Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism

The Rainbow After the Storm

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Living through a tragedy can often force us to put things in perspective.  It can help clarify what is most important to us, and yet, it is not easy to find sustaining comfort when we are surrounded by desolation and loss. It is not easy to find the strength to face another day when each morning brings with it a reminder of unimaginable distress.

Regardless of how fortunate one might feel to be alive in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, it is absolutely natural to fluctuate between a sense of despair regarding the tragedy and a sense of hope for what tomorrow may bring.  Yet, in order to pull through it all – in order to survive – hope must, indeed, prevail.

In many ways, the shape and color of our world is determined by how we respond to that which life throws our way. The more victimized we may feel by life’s unpredictable challenges, the more victimized we become, and quite often this can spiral into a depression which is difficult to escape.  Conversely, hope breeds hope and faith breeds faith.

After the catastrophic flooding brought by Hurricane Harvey, it is difficult not to slide into a sense of despair.  Hope, especially for those whose lives have been turned upside down, can often seem like a distant dream.

In the Torah, we read a story of hope which could have been written last week. It is the story of Noah who, like us, lives to tell the tale of a flood which consumes the world with water.  For Noah and his family, hope seems distant. With hope in his heart,  he builds an ark, but there were no guarantees.

How many of us, like Noah, were consumed by fear and angst regarding powerful forces beyond us? How many of us used every resource that we had to stay the tides of destruction?

Noah’s story is our story, and in the end, hope indeed, prevails with the covenant of the rainbow. And what is a rainbow?  It is a mysterious blend of sunlight and raindrops that we can see, but cannot touch.  It includes every color in the spectrum of light.  The rainbow is a reminder of the inclusive nature of God’s promise. As it blends the opposing forces of sun and rain, it creates a beautiful arch of individual bands of color as if to remind the entire world of our interconnectedness. Human beings, animals, plants and all that exists are all part of the world of creation.  We all exist together in a universe we do not completely understand, and the that hope our survival exists thrives when we work in unison.

Noah’s flood and the floods from Hurricane Harvey may have put humanity in its place, but the covenant of the rainbow is there to remind us that hope and light will always follow the darkness of destruction. Our hope, like the radiant bands of the rainbow, is realized when we work together.

From the inception of our faith, the idea that we are all responsible for one another has remained central to who we are and what we stand for as a people.  Our hope is embodied in this communal mindset.  As Jews, we know we must take care of each other, and we recognize that we have a responsibility to take care of the world around us as well.

As we continue to put our lives and our city back together, we need to commit ourselves to the covenant of the rainbow. We need to band together as one resilient community and cast light and color into our darkened world.

 

Addressing the Adolescence of an Institution

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Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism may have just celebrated sixty years as a congregation, but in many ways we have entered into a period of adolescence as an institution. This year marks our twelfth year under my guidance. During these 12 years our congregation has grown in numbers and has radically expanded its strategies for social, spiritual and communal engagement.

In just twelve short years, our focus as a community has evolved, and our efforts to define ourselves as a unique and special place in the Houston Jewish community echoes that of the identity shifts that take place in adolescence.  This nascent period in our evolution is most profoundly articulated in the ever unfolding story of our religious school.

Twelve years ago, our religious school had a total of seventeen students ranging from kindergarten through high school. Our grade levels were so small that we re-envisioned the entire religious school experience. A project-centered curriculum was developed to engage our children in an educational experience which was dynamic and fun. As we grew in size, this learning experience proved to be a driving force in the development of a strong community of dedicated learners and teachers. It also set us apart from Sunday school programs around the country.

Today, our Sunday School has over 150 students, and as our teen population has grown, new challenges to our programming have emerged.  Three years ago, we hired Michelle Renfrow to help us develop a youth group.  Under her direction, we have successfully engaged a number of outstanding teens to become leaders in the Reform Movement. This October, Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism will have the distinct honor of hosting the NFTY Fall Conclave, which is usually hosted by congregations twice our size. This is an event that will demand the help of our entire congregation.  Please see details below.

This rapid growth of our teen population is now a driving force in the re-imagination of the Confirmation experience and beyond.  To assist us in this process, we have hired Marna Meyer, an amazing veteran in the field of Jewish Education who served as the Director of Education at Congregation Emanu El in Houston for 24 years. Marna’s creativity, love of Judaism and expertise in the field are playing a central role in helping us pave an amazing new direction for our high school aged students.  She is a wonderful new addition to our religious school staff, and we look forward to an amazing hear ahead.

