V’Ha-S’neh Einenu U’kal
Kol Nidre
October 11, 2016
Rabbi Alan Cook
Sinai Temple, Champaign, Illinois
When representatives from eighteen Jewish families met in the Grand
Army of the Republic Hall on February 7, 1904[1] to
charter this congregation, few of them could have imagined a gathering such as
this. While Jews had gotten together for
High Holiday services in homes and rented spaces since at least 1885, it was
not until 1904 that the leaders of the community felt that they had the need,
and the financial stability, to formally organize as a congregation. As we come together to worship one hundred
twelve years later, we are grateful for their passion and their vision, even as
we look toward the future.
In selecting a name for the congregation, the individuals gathered that
day looked to the venerable Sinai Congregation in Chicago, which had been
founded in 1861[2]. They hoped to emulate that synagogue’s
success. But Sinai also serves as an apt
name for a Jewish congregation because of its importance in Jewish
history. Mount Sinai, of course, is
where the revelation of the Torah is said to have taken place.
And “Sinai” is said to be connected to another Biblical word, “sneh,”
which is used to refer to the burning bush.
You’ll recall that when Moses looks upon the bush, it is engulfed in
flame. Yet Moses’ interest is
particularly drawn because despite the conflagration, “ha-s’neh einenu u’kal,”
“the bush was not consumed.”[3]
There’s a reading in the Reform liturgy that speaks to the miracle of
the burning bush. It states in part:
Days pass and the years vanish,
and we walk sightless among miracles…
Help us to see, wherever we gaze,
that the bush burns unconsumed.
And we, clay touched by God, will
reach out for holiness, and exclaim in wonder:
How filled with awe is this place,
and we did not know it![4]
This prayer reminds us that the sneh, the burning bush, is
ever-present in our lives, beckoning us to approach the world with a sense of
awe and wonder. Through the ages, as in
the biblical text, the sneh itself continues to exist, despite being
subjected to extreme conditions.
Over the years, the same could be said for this very congregation. Though financial circumstances and social
circumstances have shifted, though key employers such as the university and
Carle Hospital have had their own ups and downs, though pillars of our
community have passed on or moved away, and though in 1971 our original
building at Clark and State was destroyed by fire, ha-sneh einenu ukal—the
core of our congregation has not been consumed, but rather has continued to
thrive.
As I begin my fourth year with this holy congregation, I’d like to take
a moment to think about the future of Sinai Temple. How can we build for the next hundred years
and beyond, adapting to the needs of our community, while remaining true to our
core ideals? What steps shall we take to
keep our progressive Jewish values alive in the heartland?
These High Holidays are a time for personal introspection and reflection. We engage in cheshbon ha-nefesh, an
accounting of our souls, as we reflect on what our successes and achievements
have been in the past, and honestly evaluate where we need to make improvements
for the future. Tonight, we’ll also
engage in a bit of cheshbon ha-kehillah, an accounting of our
congregation.
Throughout our holiday season, we return to an anthem based on Psalm
122: Samachti b’omrim li, beit Adonai neilech—“I rejoiced when they said
to me, ‘Come, let us go to God’s house.’”
It should be a joy to come into Sinai Temple—whether you are here for
worship, or religious school, or a social event, or just to drop off something
in the office. You deserve to be greeted
warmly whenever you call or visit—as I hope you were this evening. We are always happy to see familiar faces at
Sinai; you are an important part of the fabric of our community. And if you are newly exploring Sinai, or
visiting from out of town, welcome! We
are so honored that you’ve chosen to worship with us tonight, and we hope we’ve
helped you to feel at home.
We will continue to build a vibrant home here for all the Jews, and
explorers of Judaism, who reside in East Central Illinois. We will honor our storied heritage, even as
we prepare to meet the needs and challenges of American Jewry in the 21st
century. It is doubtful that our
founders in 1904 could have envisioned the wide tent that our congregation has
established today. But we pledge to
embrace all who wish to cast their lot with us: straight, gay, bisexual,
transgendered, or questioning; those born Jewish and those choosing Judaism;
spouses and partners of Jews who, though they practice another faith,
nonetheless welcome Judaism into their homes; Jews of every race and skin tone,
and Jews of every denominational stripe.
We celebrate the wide variety of people in our midst. V’ha-sneh einenu ukal- and Sinai’s
core essence remains, and our diversity enriches our experience.
