Watching our Kabbalat Torah group come of age this weekend was so meaningful. They chose to celebrate kiddush in the Rose Garden of FPS, the first time we have been back to the building environment, which made things start to feel real for our return in earnest in September. They really demonstrated through their engaging and musical service a future and a hope for FPS, ‘acharit v’tikvah,’ as the psalmist describes. They are growing into the creative, open-hearted Jewish adults their parents and teachers have modelled for them.
Similarly, at the ordination of this year‘s crop of rabbis, Andrea Steuer Zago Kulikovsky and Dr. Hannah Marije Altorf spoke of their destinies, dreaming of becoming rabbis. Hannah recalled a childhood memory of playing on her dining room table, which was round so no-one could sit at the head or be supreme. She likened this to Progressive Judaism being a table that we all sit around; there must be room at that table for everyone to feel at home and comfortable.
Sometimes we can’t escape our talents, our destiny, and our dreams. Balaam the prophet tries to in the narrative that describes his role. Our Bat Mitzvah, Niah, will read about him and his talking donkey this Shabbat and I’m reminded of Tony Kushner’s 1990s play, Angels in America, where an angel that is like the biblical prototype warns:
You can’t outrun your occupation, Jonah. Hiding from me in one place, you will find me in another stop down the road. I will be waiting for you…
I love that our teenagers are doing that already within our community, each expressing their desire to think deeply about who they are and who they want to be. We should all be proud of them
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
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