 

Faith and the Restoration of Civil Discourse

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The earth is the home to over 7 billion people speaking over 6,500 languages. Yet, despite this diversity of culture and heritage, human behaviors are remarkably similar, as we are driven by a small number of universal concerns.  We concern ourselves with our health and the wellbeing of our families; we fear death; and we are in constant need of sustenance and human contact. Throughout history, our insecurities around each of these concerns have given rise to over 4,000 religions.

While every religion may be different, each strives to provide its followers with comfort in response to the uncertainty, fear and tribulation of the human condition. Unfortunately, history, culture and politics have blinded humanity to the fact that people are people regardless of their faith, and over the course of millennia, rigid ideologies have become significant barriers to seeing our universal commonalities.

Today, every faith and political system has followers (on the right and the left) whose rigidity obstructs civil discourse.  Rather than being forces for progress and innovation, fanatical religious convictions and inflexible political ideologies can become impediments to the cooperation and conciliation that is essential in the establishment of a peaceful and harmonious society. These voices represent a serious threat to the human capacity to engage others with curiosity and empathy. By infusing the public sector with fear and suspicion, they provoke a mindset resistant to compromise and change.

Yet, as loud as these rigid ideological voices may be, it is important to remember that the vast majority of the world’s population is not staunchly ideological.  Most people in the world simply wish for harmonious, peaceful cooperation with their neighbors and their kin.

Two components that are needed to re-establish healthy civil discourse are dialogue and shared sweat equity. We need to find ways to hear each other despite our differences. We need to find projects that demand our collective sweat and ingenuity as we strive to address the challenges that confront us. We need to see each other as people with similar hopes and needs, and we must find ways to build trust without compromising our values.

In May, I was invited to be a part of a peace conference in Abu Dhabi called, “Religions Promoting Peace Through Trust and Partnership.” The goal of this conference was to counter fanatical religious narratives by building bridges of understanding, respect and peace across and within the religious communities of the world. Under the vision and leadership of Sheik Abd’Allah Bin Bayyah, this conference sought to nurture seeds of peace through cooperation, mutual respect and open, honest dialogue. At the heart of the Sheik’s vision is the belief that all religions must look within their respective traditions to find resources that promote peace.

To that end, an imam, a rabbi and a minister (this is not joke) from 10 cities throughout the United States were invited to Abu Dhabi to work together on creating a partnership to expand efforts of cooperation, broaden the reaches of multi-faith interaction, and deepen the levels of trust among Christians, Jews and Muslims.  For three very full days, these delegations of clergy devoted themselves to generating programs for their respective cities.

Our Houston delegation for this American Caravan for Peace consisted of Imam Danny Hernandez from the Pearland Islamic Center, Reverend Steve Bezner of Houston Northwest Church and me.  The three of us returned from this remarkable conference with a collective mission which includes a threefold plan.

In the months to come, we are committed to getting to know each other and our families.  We have learned that building bridges of trust demands a level of intimacy that comes from the shared experiences of everyday life.  Our next level of engagement will involve bringing our communities together. This will take place in our houses of worship and in a number of shared “mitzvah” projects. Finally, we have committed ourselves to expanding the reach of this global initiative for peace by involving additional mosques, synagogues and churches throughout the City of Houston.

At the heart of this noble endeavor is a desire to restore civil discourse.  It is our hope that our encounters will help to diminish the fear and angst that seem to permeate society today. We hope that honest conversations about our values and our lives will help us see and understand that our commonalities far exceed our differences. Finally, it is our hope that our time together will enable us to find ways to engage those with conflicting beliefs with a willingness to listen and a sense of mutual respect.

 

Culminating the Celebration of Sixty Years of Community

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This month we are completing the formal programming of our 60th Anniversary as a congregation.  While the first worship service actually took place on August 23, 1957 (which we will celebrate as well), our year-long celebration sought to honor the hard work of the original founding members who spent many months before that first service to conceptualize the philosophy and by-laws of Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism.

As it was for the original 37 families who set us on our way, so too it has been for us! This year-long celebration has brought our community together through work and cooperation. Our fifteen amazing events have helped us to generate a stronger sense of community, build leadership, expand congregational engagement and broaden our vision for the future. Fun-filled activities for members of all ages have enabled us to learn more about each other and even meet each other’s pets. These celebrations also enabled us to raise over $55,000. We are grateful for the support that everyone has brought to this incredible year.

As we look back on sixty years, we can take great pride in the fact that we have served the Jewish community well.  Central to our mission is an effort to embrace all who enter our doors, and for over half a century, we have remained steadfastly committed to this core value. In all that we do and in every program we plan, we strive to be intimate, inviting and inspirational.

