I love that we return to FPS the week we read this portion of Lech Lecha.
“The Eternal One said to Abram, Go forth from your land, your birthplace, your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and it shall be a blessing.” (Gen. 12:1-2)
When called to go on this journey of self-improvement, or of raising money in believing that we could future-proof and build a better more attractive synagogue, I am sure many felt, ‘What is the point in that? Why bother? What might it bring for us?’ But we overcame nerves and launched right in.
When Abram and Sarai are called in this portion of Torah, they don’t answer. They don’t comment. They just do it.
I guess we did it too. Richard Greene, Alan Banes, Paul Silver Myer, Jo Dowling, Alex Kinchin Smith and James Levy just started this move. It was daunting, to say the very least. But as we began, we encouraged each other. Forty weeks, we were told (we are a little over). It gave us something to hold on to and now we are in earnest moving back, unpacking boxes, re-finding ourselves – and it looks even more beautiful than it did at HHDs. May we be the blessing we believe we can be for each other as congregants and as a synagogue that will be attractive and impactful for those who visit us looking for a spiritual home and a welcoming community. May the investment in this place, and the journey we’ve been on too, make it the beginning of a new chapter for this synagogue, where internal and external details match.
I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be unpacking my book boxes onto my new timber shelves. It means so much to be doing so. We have chosen this synagogue to care for, as well our Jewish life in the process.
In his book ‘How Will You Measure Your Life?’, Clayton M. Christenson, a professor at Harvard School of Business, responds to the “should I stay or should I go?” dilemma that confronted Abram.
“ … in life, like in business, we each have limited resources: time, energy, talent and wealth. With every moment of our time, every decision about how we spend our energy, our talent and our money, we are making a statement about what really matters to us.”
In the fractured times in which we live, in the thoughtful way we have chosen to express our Jewish lives, we have also chosen to make FPS matter, not just in ideas but also in the loving care of our home, the bricks and mortar and beautiful new windows. We captured our talent, money and energy for this.
Join us tonight for our inaugural learning event to fill our synagogue, and say what matters most to us as we celebrate and commit to our diversity, as FPS MOSAIC hosts Nadine Batchelor-Hunt, who will speak on the spectrum of Jewish identity as a Black Jewish woman.
This is a whole new chapter for us. Let’s ensure it truly is a ’blessing.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
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