Dear Friends,

As Jews, we have long recognized that it is our moral responsibility to stand up against injustice, hatred and intolerance in society.  Messages of social justice are replete in Bible, and the following teachings are just a few of many passages that challenge us to understand the world through a lens of righteousness and truth in every generation.

Thou shalt not stand by idly by the blood of thy neighbor.
– Leviticus 19:16

If your brother becomes poor,…uphold him.
– Leviticus 25:35

Justice, justice you shall pursue.
– Deuteronomy 16:20

This weekend our nation will pay tribute to the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who, through his words and actions, brought these biblical teachings to life. During his short life, the Reverend could only dream of a time when the injustices that surrounded him would give way to a society where the laws of the land protected the freedoms and the rights of all peoples regardless of the color of one’s skin, the beliefs of one’s heart or the origins of one’s heritage.

We share Dr. King’s dream today, and seek to honor his message and his legacy on Friday night with a service reflecting our ongoing desire to eradicate barriers perpetuated hatred and prejudice in society. It is our hope that as we remember him, we will find a renewed sense of courage and strength to fight for what is right in every generation.

L’Shalom,
Steve

A proud mother and father stand in front of the congregation holding a swaddled infant in their hands. The smile on their faces warms the heart of all in attendance, as their baby daughter receives her Hebrew name, tying her to the generations that have come before and those yet to be.  She lets out a small squeal as she is blessed. The congregation giggles and her family kvells.

A 13-year-old boy is called to the Torah. He takes a deep breath and reads his portion with confidence. His parents and grandparents stand by his side as he symbolically embraces a new role in our faith. The congregation bears witness to the concept of L’dor VaDor – the transmission of our values from one generation to the next.

A couple stare lovingly into each other’s eyes as they receive the final blessing under the chuppah. Their shared hopes and dreams are being formalized, as they celebrate their union with family and friends. As the glass is smashed, the community joyously exclaims – MAZAL TOV!

A beloved grandfather dies, and his story is shared with those who have gathered to mourn. He was an active member of HCRJ; his children grew up here; and now his grandchildren are in the religious school. His passing is a loss for everyone who knew him, but his legacy of love and devotion continues to pulse through the lives of all who were blessed by his presence.

These are the moments that link generation to generation.

These are the events which define the Jewish value of L’Dor VaDor. 

For so many of us, the most meaningful moments of our lives are inextricably woven into our relationship with Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism. Most of us have shared a sacred event in the sanctuary. We have laughed together, and we have cried together. The experiences shared in our sanctuary, social spaces and religious school have shaped who we are and how we identify as Jews. Our spiritual home at HCRJ has been the center for countless “everyday” moments which continue to remain impactful and enduring as the years unfold: the friendships cultivated over an Oneg Shabbat or a youth group retreat, the spiritual connections felt during worship, the meaningful discussions shared at an adult education class, the desire to make a difference in the world stirred by our work in the realm of social action.

Indeed, these are the moments that link generation to generation.

These are the moments that define L’Dor VaDor.

For close to 70 years, Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism has served the Houston Jewish community in a very special way.  Our approach to Jewish life has remained intimate, inspiring, inclusive, and inspirational since our inception. We are, and always have been, a family: a family that has worked together over the generations to foster connections with people inside and outside our walls through meaningful, lived Jewish experiences. Our congregational family is something to be proud of as we commit ourselves to directing our God-given capacities toward the betterment of the world around us.

This is our legacy.  It is rooted in the past, anchored in our membership today and is something worth preserving for the future.

This moment in time calls upon us to sustain and strengthen what past generations have built. Together we can ensure that our children and grandchildren will have the same firm commitment to Judaism and its ethical values as our ancestors did before us. Our obligation is to leave a legacy for tomorrow’s generation, and that legacy begins with each of us.

For now and for the future, please consider being part of our L’Dor VaDor Legacy campaign as we seek to build an endowment that will ensure our vitality and vibrancy, our traditions and our innovations, our roots and our blossoms for many generations to come. By making a bequest or other planned gift today, you will be doing your part to secure Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism for the future.

 

As the summer ramps up and the pandemic falls into a steady decline, HCRJ is finally returning to normal. Activities which have been taking place on Zoom for the past 16 months are beginning to resume in-person. For those of us in the office, this is an extremely exciting time. We have missed you dearly, and as people begin to re-engage, we can feel the buzz of our thriving community come back to life.

The click n’ clack of mahjong tiles creates a rhythmic melody every Wednesday and Thursday, as scores of eager mahjong players resume their weekly games in person. The friendly sound of folks socializing in the halls and learning in the classrooms is a welcome change from the silence of an empty building during this time of caution and concern. We are finally gathering face to face again, and as the heat of the Houston summer continues to unfold, we are exploring a variety of ideas to bring us together in safe and creative ways.

Shabbat services are also returning to a normal rhythm. Worship experiences, which have been limited in capacity for far too long, are now fully open to all. Our hope is to use our summer services as a prelude to the High Holy Days (which begin on Labor Day this year). As we gather in-person for prayer and fellowship, our goal is to fully assess the ways in which we are meeting the spiritual needs of our Jews in the pews.