This past year has come to remind us that Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism is a place to call your spiritual home.  We are a family of families with relationships rooted in shared experiences.  We are dedicated to the ongoing cultivation of new and dynamic ways of engagement through worship, study, social programming and acts of loving kindness.  From infants to seniors, we seek to engage individuals with opportunities to explore the values and customs of our heritage while building life-long relationships with each other, the synagogue and God.  Like a family, we seek to support each other in times of need and celebrate our blessings in times of joy.

This congregational family is central to nurturing our God-given capacity to have a positive impact on each other and the world.  This is our legacy.  It is rooted in the past, anchored in our membership today and is something worth preserving for the future.

Our year-long 60th Anniversary celebration has enabled us celebrate all that we share today, and in the spirit of honoring who we have become and what we still hope for the future, please consider leaving a legacy gift for the HCRJ of tomorrow.  Like those who stood here before us, it is now our turn to consider ways to ensure that our children and grandchildren will have the same firm commitment to Judaism and its ethical values as our ancestors did before us.

 

Reliving the Story of Our Past to Shape the Story of our Future

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The Torah is written in a way that invites engagement.  The porous nature of the ancient narratives and laws encourages debate as we seek to find meaning and direction in our lives. In other words, Jewish scriptures are meant to be lived, not simply read.

Nowhere is this tradition of scriptural engagement more broadly practiced than through the Passover Seder. Each year as we recount the story of the Exodus we do so through a dramatic, spiritual reenactment.  We gather with family and friends and act out the story of our ancestral redemption with ceremonial foods and the script of the Haggadah. In this way, we try to apply the lessons of our past to our own lives today.

The central message in the Seder is this: It is our responsibility to use the lessons of our past to motivate us to address the  ills of the world today and build a better tomorrow.  The Haggadah reiterates this important message in as many ways as it can.  Through the foods we eat, materials we read and the songs we sing, we remind ourselves over and over again that “until all are free, none are free.”

In today’s world, suffering, persecution, hatred and violence are plagues we face every day.  These are the societal afflictions of our day, and while we may know that we have an obligation to lighten the burdens of those who are suffering, most of the time it is difficult to know exactly what to do.

While Passover cannot provide us with a single answer to this ongoing challenge, the customs and restrictions we observe during this weeklong festival can serve to inspire us to address the hardships that surround us.  Here are some things to contemplate as we engage in the rituals that shape our holiday observance.

Consider the Seder meal as a teaching tool for social justice.  The words of the Haggadah are designed to inspire us to take action. To that end, perhaps there is a place in each of our Seders this year where we can come up with a few personal goals for addressing the needs of the world around us.

Our dietary restrictions can also serve to remind us of suffering in the world, and I am not referring to the kind of suffering that comes from eating too much matzah.  In depriving ourselves of certain kinds of foods, we have an opportunity to reflect on the fact that there are many who go without food every day.  Thus, our sacrifices at the table can be a way of encouraging us to respond to the message in our Haggadah:  “Let all who are hungry come and eat.”

If your family rids the home of hametz, please bring your non-perishable foods that are not Kosher for Passover to the temple.  We will send the foods we collect to a local food bank.  If you wish to contribute to a hunger program during this season, please consider making a donation to Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger.  Information regarding such donations can be found in this bulletin on page 6.

Our Haggadah teaches us that it is our responsibility each year to relive the redemption of our past in order to help bring about a redemption for the future.  Allowing our Seder rituals and dietary restrictions help us in this imaginative journey is just the beginning.  What we do with what we learn, represents a beginning as well.  Let us make a special effort this year to be instrumental in fashioning a bridge toward freedom, peace and happiness for all peoples.

 

March 15, 2017

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Dear Friends,

This week’s Torah portion contains the story of the Golden Calf. Through this ancient tale, important lessons concerning leadership are presented as we observe Moses responding to the chaos that surrounds him in two very different ways. One response is negative and the other is positive.

The first response is filled with rage. Moses sees the Israelites worshiping a golden calf and throws the 10 Commandments to the ground causing them to shatter at the base of the mountain. Like a child throwing a fit, Moses allows his emotions to compromise his behaviors. Such emotionality leads to poor judgment, and through this first part of the story, we come to understand that allowing ourselves to become emotionally involved in any conflict can lead to highly destructive behaviors.

