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Professor Marvel's Crystal Ball & Rabbi Dror's Rosh HaShanah Question
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The Good News and the Bad News" Adam Parker is Homesick for RST
By Tess Goldblatt, Education Coordinator
How did modern culture come to associate crystal balls with seeing into the future? I keep thinking about the various crystal balls in The Wizard of Oz.As far as I recall, none of them helped see into the future.Professor Marvel's crystal ball showed Dorothy what was currently going on at home. It became crystal clear to Dorothy that she needed to get back to the farm.The Wizard's crystal ball helped her see what was good and right about "no place like home."
Lately, I want a crystal ball!I've been pondering one of the questions posed by Rabbi Dror in her Rosh HaShanah sermon: "What are we doing at Rodef Sholom Temple today that our children will remember in 40 years?"
I want a future-seeing crystal ball that would let me glimpse our kids in 40 years! Or, could I at least have one that would help me see with clarity and certainty that what we're doing right now is the right stuff? I would love to tell you with total clarity that in 40 years our kids are going to remember doing Havdalah on the opening day of Sunday School. I would even love to tell you with certainty that the kids will remember sitting on the bema while the shofar was blown… some of them scared… some of them enthralled. I spend many hours each week trying to figure out what lasting impressions we should be creating for our kids at RST. I'd love to have a crystal ball to help me out with this one!
So, without any crystal balls in my kit bag, I proceeded with a very unscientific and anecdotal approach to try to answer Rabbi's question for myself.
This first anecdote gave me goose bumps.The good news and the bad news is that Adam Parker is homesick for RST. Susan Longman and Johnny Parker initially told me this about their son, and I checked it out for myself by calling him. Adam has given me his permission to share this story:
16-year old Adam Parker describes being "born into Rodef Sholom Temple. I've been there my whole life."He was confirmed through our religious school in 10th grade. Adam now attends high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. Adam says he'd been attending Friday Night Shabbat dinners locally. With a very small Jewish population, there are no Shabbat services available.His first chance to attend formal services there was on Rosh HaShanah.
Adam says, "Rosh HaShanah was the first time I've felt homesick.I missed Rodef Sholom Temple and my congregation.There was no spiritual significance to the day…. It was almost all in English and I felt no Jewish connection with the service."Suffice it to say, Adam missed his Jewish spiritual home!
I can almost imagine Adam, like Dorothy, peering into the Wizard's crystal ball, seeing the good and right things about "home." I can't begin to dissect exactly what Susan, Johnny, and RST did for 16 years of Adam's life that led up to his feeling homesick.The point is: He was.
Rabbi Dror asks us to consider what we're doing now that our kids will remember in 40 years. Adam's almost half-way there, and based on his story, I'm seeing Hebrew and the High Holidays in the notional crystal ball, but I can't see every detail.
More unscientific, anecdotal research:We can't peer into the future 40 years, but what do we remember from our synagogues 40 years ago?
My husband in the Chicago suburbs: Rick recalls sitting in the sanctuary at his synagogue and imagining things on the bema had military shapes: The ark looked like a Polaris missile; the pulpits looked like the bows of aircraft carriers, and so on. He recalls having to wear a coat and tie to Sunday School and having textbooks, tests, and homework. He recalls hating it.
Myself in Orlando, FL: I can still see what the Hebrew curriculum looked like. It was the time of the Apollo moon missions, and I can see the black and white drawings of astronaut kids learning the alef-bet from moon people. I remember is being slightly "scared" of the rabbi's tone of voice in sermons that I didn't quite understand.My legs didn't reach the floor when I sat in that sanctuary. And, I remember indignant feelings when I learned that you had to pay membership dues to a temple.I did not understand that temples had salaries and electricity bills, or moldy ceilings, broken dishwashers, and burst water pipes to fix. I thought we had to "pay to pray to God," and I was very confused about that.
My daughter here at RST: When I asked Annie what she THINKS she MIGHT remember about RST in 40 years, she answered immediately, "That you sing an octave lower than everybody else."Actually, her answer isn't too far off from the kinds of things Rick and I recall about our shuls when we were young… so she doesn't mind sharing her observation.
These answers are, in fact, fairly superficial.They are the "face" of some possible answers to Rabbi's question. But I want to suggest that there might also be a "soul" to these answers. When we study Jewish texts, we can look at the p'shat, or the plain meaning of a text… what's on the surface. Or we can look at the sod, where we try to find the "secret" or soulful meaning behind the plain meaning of the text.
After all, despite hating Sunday School and wandering attention, Rick is living a Jewish life. Though silly, I remember that my feet didn't reach the floor, yet today Rick and I are raising a Jewish family together. I am THRILLED that my daughter hears me singing in the sanctuary regardless of the octave I choose! Adam Parker misses the "spiritual significance" already integrated into his Jewish identity by age 16. As Susan Longman points out, "I was glad that Adam sought out services on his own." That's what I call significant information!
As I peer into my notional crystal ball, the "face" of these answers is mostly nebulous, superficial, uncertain, and a mystery… but the "soul" of these unscientific samples, to me, is that we are living Jewish lives.
I'm guessing that in 40 years, maybe SOMEONE will remember Sh'Mama, but I wouldn't bet money on it.Maybe someone will remember tossing breadcrumbs at the beach for taschlich or banging the tables during Birkat Hamazon, but I'm still not betting money on that either.I am willing to bet with my time and energy, though, that in 40 years, many (and I pray most) of our kids will be living Jewish lives. If I could look into Professor Marvel's crystal ball, I think I would see crystal clearly that this is work worth doing. I think Susan and Johnny would agree their time has been well-spent.
Rabbi Dror's question is worth pondering.What do you remember from 40 years ago? And, if you did have a future-seeing crystal ball, what do you think you'd see?Let's talk about it: education@rodefsholomtemple.org
Education Coordinator
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