Along with our diverse personalities, we are pleased to celebrate our
disparate modes of expressing our Jewish beliefs and ideals. I am proud to be part of this congregation
that offers a wide range of liturgical choices: from the Egalitarian
Traditional Minyan to our Reform services, to the English service that was the
brainchild of Judy and Peter Braunfeld and will celebrate its fifteenth
anniversary in November, to our Shabbat Rocks and Next Dor! worship
opportunities for our students. This
year, we will introduce our Friday Night Feasts: on the first Friday of each
month, you are invited to join us for an early Kabbalat Shabbat service,
followed by a chance to enjoy Shabbat dinner as a community and socialize with
all of your Sinai Temple friends.
And with our different modes of worship come distinct ways of
connecting with the divine through music.
In any given month you may hear traditional nusach chants;
classic melodies from Martha and our soloists; selections from our Shabbat
Singers choir; contemporary melodies from the Shabbat Family Folk Singers; and
guitar-driven music from Larry Adleston, Jessica Kopolow, Ethan Soloveychik,
and Kayla Israel, who help to lead our younger worshippers. We continue to build our musical repertoire,
melding familiar melodies that have stood the test of time with contemporary
compositions that cast well-known liturgies in a new light. We innovate, while always acknowledging our
roots. V’ha-sneh einenu ukal- and
Sinai shall continue to thrive.
We will offer exciting, incisive, and significant educational
programming, beginning with our youngest students in Hand-in-Hand and progressing
through adult learning opportunities.
Our Hebrew and Religious School students, under the guidance of Rabbi
Jody and her staff, will continue to get the knowledge and skills they need to
lead proud and meaningful Jewish lives.
We will constantly strive to innovate and will remain abreast of current
trends in education, so that we may meet the needs of all of our learners. Recognizing that learning does not stop when
one completes grade school, we will also continue to provide adult education
opportunities, from our Saturday morning Torah study group to our Sunday
morning Talmud classes to our Sunday adult ed gatherings and our monthly “News
and Nosh” discussions. We were thrilled
to welcome Rabbi Sally Priesand a few weeks ago, and will welcome Rabbi Gary
Zola as our Steinberg scholar-in-residence in the spring.
We will support the land of Israel and her people, and to embrace her
promise as a homeland for the Jewish people and a beacon of democracy in that
region. We pledge to continue to discuss
and debate the best ways for her to be true to that mission. We recognize that we may be critical of her
leaders and their policies while steadfastly championing her continued
existence. We will advocate for
political leadership that strives toward peace for all peoples, and we will
work to support social policies that recognize the broad range of Jewish
expression within the land of Israel, and work to promote policies and
procedures that further egalitarianism and religious pluralism. We acknowledge the essential humanity of all
those living in the area—Israeli and Palestinian; Jews, Muslims, Christians,
and Druze; those of every faith, gender, and political stripe—and we seek to
lift up those programs and causes that will affirm this truth for all those who
call this region home. We know that we
are not homogenous in our opinions regarding Israel and her role in American
Jewish life, and we seek to provide a safe space to explore such issues in a
respectful manner. V’ha-sneh einenu ukal-
and Sinai shall continue to thrive.
We will affirm our commitment to works of social justice, in support of
our sacred calling l’taken olam b’malchut Shaddai, to restore the world
to wholeness according to God’s vision.
This will be realized through discrete projects such as holding blood
drives, providing food for the hungry through our High Holiday campaign for the
Eastern Illinois Food Bank, and participating in the Habitat for Humanity
build. But it will also be articulated
in long-range efforts, such as seeking partnerships in our community across the
boundaries of faith, race, sexual and gender orientation, and socio-economic
status. We will work with our Christian
and Muslim friends and neighbors; we will work with the LGBT community. We will work with the African-American
community, the Hispanic community, and the international community. We will work with all those who are
marginalized by our society. When we are
good partners in our community, we are strengthened and enriched. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “That
which draws us nearer to our fellow man is this - that the deep heart in one
answers the deep heart in another, that we find we have a common nature, one
life that runs through all individuals, which is indeed Divine.”[5]
V’ha-sneh einenu ukal- and Sinai shall continue to thrive.
We will always look upon ourselves as a kehillah kedoshah, a
sacred community. We will rejoice
together in times of simcha and we will provide uplift to one another in
times of sadness and struggle. We will
seek out opportunities to socialize and strengthen our connections to one
another.
But all of these affirmations that we make will have little resonance
if we do not ensure that this building, our congregational home, is capable of
providing for the needs of this community well into the future. As you are hopefully aware, we have recently
begun to explore modifications to our building—with a particular focus on our
sacred spaces and our outdoor gardens—with an eye toward bringing them into the
21st century. The first phase
of this effort is visioning: several dozen of you were present on a recent
Sunday morning when Sanford Hess facilitated a discussion of our most pressing
needs. We appreciate the feedback that
we received, and we will continue to provide opportunities for everyone to share opinions and insights.