In contrast to this first demonstration of rage-filled action, Moses later helps us to see and understand a more appropriate model for leadership in times of crisis. After his angry outburst, Moses chooses to remove himself from the situation. He prays; he asks for forgiveness; and he humbles himself before God. In short, Moses takes a “time out,” and for this, Moses is rewarded. For it is only at this point, that Moses is permitted to attain a glimpse of God’s presence.

The juxtaposition of these two responses serves to teach us that whenever we find ourselves in a position of leadership in the face of crisis it is imperative to maintain clarity of mind. In his second series of actions, Moses does everything he can to maintain a non-anxious presence. He takes the time to find clarity of mind; he does not allow himself to become emotionally entangled; he humbles his heart; and he quiets his soul through prayer.

These are things we can all try to practice as we face the inevitable chaos of life. In times of disappointment and frustration, emotional distance, humility and prayer can go a long way in helping us to keep calm and react in positive ways. And when we do, we, like Moses, may just get a glimpse of the Divine Presence as an added bonus.

L’Shalom-Steve

We Bid Farewell to an Enoch of our Day

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In the Book of Genesis, there is mention of a character whose identity is all but invisible to the unfolding story of creation.  His name is Enoch. Enoch is the father of Methuselah (whose biblical claim to fame is having lived for 969 years), but other than that, very little is said about him.  The sages, however, were drawn to Enoch for the same reason they were drawn to Elijah the Prophet.  Neither Enoch nor Elijah dies, each of them is “taken by God.”

According to the bible, “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, for God took him” (Genesis. 5:24). This is all we know, and yet, Enoch, whose silent presence in the Book of Genesis is unremarkable at best, comes to be known as a man whose quiet and unpretentious character epitomizes what it means to put your heart and soul into a job.

The embellishment of Enoch’s story takes place through the writings of our sages, who creatively fill in the back story of his life by describing him as a humble cobbler who, with every stitch on every shoe creates a mystical union with God. These stories paint the picture of a man who, through the love and attention he puts into his work is able to stitch heaven and earth together.  Thus, by giving his heart and soul to every measure of his efforts and in striving to provide quality and satisfaction to those who would be receiving the fruits of his labors, Enoch’s work becomes holy work and his efforts become a spiritual endeavor.

Each of us is familiar with the beauty that comes when the labor of our hands is invested with the love of our hearts.  There is something sacred and holy about projects that are driven by our desires to make the world a better place.  Such projects enable us to understand the concept of “a labor of love.”

This year we bid farewell to an individual, who like Enoch, operated with little fanfare.  Our maintenance man, Jerry Propri, who has been quietly and humbly taking care of our temple for almost a decade, has retired.  For those who have ever met Jerry, you could not help but like him.  He always has a smile on his face, and his heart is filled with boundless love for the temple and the work he does here.

He has never treated his responsibilities at HCRJ as a job, rather he has considered his work a sacred task and has poured his heart and soul into everything he has ever done for us.  Like Enoch, Jerry has helped stitch a little bit of heaven and earth together.

On Friday night, February 24, we will honor Jerry and his family with a special service.  Please join us as we formally say “thank you” for all they have done. Jerry’s work has been a labor of love, and for his boundless devotion to our congregation, we will be forever grateful.

 

Einstein and the Growth of a Congregation

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At the HCRJ board retreat in August, our temple leadership decided that a primary goal for the coming year would be to focus on the growth of our congregation. Our 60th Anniversary provides us with a lens through which we can consider our past as we dream about our future.  Yet, as my sermon on Rosh HaShanah pointed out, growth can be defined and measured in a variety of ways.

Growth can be defined as the process of increasing in amount, value or importance.  Plants grow; companies grow; people grow; ideas grow. We often use this definition of growth when we are trying to expand. From a congregational perspective, this concept of growth might help us in our efforts to increase our membership and broaden our presence in the community.

Growth can also be defined as the process of developing or maturing physically, mentally or spiritually, as in:  “we grow wiser with age.” This definition reflects a more internal process, and from this perspective we might direct energy and resources toward engaging members in deeper and more meaningful ways.

Regardless of how we choose to define our growth, it is always important to determine what we want to count as we seek to measure who we are and what we hope to become. In the words of Albert Einstein, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

As a congregation, we need to determine what is most important for us to count and measure as we monitor our growth.  What is it that we value most as a congregation?  Do we value our intimacy?  If so, counting numbers of members may not be our primary matrix.  Do we value the dynamics of our programming?  If so, we need to consider the fact that programming demands resources, staffing and financial support.

