Dear Friends:
I would like to share with you the D'var Torah I shared with our Board of Directors this week.
Parashat Ki Tissa
contains the story of the egel ha-zahav, the Golden Calf.
After Moses ascended Mt. Sinai, he remained on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. It did not take long for the Children of Israel to become unsettled and anxious. They despaired of Moses' returning, and fashioned a Golden Calf to be their new god and leader.
When Moses came down the mountain and saw the Calf, he smashed the tablets of the Ten Commandments he was carrying. He was frustrated and angered by the people's lack of faith and quick return to the idolatry of Egypt.
In the Talmud, Rabbi Meir teaches that the Israelites did not wait even one day before returning to their old ways. Rabbi Meir taught that the Israelites began to create the Calf as soon as Moses left. Even though they had just said, "All that you say, God, we will faithfully obey," their pledge was immediately forgotten.
Why were the Israelites so quick to return to their old ways? It is because they had just left the land of Egypt, a land steeped in idolatry and denial of the one God of the entire universe. Even though they were now able to proclaim with their mouths that they accepted the Kingship of God, inside they were still very much the same people they were before. They had not changed. They quickly reverted to their old ways.
It's much easier to conduct business as usual than respond in some new way to a challenge.
Tifereth Israel Synagogue is now engaged in a search for my successor. It would be a mistake to decide what qualities you want in a new Rabbi before deciding what qualities you want in a congregation. This transition is the perfect opportunity for Tifereth Israel Synagogue to engage in cheshbon nefesh, personal review and introspection, to determine what kind of congregation it wants to be.
Does it want to be more or less engaged in educational activities? What role will social action play? Are congregants more interested in traditional or more liberal religious philosophy, theology, and rituals? The list of these types of questions is endless, but at least some of them should be raised and addressed.
Once Tifereth Israel decides what its future will look like, it will be much easier to decide what qualities it wants a new rabbi to possess.
It's much easier to continue business as usual than to face a challenge. However, facing and conquering the challenge is ultimately much more rewarding.
Shabbat Shalom,
