As the holidays approach, I am always confounded by the habits of many of my Jewish brothers and sisters. First, I wonder what it is like being a twice-a-year Jew...the Jew who comes to temple on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and never sets foot in a service the rest of the year. Or the one who does not even belong to a temple and scrambles to find a place to be on the holidays but has no connection to the community among which they sit. Without passing judgment, I am saddened by the fact that these people haven't found anything worth connecting to the rest of the year. Their Judaism eludes them. They are connected by a thin strand of tradition held over from a long-gone family or even worse, a sense of guilt.
But then I also think of the institutions where hypocrisy and cynicism are the loudest messages during this holy season. The politics of ticket distribution, honors, seating and even parking set up a hierarchy that is almost caste-like in its divisiveness. Maybe we are the creators of the twice-a-year Jew. Maybe we have diminished the holiness of these Holy Days through an over-emphasis on process over product; turning off those on the fence instead of turning them on and drawing them in.
I pray that these holidays, especially because of the nature of this year that has been so challenging in so many ways, brings out the compassion and outreach that are the best our congregations have to offer and that our doors are always open to those who seek to renew their spiritual life. May those who come in for their twice yearly visit, be drawn in to stay, to pray, to study, and connect to a community that so desperately needs their presence and their voice.
But then I also think of the institutions where hypocrisy and cynicism are the loudest messages during this holy season. The politics of ticket distribution, honors, seating and even parking set up a hierarchy that is almost caste-like in its divisiveness. Maybe we are the creators of the twice-a-year Jew. Maybe we have diminished the holiness of these Holy Days through an over-emphasis on process over product; turning off those on the fence instead of turning them on and drawing them in.
I pray that these holidays, especially because of the nature of this year that has been so challenging in so many ways, brings out the compassion and outreach that are the best our congregations have to offer and that our doors are always open to those who seek to renew their spiritual life. May those who come in for their twice yearly visit, be drawn in to stay, to pray, to study, and connect to a community that so desperately needs their presence and their voice.