The truth is that there are countless possibilities regarding how we can measure and monitor our growth as a congregation, and as Einstein suggests, there are many growth markers that can be very difficult to identify and measure.  In the coming year, our leadership has presented us with a threefold task as we begin to envision a long-term strategy for our future:  We need to consider what counts and what does not in terms of how we hope to evolve as a community; we need to consider ways to measure the growth we seek once we define it; and we need to engage as many members as possible as we seek to grow together.

 

Veterans Sabbath

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Every year, Veterans Day represents a way to honor our veterans who boldly put their lives on the line to protect the values of our nation. These men and women are our parents, grandparents, siblings, children and more. Their service weaves us together into a broader patriotic community that is much like a giant family. We are proud of who they are, and we are indebted to them for their boundless dedication to serve.

They place their lives in harm’s way to ensure that the liberties we enjoy are not threatened by foreign powers. Their military service is something we should never take for granted.

On Friday night, November 11, we will honor the veterans of our nation with a sacred service. At this Sabbath worship service, veterans of various wars will share their stories. Additionally, we will honor them at the oneg with a special photo gallery of our men and women in uniform.

If you have a story you wish to share or a photo that we can display, please contact the office immediately. We hope to honor every one of our members who served in the military – past, present and future.

May the dedication and valiance demonstrated by the men and women who serve us in this capacity inspire us to uphold the virtues of our nation as we work collectively to be a beacon of liberty and harmony for all the world to see

Days of Awe

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According to a study which was recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, there is strong empirical evidence to support the idea that experiences of awe play an important role in how an individual perceives the self.  This study suggests that brief experiences of awe seem to promote shifts away from a self-centered view of the world toward one which includes the needs of those around us.

Awe is a familiar feeling. There is awe in birth.  There is awe in death.  There is awe in every precious second of life in between. Awe reminds us of our fragility.  Awe is startling, miraculous, bewildering!

A silent, star-filled sky; a morning sunrise; the vast seemingly endless stretch of the Grand Canyon; each can take our breath away. Each places us at the edge of a mystifying expanse and forces us to consider ourselves within the context of a reality that we cannot fully comprehend.

In the birth of a child; the passions of love; an act of kindness and compassion; awe is there to remind us of our human connectivity; humble us in our vulnerability; invite us to be grateful for life.

Awe weaves reverence and amazement into a single moment.  We experience epiphany.  We realize that we are part of something much greater than ourselves.  In awe we experience transformation: an instantaneous shift in understanding of who we are and where we stand in the world.  From the Jewish perspective, awe has the capacity to inspire, illuminate and motivate through a powerful emotional mix of trepidation and reverence.  Humility, fragility, epiphany, reverence, gratitude and fear are all experience in awe, and it is for this reason that the first ten days of the Jewish calendar year are referred to as the Days of Awe.

The Hebrew word for awe is Yireh, which according to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, is not only a feeling – it is a way of understanding.  For Heschel, awe enables us to perceive in our everyday lives glimpses of divine magnitude.  From this perspective, we need not stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon to experience awe.  There is awe in the peaceful, quiet, solitude of a sleeping baby. There is awe in the frenetic, joyful welcome of a dog greeting you at the door after a long day at work.  There is awe in the mysterious random acts of cats. There is awe in watching bees making honey and in the systematic ways that colonies of ants build their mounds. There is awe in fire and awe in ice. Awe can even be found in the consideration of refrigerator magnets.

Each of these common experiences may not seem to have the gravity and the unfathomability that is immediately present when we stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon, but if we pause in the moment and allow ourselves to remember our childhood curiosity and amazement regarding turning on a light switch or the act of trying to see what surfaces a magnet can stick to – there, in that place of bemusement – in that place of wonder – is the awe.  From the mundane to the majestic, from ants making mounds to earthquakes moving mountains, everything we experience in life has the capacity to evoke that sense of mystery, wonder, magic and amazement.

Of course, our ability to experience awe is not like switching on and off a light bulb. There are obstacles and hindrances that constantly distract us from connecting to the world and with each other.  The rigors and stresses of work; the insanity of daily traffic; the noise of endless obligations – all of these and so much more divert our attention and distract us from seeing the miraculous in the mundane.

In order to experience more awe in our lives we need to cultivate a daily mindset.  We need to find ways to be inspired and connected to the glories of creation all the time – not just in moments of drama or magnificence – but in the minute by minute mundane moments that surround us in our daily interactions.

As we prepare for the High Holy Days and the Days of Awe, we are invited by our faith and our tradition to pay heed to what matters most in our lives. Take the time.  Commit yourself to seeking moments of awe every day and rejoice in the mystery and marvels of the world.