A Way to Build Community: Rosh Hodesh Elul and Shabbat

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Tonight we usher in Shabbat. In my congregation it will be a festive evening with much singing, good food, good friends and good conversation. It will also be Rosh Hodesh Elul. In 30 days it will be Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the new year. In 40 days it will be Yom Kippur. This is an auspicious time. A time of reflection. A time of preparation.

For the past several years, I have given over this blog to members of my wider, virtual community and members of Congregation Kneseth Israel to reflect on a topic. This year’s Elul topic, a way to help us all prepare to think about the themes of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, is community. So I invite you to think deeply about what community means to you.

Last week, I was part of a different community. I led Kabbalat Shabbat services surrounded by unsurpassed beauty, ringed by volcanoes, a couple of lightening bolts and in a circle of new friends—14 rabbis and staff people part of the American Jewish World Service Global Justice Fellowship. The singing and the davenning seemed to be out of this world.

The experience gave me the opportunity to reflect on community. This experience was a little like Brigadoon, the mythical Scottish village that appears for only one day every hundred years. Or because of the beauty, the colors, the flowers, the birds, the fragrance, it seemed a little like landing in Paradise, Pardes, Gan Eden. Could this place, this community be real? Could we make it last?

The answer is yes. But it is complicated. Some of it depends on the intentionality of the community. This community was intentional from day one of being chosen as a Global Justice Fellow..

My Shabbat experience was amazing. From the beauty of Kabbalat Shabbat outside, to the ruach (spirit) of singing and Birkat Hamazon at dinner, to the ability to sleep late on Shabbat morning, to the guided walking meditation, to the davenning and Torah study, to a leisurely Shabbat lunch, a hike, a swim, falling asleep reading a book to Havdalah. It was a full day, a day of “vayinafash” and G-d rested which is the spirit in which Shabbat was intended.

Each of these experiences enriched my soul. Since we created these experience with each one of us taking a part, what we created along the way was community. It worked because after nearly a week bouncing on a bus and learning to rely on each other for translation, for snacks, for water, for hugs and smiles and encouragement, we had learned to trust each other.

So thank you to my colleagues now friends of the Global Justice Fellowship. Together we created community. Thank you! Todah. Gracias.

  • To Jill and Marc who coordinated the whole 25 hours with such skill and grace and compassion
  • To Nancy, who led the guided walking meditation which allowed me to go deeper and to think about blessing myself, not just others with peace, justice and compassion.
  • To Laurence who led a traditional Ma’ariv, just like we might experience at home.
  • To Stacy who led an Ilu Finu which was so beautiful, especially at the shore of Lake Atilan. It is really hard to imagine how we could ever praise G-d as much as the waves, as the song suggests.
  • To David who taught about our circumcised hearts, and to Ruth to added to the d’var Torah and gave us text to use next week in a context of AJWS and Guatemala
  • To Pam who lead chanting, allowing our minds to rest and our neshomas (soul) to fly
  • To Faith Joy who led the singing and did the Torah leining with such joy and spirit
  • To Eliot who made sure there was a mikveh experience and led the misheberach allowing each of us to pray for healing for ourselves or members of our families or communities.
  • To Adina and Lilach, who led havdalah and called attention to how each of us used each of our senses during the 25 hours, creating memories along the way. I will remember the sound of the thunder and the canyons, the fragrance of the flowers and the woods, the range of the colors and the sight of the candles, the taste of my tostadas and the flan, the feel of being relaxed enough to just fall asleep in a beach chair.
  • To Marla who decided that she didn’t want to lead, that she really wanted to rest and just experience, but all along the way encouraged those of us leading. It was an important role model for all of us.

Together, we created community and Shabbat.

For the next 40 days I invite you to reflect. What is community to you? How does it happen? Where? What makes it meaningful? What do you want from a community.