Installation Sermon December 5 2009 - Shir Tikvah

impatient soul how magnificent life and love can be. Zeh dodi, zeh rei-i: Forever in my heart, you
are my beloved and my friend.
To our beloved daughters, Noa and Liati: I cannot remember what my heart felt like before you
grew inside. I am awed by your love and grateful every waking hour for your sticky fingers and
demand of your tired dads to read one more story and watch one more movie, sing one more
song and give you just one more hug before bedtime. Nothing makes me prouder than being your
dad. Thank you for teaching me what it means to be fully alive.
Finally, to you, the members of Shir Tikvah, for the honor of being your rabbi, I am grateful and
humbled. I pledge to you today and every day to honor the traditions and past of this holy
community as we move forward and write new songs of hope for the future.
A Rabbinic Installation at its ikar—at its core—is about hope, about the blossoming
relationship between rabbi and congregation, about pausing at this moment to celebrate our
shared commitment to move forward and continue shaping our holy community. Together, we
are building upon a foundation of 21 years of tenderness, compassion, integrity, and vision. And
there is still much work to be done. To secure a vital future, every one of us will be called to open
our hearts, lift up our hands, share our resources, and renew the faith of Shir Tikvah’s vision.
Our ancestor Jacob, in the dark night of the soul, begged to be blessed, pleaded for life from an
elusive encounter with the Divine.
There is no such pleading here at Shir Tikvah; we have an abundance of blessings for one
another and the world. We are here, gathered together in this holy congregation, with the
purpose of reaching out and blessing one another’s lives.
Today is a celebration: out of many, we are one. God willing, when we look back on this season a
in generation or two, I pray we will tell stories of how members of Shir Tikvah served as God’s
agents, Divine messengers for justice and equality and peace; that when history called upon us to
be a transformative force for good in the world, we answered in the affirmative; that we
embraced every opportunity to alleviate suffering; and that we were lifelong students of Torah
and beacons of hope for ourselves, our loved ones, our community, and our world.
On this Shabbat, let us recommit ourselves to Shir Tikvah’s exalted vision: to be an inclusive,
welcoming, dynamic, progressive synagogue community, rooted in tradition, with branches
lifting us toward the heavens. Let us make a congregation and a world renewed with the vitality
of Divine promise as we sing Isaiah’s hopeful melody: You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the
mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Keyn Y’hi Ratzon.
Shabbat Shalom.