New Year with fireworks. But this January the show in Sydney Harbor was canceled due to poor air quality caused by the most horrific bushfire season on record in Australia. We spent the final days of our Jewish year, unable to go outside with poor air quality caused by the worst wildfire season on the West Coast. Climate change is fundamentally damaging the quality of our air and our lives.
I want to share a Midrash and teaching from my friend and environment thinker Rabbi Kevin Kleiman.
When the Holy Blessed One created the first human, God took Adam and led him around all the trees of the Garden of Eden. And God said, “See My works, how good and praiseworthy they are! And all I have created, I made for you. [But,] be mindful then that you do not spoil and destroy My world. For if you spoil it, there is no one after you to repair it. (Kohelet Rabbah 7:13)
The message embedded in this midrash acknowledges and praises God as the creator of the earth and then charges the human race with the task of using our planet’s precious resources wisely. The last line in this text is a forewarning: we must be responsible caretakers of the planet’s resources, to use only what is necessary, and to be conscious of the negative impact that human beings can have on the ecosystems of the earth if we are not careful. God reminds Adam, the first human, that there is only one world to provide for the needs of human beings, plants, and animals. Then, God leaves the fate of the world in our hands.(“Curb Your Consumerism: Developing a Bal Tashchit Food Ethic for Today” in Sacred Table)
Rosh Hashanah celebrates the creation of our universe and humanity. In a few minutes, together we will read the story of Creation from our Torah:
ּ
God created the universe out of chaos. In this time of chaos we find ourselves very much needing to recreate our world right now. Our tradition calls upon us to be stewards for our natural environment and we must do a better job of caring for our earth. Nature has the ability to revitalize us. We must work to revitalize our earth now!
This is not an easy time to say ki tov–it is good. There is power in naming what is lo tov–not good. And yet we rise to the challenge of this new year with the yearning and commitment to not only say, but to create ki tov–that good. (From ‘Reconstructing Judaism: High Holy Day Resources,’ 5781)
**To learn more on how to advocate for our environment through a Jewish lens, here are great resources from our Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center.
Rabbi Rachel Kort
Temple Beth Or, Everett Erev Rosh HaShanah 5781
Once, a man named Isaac lived in Cracow. Isaac wasn’t a rich man. He had a family, a tiny house, and an old stove that kept his family warm through long Polish winters. One night, Isaac had a dream: there was a treasure buried under a bridge in Prague. He did what any normal person would do. He ignored the dream. But the next night, he had the same dream. And then again for a third night! It was so real, he couldn’t ignore it. So, the next morning, even though his family thought he was crazy, he made the long journey to Prague. Isaac stood looking at the bridge. “It’s exactly as in my dreams…except for all the soldiers guarding it!”
A soldier approached. Isaac thought it would be best to tell the truth. Perhaps they could share the treasure! The soldier laughed, “And so to please your dream, you wore out your shoes! If I had faith in dreams, I should have gone to Cracow long ago to dig for treasure under the stove in the house of a Jewish man named Isaac.” Isaac tipped his hat to the soldier and quickly set off for home. When he arrived, he found his treasure.
Yes, Isaac’s treasure existed right under his nose, in his own home! But before he could find these riches, he needed to journey to that bridge and then turn back to see his home in a new light. Teshuvah, our Jewish concept of repentance, isn’t necessarily a recognition of faults and failures. Teshuvah literally means ‘return.’ It can be an opportunity to return and revisit the familiar with new appreciation and gratitude.
Mussar is a traditional Jewish practice of spiritual development that uses techniques similar to modern mindfulness and gratitude exercises. Although, in the mid-1800s, Mussar founder, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, didn’t use that vocabulary. Mussar means ‘instruction’ and focus on ‘how a person ought to behave in the world.’ (Sa’adia Ga’on, 10th century). Rabbi Alan Morinis is widely considered the leader of the resurgence of contemporary Mussar. Morinis teaches, “the Torah…reveals in no uncertain terms what a human being’s job description is: ‘You shall be holy’–Atem kedoshim (Leviticus 19:2). In essence, we are here on earth for no other purpose than to grow and blossom spiritually—to become holy. Our potential and therefore our goal should be to become as spiritually elevated as is possible.”
Spiritual elevation. A lofty goal, but it can be as simple as reciting a blessing. The 20th century Jewish theologian, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, escaped Poland during World War II and came to the U.S. Heschel defined being spiritual as being amazed: “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement…get up in the morning and look at the world that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible, never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”
We have returned to our homes this past year. Our homes are our everything … where we eat, sleep, work, learn, socialize, exercise. We to recognize the blessings closest to home this year.
