Our Voices

If you had told me a year ago I would start the wave at a Shabbat service with a full sanctuary, I might have said “wait, really?” But I wouldn’t have said it skeptically, I would have said it with great excitement and anticipation. I would wonder when that service would happen. I’d have to wait nearly 8 months into that first year to do it, but it was well worth the wait for an understanding of the context in which it would happen. As we honored our Rabbi Feder’s 18 years of dedication to leading this community, I was able to offer a small token of fun and unity at this significant moment. It was an honor to be a part of it and a joy to lead it. I could not have known a year ago just how special it would be.
 
If you had told me a year ago that I would find myself running laps at a Passover Seder, I would have believed you. I would not have understood the reasoning, but I would have believed it. Why? Well, I do have a proclivity for running. But perhaps more importantly, even a year ago, I knew that PTS was a place where this kind of excitement and fun would be welcomed and embraced. I had only just gotten to know the community at that point, but this was something I knew to be clear from the beginning. Looking back to April of this year, it makes a lot of sense that I found myself running with rainbow scarves in tow, with a string of young students running behind me as we danced to Cantor Kliger singing Oseh Shalom, Hava Nagila, and many more prayers and songs. I was out of breath, my feet hurt (I had forgotten to don Seder running shoes that day), and I could hear the laughs and screams of joy of our youngest learners right behind me. It all made so much sense to me and reminded me how much I appreciate the joy that lives and breathes in this community.
 
If you had told me at the beginning of rabbinical school (or even at the end) that during my first year of the rabbinate, I would be told my senior rabbi was going on sabbatical for three months, I probably would have lifted an eyebrow in inquiry, wondering how that would be possible. In fact, I very well may have done that as Rabbi Feder told me this would be the case. But looking back on these past few months, I am grateful for the opportunity to lead this community and rely on our fantastic team as partners as I approached this period that would be a world of newness for me. I appreciate the trust that has been put in me, and I am able to look back at these past few months and feel proud of the role I have stepped into during this time, even though there were times when I doubted I could.
 
In so many ways this year (well, 11 months and change) was not a surprise, but I could not have predicted so many of the spectacular and challenging things that would happen both in the community and in our world. I felt such joy on the bima at Rosh Hashanah praying with all of you that I had to wipe away a few tears. I felt such pride in so many bet mitzvah students as I watched them deliver sermons we had pored over together in my study. I felt profound sadness as I eulogized the lives at funerals I presided over. I felt deep hope as I placed my hand on the heads of newborns and offered them the ancient words of our tradition—the Priestly Blessing. And I felt vibrant satisfaction as students wisely, and sometimes amusingly, answered my questions during Sunday morning t’filah.
 
I have felt all this and so much more. I know it is just the beginning. I have so much more to learn--about the rabbinate, about all of you, about myself as a rabbi—but I feel grateful to do it in this community; a community where joy flourishes, fun is expected, and connection is cherished. Who knew a year would hold so much? Here’s to more years with more deep feeling and pleasant surprises.