Welcome home. Welcome back. Welcome here. This Day One of Year One is the first day of 5780.
This is a year of transition, as we have said before. It is the first year of the rest of your life. It is the first day of the rest of your life. Transition can be scary. No body likes change. We talk about liminal time. It is the time in between Tonight. This very night. Is liminal time.
Richard Rohr said that Limen is the Latin word for threshold. “A liminal space” is the crucial in-between time when everything actually happens and yet nothing appears to be happening. We often enter liminal space when our former way of being is challenged or changed…During this graced time we are not certain or in control. This openness allows room for something genuinely new to happen. We are empty and receptive. Liminal space is where we are most able to hear and learn.”
I invite you to cross over the threshold, to enter this space, to begin this time of reflection and renewal together.
You won’t be alone. Here you will find music to soothe the soul. You will find friends and family. You will find uplifting words and sometimes challenging ones. You will find an oasis of peace. You find tradition meeting modernity. You may even help us figure that out that path as we find meaning together. And you will find leaders who are committed to welcoming you so that you feel you belong. Here. Welcome home.
This year, this whole year, as a community we will be looking at leaders and leadership as we continue in this transitional time. As many of you know, we have a new president this year, Risa Cohen. We also have a new Executive Vice President, Robin Coyne, a new treasurer, Sandi Phelan, a new VP of Ritual, Dan Knopoff, a new VP of Education, Micheline Welch and a new kitchen chair, Theresa Friedman. All of them were ready, are ready to answer the call. Hineni, Here am I. We will talk more about Hineni tomorrow.
Tonight I want to talk about leadership. What is a leader…or maybe better, who is a leader?
“the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country.” Now my high school English teacher isn’t very happy. We all learned that you can’t use the same word to define a word. A leader then is:
chief, head, principal, boss;
commander, captain;
figurehead, controller, superior, kingpin, headman, mover and shaker;
chairman, chairwoman, chairperson, chair, convener, moderator;
director, managing director, MD, manager, superintendent, supervisor, overseer, administrator, employer,
master, mistress, foreman;
president, premier, governor;
ruler, monarch, king, queen, sovereign, emperor, tsar, prince, princess, lord, lord and master; elder, patriarch; guru, mentor, authority;
That’s a long list. Yet it helps us understand what a leader is.
The word itself comes from the Old English, laeder, one who guides or brings forth. That interests me…but perhaps because I always am interested in etymology.
In Hebrew one word for leader is madrich. You may have heard this term if you bounced on a bus in Israel. The tour guide is a madrich, or a madricha. In Torah School we often call our student aides Madrichim. If you take off the mem at the beginning , you have the root word derech, road or path. So a leader is one who guides you on the path.
There are a few other words in Hebrew for leader:
Manhig, One who drives, a driver, someone who can get things done.
Rosh, Head, just like Rosh Hashanah, head of the year, Rosh is the head of an organization, Rosh Yeshiva, Rosh Hamemshalah
Dabar and Nagid, both have to do with speaking and telling. These leaders tell us what to do.
Moreh or Morah Derech, like Madrich, a teacher of the path.
A long time ago, I had an argument with my one of my step-daughters. Her daughter was then a first year Girl Scout, the fourth generation in our family to be one, but my step-daughter didn’t like that they were training her to be a leader. “Not everyone can be a leader”. And in fact, we have a phrase about too many cooks in the kitchen spoiling the broth.
The irony is she is now the president of the Loudon County (VA) League of Women Voters. And we are proud of her for that. It is a leadership role. Why did she take it? Because no one else would do it. Maybe she was wrong after all. Each of us can be a leader, someone who steps into the breach and guides us on the path.
There are different leadership styles. According to the Guide for Junior Girl Scout Leaders:
The Director gives very good direction and makes sure everyone does his or her job. They make certain that rules are clear and that everyone is expected to follow them. We know this from Moses who relayed the commandments making sure that everyone knew them.
The Coach uses a style that provides both direction and supervision but encourages the involvement of everyone. She will explain the work that lies ahead, discuss decisions and answer questions. We know this from Bezazel, the architect and chief foreman of building the Mishkan. He had the plans and made sure that everyone contributed to the building with their own expertise and the offerings of their heart.
The Supporter works with other members of the group to set goals and list steps to achieve the goals. A supporter encourages everyone to make decisions and gives each member the help they need. We know this from Miriam, who grabbed a timbrel in her hand and offered leadership and inspiration.
