What is it like when we face a moment that we have been born to do, where we must take the risk of a lifetime to save something or someone dear, precious, or even holy?
By RABBI JACOB BLUMENTHALKUDOS TO Mayor Moshe Lion for enabling Nahlaot’s legendary Purim street party to go on.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
I was sitting in a hotel room recently flipping through TV channels and came across the opening scene of one of the Mission Impossible movies. Ethan Hunt, aka Tom Cruise, is climbing a rock formation in the middle of nowhere, when suddenly a helicopter finds him and drops a capsule with his next mission, one which will literally save the world, while of course also putting him and his team in extreme personal danger.While few of us ever face that kind of a challenge, we may well have been confronted with similar turning-point moments – even some that are sacred tasks. What is it like when we face a moment that we have been born to do, where we must take the risk of a lifetime to save something or someone dear, precious, or even holy?The most important moment in Megillat Esther, the story of Esther that we will read on Purim, is the conversation Mordechai has with his niece/cousin Esther. She has the potential to stop the King’s edict to destroy the Jewish people in ancient Persia. But if she fails, “Umee yode’a eem l’eit kazot higat lamalkhut -- Who knows but if it is for this moment that you have been brought into the court,” to save the Jewish people. It is her “Mission Impossible” moment, and she finally accepts it, makes the request of the king, and – spoiler alert – saves the Jewish people.Recently the leadership of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) and the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), leading institutions of the Conservative Movement, announced that we will come together to operate in an integrated and collaborative fashion, including having only one CEO for both organizations. Like Queen Esther, our organizations feel “called” at this moment in Jewish history to a unique and sacred mission. Together we will model the move to an ecosystem of deeper partnership and collaboration, which supports, connects, and empowers our communities, our individual participants, and our leaders.By doing this, we can worry much less about the needs of our individual institutions, and focus instead much more on the work that we are called on to do – to be a force for healing, meaning, connection, and beauty in the world by bringing more Torah and Jewish tradition to more people, in more places, in more ways.Our collaboration will make it possible to:· Encourage visionary change in synagogue life· Develop new models of engagement inside and outside the walls of synagogues, including for youth, college-age individuals, young adults, spiritual seekers, and others who might not otherwise enter our doors· Foster a holistic approach to human talent, re-thinking how we recruit, train, support, transition, and create the highest standards of excellence for clergy, educators, administrators, and lay leaders.· Focus resources, conversation, and sharing of best practices on the most challenging aspects of centrist Jewish life, including our approach to intermarried couples and families, renewal of prayer and spiritual experience, and an approach to halakhah that responds to the needs of lived Jewish experience in a variety of settings around the globe.
· Enable a broad and strategic approach to connecting and convening those who share our approach to Jewish life, including a global gathering in Toronto in December 2021· Develop a platform for helping us track the experiences of our participants across the movement.Throughout my rabbinate and my life, I have always believed that our movement is the authentic space for an ever-evolving, deeply meaningful, and loving Judaism for the vibrant center. And we need to ask ourselves, “Who knows but whether it was for this moment that we have been called” – our synagogues, our rabbis in every setting, cantors, our educators, our lay leaders, our administrators, our funders – to bring our eternal Torah into the lives of people in a way that draws them to higher purpose to transcend division and extremism and bring people towards the center; to engage with and care for one another; to create real community and connection with one another; to find meaning and purpose through a commitment and obligation to something beyond ourselves; to heal our families, our society, our planet, and ourselves.Had Queen Esther failed in her Mission Impossible moment, she may have been warned that Mordechai would disavow any knowledge of her actions. Instead, we read each year as a community with joy of her great success. Likewise, we will celebrate aloud this new collaboration between Our RA and USCJ.And as we celebrate Purim this year, I also hope you will be inspired by Esther’s example to take a moment for reflection on what you are being called to do at this moment in your life that will bring laughter, healing, and meaning to yourself, to others, and to the world.Hag Purim Sameah -- Happy Purim!Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal serves as Chief Executive of the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative and Masorti rabbis. Beginning July 1, 2020, he will also become CEO of United Synagogue, the network of nearly 600 Conservative Jewish communities across North America.