If you have not already done so, please take a moment to take the brief survey on worship at HCRJ. An email of this survey was sent in early June. We are hoping for a sizable response as every single opinion will be instrumental in shaping the future of Shabbat services at HCRJ.

As we look back, there is much to be learned. COVID protocols kept us at home and forced us to navigate a new wilderness of streaming technologies. These technological tools enabled us to bring prayer and programing to the comforts of home, and they connected us in ways that we could never have imagined. For many, these streamed experiences were lifelines to community during a time of extreme isolation. For others, they created opportunities to rediscover the values of spending Shabbat at home with family or the joys of engaging friends without the stresses of Houston traffic.

Whatever the circumstances may have been, these technological Band-Aids helped us keep our community engaged and entertained; they helped us mend a bit of the brokenness of our world; and they provided us with valuable skills in distance communication. We have learned that technology can help us expand our sacred community in very exciting ways, and we know that they will continue to do so as we broaden the reach and the mission of our congregation in the future.

In the days and months ahead, we are looking forward to seeing you in person, and we are looking forward to sharing in the joys that come with communal prayer and programming. As this hiatus from face to face interaction slowly comes to an end, we are elated to say, “Welcome Back!!!!!”

When it comes to navigating peaceful resolutions in matters of dispute, there is a common belief that any outward demonstration of empathy might ultimately compromise one’s bargaining position. The thought is that any sign of compassion or gesture of compromise towards an opponent (be it in a relationship, in a business transaction or in a court of law) might be seen as a sign of weakness. When such displays of the heart are off the table, negotiating issues can be contentious, merciless and unyielding.

Marital disputes can become like war zones where the inflexibility of spouses can compromise a sense of peace within the home. In business negotiations, hard-nosed transactions will often dismiss the needs of the other side in fear of losing the upper hand, and in all strategies where one party hopes to maximize power and strength, it is a common strategic ploy to demonize and demoralize the other. Whatever advantages these aggressive negotiation strategies may present, they can create hostile barriers to communications and significant impediments to finding a peaceful resolution.

Just as it is in disputes in the home or conflicts of interest in business, peace between nations can become paralyzed by dismissiveness and obstinance. This has certainly been the case in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where, for over seventy years, resistance to finding a resolution has been rooted in cycles of fear and mistrust as decades of hatred have become barriers to progress on every front.

Overcoming such seemingly insurmountable barriers demands an approach which strives to ensure that each side feels heard and understood. This concept of peace through mutual understanding has been central to the mission of Jerusalem Peacebuilders (JPB), an organization dedicated to fostering positive relationships between Jewish, Muslim and Christian teens in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. In stark contrast to a strategic negotiation that seeks to maximizing bargaining power by dismissing the needs and claims of others, JPB promotes transformational, person-to-person encounters in its quest to overcome decades of hatred and mistrust. For the past nine years, JPB has been bringing Israeli and Palestinian teens to the United States for camp experiences designed to promote positive communications by building bridges of understanding, expanding circles of shared leadership and sowing seeds of hope and peace.

The teens who participate in this forward-thinking program are an extraordinary group of dedicated young men and women whose commitments to diplomacy is unyielding. Their boundless dedication to peacebuilding is evident in their avid desire to acquire the tools that will allow them to shine as leaders in forging a peaceful society in Jerusalem and across the Middle East.

Central to their toolbox for the future is empathy. These teens work hard to overcome the hatred that festers within each of their communities, and without empathy they would be stuck. Their lack of trust in each other is pervasive, so developing a sense of empathy is not an easy task.  For Israeli Jews, it is difficult to imagine trusting a people who are associated with building tunnels of terror and bomb bus stations and cafes to foment fear. Conversely, it is difficult for Palestinians to accept the full legitimacy of Israel, whose ongoing territorial expansions through settlements are seen as illegal and immoral, and whose existence (in the first place) is understood as an extension of European colonialism.

These teens grow up and live in very different understandings realities had hold aspirations for their people which are often diametrically opposed. Their relationships with each other are complex, and their connections with their past are complicated. Yet, their work with JPB demonstrates that regardless of the circumstances, each side has the capacity to suspend anger and suspicion for a greater good.  Central to this work is empathy.

Empathy is the act of seeing something from someone else’s perspective. Empathy involves the capacity to analyze a situation based on the values of the other side. Empathy requires an effort to understand an outcome based on a set of experiences that may not be shared, and in many ways, empathy is one of the most important tools in negotiating a compromise that can be agreed upon by two parties with conflicting interests.

Healthy divorces demand empathy; long lasting business relationships are strengthened by empathy; and the negotiations for the future of Israel and the Palestinian people cannot be shaped without empathy.

In January, the Trump administration presented a new peace plan. The plan has many merits as well as many challenges, but as we look ahead, it would be wise to take a lead from the teens of Jerusalem Peacebuilders who fully understand that the key to moving beyond conflict demands a sense of empathy.