The Delegator gives everyone a share of the work. A delegator lets group members make decisions and take on as much responsibility as they can handle. Is there to answer questions, but wants them to take as much responsibility for their actions as possible. We know this one from Moses, who was learned how from Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of the Midianites, how to delegate.
Perhaps you are sitting there thinking, “I can’t be a leader.” Hear one story of a woman just one week shy of her own 18th birthday on 9/11/2001. She watched the news and felt so helpless. After all, as she said, “I was still a kid, what was I supposed to do?” But she heard the reporters say that the “”the rescue workers are melting through their boots, they are in desperate need of gloves, boots, and other rescue supplies.” She worked at a trucking company in Western Michigan. This was something she could do. Move goods from one place to another. As she said, “We ended up filling a full trailer of water, oxygen and supplies. We delivered in less than 72 hours. We beat FEMA to the ground.”
She continues, “When I do tell this story, people usually want to focus on how amazing I am. The reality is that I had no special training. I didn’t know what I was doing. I just knew that something had to be done. Two things that I learned during 9/11 that I want to pass onto my children. One – fear and hate lead nowhere good. Today our country is more divided than any time in my memory. So many in leadership are building hate and fear. We have a responsibility to stop it and speak the truth. Two – we all have more power than we realize. There is always SOMETHING you can do. Even if it is small. We never know how our small actions will snowball into something bigger. If you see something wrong in the world, do something. Say something. YOU matter. YOU have power. When we are tricked into believing there is nothing we can do is when evil wins.”
Let me underscore what she said. YOU matter. YOU have power. When we are tricked into believing there is nothing we can do is when evil wins.
Rivka Hodgkinson is a leader. Then and now.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks identifies 7 principles of Jewish leadership:
- It begins with taking responsibility.
- No one can lead alone
- Leadership is about the future: It is vision-driven
- Leaders learn.
- Leadership means believing in the people you lead.
- Leadership involves a sense of timing and pace.
- Leadership is stressful and emotionally demanding.
He illustrates these by using the same Biblical stories we have used.
What do we want from our leaders, especially our Jewish leaders? We want people
- Who are honest with integrity. …
- Who inspire others. …
- Who demonstrate commitment and passion. …
- Who are good communicators. …
- Who have good decision-making capabilities. …
- Who are accountable. …
- Who delegate and empower. …
- Who are creativity and innovative
- Who are good listeners
- Who have the ability to admit when they make a mistake.
In short, we want you. We need you. As Rivka suggests if you see something you can do, that you want to do, just ask. Take it on. We will appreciate and nurture your leadership.
Now this is the interactive part. When you join us out in the social hall for our annual apples and honey fest, (thank you Phelans for hosting and doing the work. That shows your leadership.) find the board with the list of leadership qualities that the Torah School students and their families developed. They get it. Then take some apple stickers, and choose two, just two qualities that you feel are most important to you.
That’s part of our leadership too. Passing down our traditions, our values from one generation to the next, l’dor v’dor. Just as Pirke Avot teaches us:
Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua; Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: be patient in judgment, raise up many students, and make a fence round the torah. (Pirke Avot 1:1) Now we pass down these values from generation to generation. To our children and our children’s children.
But don’t worry. Pirke Avot teaches as well:
Lo alecha ham’lacha ligmor,
Lo alecha ligmor.
V’lo ata ben chorim l’hibatil mimena,
We are not obligated to finish the task, neither are we free to ignore it.
Don’t be afraid. You don’t’ have to be Moses, or Joshua, Miriam or Jethro. Or even Rivka Hodgkinson. You just have to be you. Reb Zusia teaches us that. When he was on his deathbed, he said to his students, “The other day, I had a vision. In it, I learned that the angels will one day ask me about my life.” This surprised his students, since Reb Zusia was pious, scholarly and humble. A good teacher. A role model. Kind and compassionate. He replied, “The angels will not ask me, why were you not Moses. But rather, why were you not Zusia.”
Inside each of you there is a core. A spark of the Divine because we are all created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of G-d. Inside each of you, there is a bulb…some thing that will grow into a beautiful flower, that G-d planted within us. Light is sown, planted for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart. It is our job to figure out what our unique role is, what our unique task is, mch what that bulb is and where it can be planted.
Your work, this High Holiday season, at this time of transition and liminality is to find your inner core. To discover who you truly are. So that when life itself hangs in the balance, you can answer, “I am I” While you are enjoying those apples and honey, please take a tulip bulb home with you and plant it to remind you of your inner core.