Installation Sermon December 5 2009 - Shir Tikvah

private; Torah is lifted before the congregation, in community. So, too, with us. We must lift
each other. We must support each other as we try the heavy lifting of study, tradition, ritual,
and the pursuit of justice. In our holy congregation, we must also create space for others to see
the uplifted scroll, to move to the side or adjust ourselves, so others, too, might see their own
reflection in the radiance of Torah. The 19 th century Hasidic rabbi, Menachem Mendl of Kotzk
— known as the Kotzker Rebbe—taught, “The giving of the Torah took place in the month of
Sivan, but the receiving of the Torah takes place every day. The giving of the Torah was the
same for everyone, but the receiving is different for each person according to his ability to
understand.” (Emet Ve-Emunah).
Hagbah is a call to each of us: to expose the treasures of our tradition for all to share, to learn, to
seek inspiration and comfort and guidance in a world that is ever more spiritually sublime and
morally complex.
As a rabbi in the 21 st century—nearly 2000 years since the first rabbi was ordained—my central
religious task remains as precious as it was for the students in the first seminary in Yavneh two
millennia ago: To cultivate a community committed to lifelong Torah study and spiritual
inquiry, to ethical and compassionate living. As our congregation’s spiritual leader, my
responsibility is to call us to examine in a very practical way, how we organize our congregation,
our learning, our priorities, and our resources, to lift up Torah for every soul who wishes to
encounter it, who seeks a Jewish life of promise and purpose.
My prayer is that our engagement with Torah will inspire great Jewish self confidence, an
increased passion and commitment to lifelong Jewish learning, a smoldering prioritization to
connect with community, and an unyielding commitment to justice and righteousness. As we
breathe Torah to life when we chant its words, we make manifest the central mitzvot of our rich
Jewish tradition and heritage: the observance of Shabbat and holy time; the Oneness of the
universe and the embracing Divine Presence; the mystery of human relationships; the clarion call
to care for the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the strangers in our midst. As we gather on
Shabbat and raise the Torah, we proclaim a Jewish future robust with vigor and vitality. For Rav
Kook proclaimed, the old shall be renewed, and the new shall be made holy.
This probing study and observance of Jewish time is not merely because it enriches our souls
and gives our lives meaning—though it certainly does that! Over the past two decades, led by
the indefatigable Rabbi Offner, Shir Tikvah created an expansive community of radical
inclusion. When asked the timeless question: Are we our brother and our sister’s keeper? Shir
Tikvah repeatedly answered without equivocation, “YES! We are our brother’s keeper. We are
our sister’s keeper!” Time and again, on the great moral and social issues of the day—from
Darfur to the treatment of Somali Refugees here in the Twin Cities, from AIDS to homelessness,
from Domestic Violence to Environmental Justice—Shir Tikvah has led the way for justice. Our
prayer and our study compel us to act in the world, to make God’s mitzvot and the Prophet’s
vision real: to make justice roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream!
In our parsha this Shabbat, in the dark of night, Jacob wrestles with beings Divine and human.
Confronted with the demons of his past and the truths of his life, Jacob becomes Israel. We do
not become without struggle. Pain and suffering are seemingly part of the bargain for being
human. An authentic religious enterprise seeks to end the suffering of God’s creation where