Some of the changes will be purely aesthetic and cosmetic: this
building was dedicated in April of 1975; it is my understanding that the last
significant upgrade to our public spaces was in 2003 with the installation of
our beautiful ark doors in the sanctuary.
Carpeting and many other fixtures are still original, from when the
facility opened. We note with love and
appreciation the hard work, tireless energy, and generous financial
contributions given by so many that originally constructed this building. Now it is time to develop a vision for how we
and future generations will experience this space.
There are practical needs, as well, that
will shape how we move forward. Much of
the work to be done revolves around the theme of accessibility. The bimah
must be more accessible to those who have difficulties with mobility, so that
all may have the opportunity to enjoy an aliyah, a birthday blessing, or
any other pulpit honor. The lighting in
the sanctuary and pods must be improved and our audio systems upgraded.
Better video capabilities will eventually allow us
to livestream services and programs; if there are congregants who can’t come to
Sinai for an event, we’ll bring Sinai to them!
Our outdoor spaces,
including the Cohen, Neuman, and Einhorn gardens, will be improved in order to
make them more visually appealing, easier to maintain, and practical as event
space. Each step of the way, every
effort will be made to inform and elicit input from all of us. And though
changes will be made—and that’s sometimes difficult to embrace when you are
emotionally, spiritually, or historically attached to a place or an idea—I
assure you that ha-sneh einenu ukal-
our core essence shall remain unchanged, and Sinai shall continue to
thrive.
Some of the changes that that need to be made won’t seem quite as
exciting because they involve operational systems that most of us do not
usually see (so long as they are running properly). For instance, to heat and cool a building of
this size requires a great deal of HVAC infrastructure. It behooves us to plan ahead for maintenance
and repair of these systems. There are roofing and electrical issues that are to be expected
in an aging building, but need to be addressed.
Many of us have fulfilled our building fund pledges, and several have responded to last year’s call for additional capital
to help with maintenance. This generosity
is greatly appreciated. And of course,
we are all grateful to those seated among us
today who were contributors to the campaign that originally provided for the
construction of this building, and those who supported the addition of the
Davis Chapel and the new classroom wing in the late 1990s. With this new campaign, we seek to continue
to celebrate our past, while planning for a bright tomorrow.
You may recall that on Rosh Hashanah, I shared the Talmudic story of
Honi, who ridiculed a man for planting carob trees whose fruit he would never
personally enjoy. The man chastised
Honi, reminding him that carob trees existed when he was born, and that it was
important to plant for forthcoming generations.
Our upcoming campaign will only be successful if we if we can
each embrace this reality: it is incumbent upon each of us to help prepare for
the future, even if we may not fully reap the benefits ourselves.
I have devoted my Kol Nidre sermon to talking about these plans for our
Temple, and how I see Sinai developing over the next several years, because I
believe in this place and what it has meant to so many generations of Jews here
in East Central Illinois. I believe in
all of us, and our power to continue to create a loving and thriving
community. We will all need to share our
ideas, our energy, and our enthusiasm.
And yes, we will need everyone’s financial commitment.
The development committee and the board are dedicated to finding donor
opportunities that are accessible to all, no matter your personal
finances. We hope that everyone who
cares about Sinai Temple—and all of us who are here tonight hopefully see
ourselves as stakeholders—will find some manner in which each person and every
household can participate.
If you are visiting with us from out of town this evening, or you are a
local who has not yet affiliated with us, again we welcome you, and we invite
you to share in our dream of a bright tomorrow.
For those who are so inclined, pre-stamped, pre-addressed donation
envelopes are available outside the chapel and the sanctuary. Funds received will be used to start off our
building improvement campaign.
Rabbi Hillel taught, “Al tifrosh min ha-tzibbur, do not separate
yourself from the community.”[6]As we
enter the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, let us embrace one another in the
spirit of the kehillah kedosha, the holy community in which we find
ourselves. Let us renew our commitment
to making our congregation a vital center of Jewish life, worship, study, and
celebration. United in this commitment,
we will continue to be strong. V’ha-s’neh
einenu ukal- and the light and essence of Sinai Temple will shine brightly
for years to come.
[1]
Amid the Alien Corn, (self-published history of Sinai Temple) p. 12-13
[2]
See http://www.chicagosinai.org/chicago-reform-congregation/first-reform-synagogue-chicago
for that congregation’s history.
[3]
See Exodus, chapter 3
[4] A
reading by Chaim Stern, appearing in Mishkan
T’filah: A Reform Siddur (New York: Central Conference of American Rabbis,
2007).
[5]
From The Complete Sermons of Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Vol. 3 (Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1991)
[6]
Mishnah Avot 2:5
