Torah Tidbits

Moving Forward!
Shabbat Parashat Sh’lach L’cha
June 14, 2014 – 16 Sivan 5774    featured-rabbi

Moving Forward!

As a community, we have decided to move forward.  Thanks to our leadership, headed by our immediate past president, Josh David, to our officers, to our executive and board, and to our many volunteers and members, after Tuesday night’s annual meeting, we are no longer on the fence!   Now, our challenge is to retain the wonderful spirit of Rodef Sholom Temple as we move forward.

We are a unique congregation on the Peninsula.

We are warm and welcoming.

We come together to pray, to celebrate, to learn, to rejoice, and to strengthen and to comfort one another in times of need.

We listen to one another with respect, and when we discuss issues amongst ourselves, we bring our varied perspectives to bear in our conversations, and those varied perspectives are very much appreciated.

Our Torah discussions lend themselves to continued conversation, to action, and to community building within Rodef Sholom Temple, and beyond.

We have a vibrant, well-attended, weekly Monday and Thursday morning minyan, in addition to our weekly Friday night and Shabbat morning services.

We are connected, in a very real way, both to Israel and to the Conservative/Masorti Movement in Israel and around the world.

Many of our members serve in leadership positions in the Jewish community and in the community at large.  This is not a co-incidence.  Studies have shown that the institutions of the Conservative Movement (synagogues, summer camps, schools, etc.) have produced the vast majority of people who are currently in leadership positions in Jewish organizations across the entire country.

As we read this week’s Torah portion of Sh’lach L’cha, we are reminded of the importance of keeping a positive attitude as we move forward.  The ten scouts who reported back to our people, in ancient times, that the challenges which lay before them were insurmountable, did not do us a service.  It was those 2 scouts who encouraged us to take a “can do” attitude who ultimately helped our people transition from the desert and into the Promised Land.

The future is never entirely clear before it unfolds.  Our shared faith, coupled with a realistic “can do” attitude, will stand us in good stead as we move forward.

Our continued desire to listen appreciatively to one another; to care about our tradition in a world that is constantly changing; to develop our congregation; and to be an integral part of the vibrant future of the Jewish people on the Peninsula, and beyond will lead us to the coming chapters in the history of Rodef Sholom Temple!

We are a unique congregation on the Peninsula, and we are moving forward!

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Gilah Dror