My family instituted a new routine when things shut down in March. We’ve been reciting the bedtime Shema since Galit was a baby, but we started reciting a simple blessing of gratitude each morning. ‘Modah Ani L’Faneicha’ meaning: I give thanks to God for me, thank you for this new day. For thousands of years our tradition has invited us to begin the day this way. Our family offers this blessing to a techno setting on Spotify. I’m pretty sure Heschel would have appreciated our morning ‘Modah Ani’ dance party. To quote Heschel again. “Worship is a way of seeing the world in the light of God.”
We’ll spend our evening together offering blessings of gratitude. In a few minutes, we’ll raise our glasses and make kiddush to sanctify this day. Tomorrow morning, Cantor Dreskin will help us begin the day with morning blessings and mindfulness at 8:00 am. You are encouraged to dial into Zoom, pop in earbuds and take Cantor Dreskin with you on a morning walk. If you are interested in developing a mindfulness and gratitude practice engaging Jewish traditions, I want to invite you to find this sermon on our Beth Or website where I include a list of resources.
We can’t pray COVID away. Our blessings won’t change the difficult situations we find ourselves in personally, locally, nationally, around our world. But acknowledging the blessings around us gives us sacred purpose during this difficult time. Atem Kedoshim. Our purpose in this world is to be holy.
Resources:
- Rabbi Alan Morinis, Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar
- Rabbi Sheryl Lewart, Blessings for Life’s Journey: Transformative Meditations and Readings
- Rabbi Kerry Olitzky, 100 Blessings Every Day: Daily Twelve Step Recovery Affirmations, Exercises for Personal Growth & Renewal Reflecting Seasons of the Jewish Year
- Central Conference of American Rabbis, Daily Blessings App: A full menu of traditional and innovative blessings for life’s sacred moments.
Temple Beth Or joined more than 600 Jewish organizations to make a statement that Black Lives Matter. Jewish tradition teaches us that justice is not something that will be bestowed upon us, it is something that we need to pursue, and that the pursuit is itself sacred work. We’ll show up for each other every time one of us is targeted because of our differences, and reject any effort to use fear to divide us against each other.
Read the full statement here.
Words are powerful in our Jewish tradition. The Torah begins with God creating the universe through words: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). The 15th century German text The Ways of the Righteous explains “with the tongue, one can perform limitless acts of virtue…[and] can commit numerous great and mighty transgressions.”
The way we communicate with one another has changed drastically over my not-so-long lifetime. I started to email in high school to communicate with camp friends; I shared a Pine account with my mom. I rented my first cell phone during my junior year abroad in Israel and immediately started texting.
The preeminent Jewish writer on the ethics of speech and language, the Chofetz Chaim, experienced similar innovation in communication during his lifetime. He was born in 1839 just after the invention of the electric telegraph and lived to experience telephones and radio before he died in 1933. He famously reflected: “When people are preparing a telegram, notice how carefully they consider each word before they put it down. That is how careful we must be when we speak.” Perhaps it was adapting to new technology that inspired his dedication to the subject of communication. Scholars also suggest that he was responding to fierce tension and lack of civil discourse within his Jewish community of Lithuania.
The current political climate and pandemic have taken a toll on healthy communication. Division and lack of civility not only play out in the public arena but also on our social media accounts and family Zoom gatherings. I have to admit that over the past months my temperament has been cranky at times and my language has been terse and even salty.
Our Temple President, Melanie Field, has prioritized fostering a culture of kindness in our community. We agree that in order for us to infuse our synagogue with kindness we first must look at how we communicate. For the past two months I have worked with Temple leaders Melanie Field, Vicky Romero, Bob Goodmark, and Sonia Siegel Vexler on Beth Or Communication Norms. We hope these norms will be a tool and a resource for all Beth Or meetings and discussions, from board meetings to book club. Our Small Group Initiative and Governing Board have already begun to adopt these norms and Melanie Field will introduce them to committee chairs in February. Our tradition holds that words have the power to create and it is our blessing that these norms will build and support Temple Beth Or as a k’hilah kedoshah, sacred community.
Rabbi Rachel Kort
Temple Beth Or Communication Norms
B’tselem Elohim ∙ בצלם אלהִים ∙ Each of us is created in God’s image
Listen to understand/not to respond.
Express disagreement with ideas, not individuals.
Maintain confidentiality about the conversation and who said what, unless given permission to share.
Tzimtzum ∙ צמצום ∙ -The art of contraction and expansion
Step Up/Step back – make room for others to speak. Consider challenging yourself to participate.
Our Definition of “Jewish” Time
Start and end meetings on time.
Respond to emails or phone calls within three days (unless otherwise requested). When this time frame isn’t doable simply acknowledge that communication was received and share when you will be able to respond.
Over 100 Temple Beth Or members attended our October weekend retreat at Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) Camp Kalsman in Arlington, WA. Participants were treated to tasty meals, wonderful music and a wide variety of sessions and activities. Highlights included a campfire Havdalah service and songfest, a Jewish-themed ‘Chopped’ desert competition, ‘Poker & Parshah’, and riding the Kalsman Mega-Swing!
Donate