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May 19, 2023 (28 Iyar 5783) Shul is Cool: Shavuoth Memories
Dear Friends, I hope this correspondence finds you doing well and in good health. I look forward to welcoming you to our sanctuary this Saturday morning for Shabbat services which will take place at 10:15am. As always, the service will be available on our regular Zoom prayer link. This upcoming week features several activities that I want to bring to your attention. First, our next installment of Israel Update will take place this Monday night at 8:00pm over Zoom. Our featured speaker is the noted author and lecturer Dr. Tuvia Book, who lives in Modiin, Israel. Dr. Book is visiting the USA and will share thoughts regarding the latest unfortunate violence in the Holy Land. Second, on Thursday night at 8:00pm, we will welcome in the holiday of Shavuoth with an evening service and Tikkun Leil Shavuoth study session, both of which will take place over Zoom. During the study session, we will learn about the marriage of HaShem to the Jewish people. Third, on Friday morning at 10:15AM, we will join in Shul (and over Zoom) for our morning service, which will be followed by cheesecake. The cheesecake will taste better in person, so be sure to join us! Last, on Saturday morning at 10:15AM, the second day of Yuntif, we will gather for the next portion of the holiday, featuring Hallel and Yizkor. The Kiddush should feature blintzes, so be sure to join us then too! I grew up in Toronto, Canada and was blessed to be raised in a family that went to Shul every Shabbat and Yuntif, which made Shul seem really cool. Given the “arctic tundra” of my Canadian youth, Shul was often not only cool, but actually freezing! Considering my profession, I am still very committed to the Shul endeavor. In fact, based on my calculations, I have attended Shul at least 3,500 times in my life just on holidays and Shabbatot. If you factor in weekday Minyanim that number easily rises north of 10,000 times! Among American Jews, Shavuoth is perhaps the least observed of our religious holidays. I do not need to consult the latest Pew Research study to know that the average American Jew is aware of the awesomeness of the High Holidays, the joy of Sukkoth, the flames of Hanukkah, and the redemption of Pesach, but they are less likely to revel in the gift of Matan Torah (the giving of the Torah) and the sanctity of Shavuoth. In fact, they might even argue that Shul is not cool. Ironically, my very first memory of Shul, from when I was only five years old, is of the observance of Shavuoth. The custom of our synagogue was to commence the holiday services by having the little children, who were dressed in their Shul-finery, march down the aisle of the sanctuary holding decorative fruit baskets in their hands. As I can attest, the aisle was daunting, the basket was cumbersome, the smiles of the worshippers were intimidating, and the simplified directions of the ritual director, some 100-feet away, were hugely complicated. Upon ascending the steps of the Bimah, we gently placed the baskets alongside the Aron HaKodesh (the holy ark). Oy, what Naches my family had! This ritual of Bikkurim, or the giving of the first fruits, was a physical reenactment of a biblical ceremony described in a passage from Devarim 26:1-7 and observed historically when the people of Israel finally entered the promised land. “When you enter the land that your God יהוה is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that your God יהוה is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where your God יהוה will choose to establish the divine name. You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before your God יהוה that I have entered the land that יהוה swore to our fathers to assign us.” “Hashem has brought us to this place and given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of your God יהוה.” Later in life, I came to appreciate the poignant nature of this reenactment of my youth. Bikkurim is, in many ways, the end of the story, not of Moses and the Exodus, but of the story of Avraham Avinu, Abraham our spiritual forefather. It is only when we enter the promised land that Hashem’s covenant with the Jewish people is fulfilled (at least from the Divine-end of the contract). By approaching the Temple, or the Aron HaKodesh, I allowed a post-Holocaust community to witness the fulfillment of Divine promise, heavenly security, and the establishment of renewed Jewish life. While not physically in the Holy Land, the approach of impressionable youngsters to the sanctity of the Ark, offered clear evidence of our liturgical mandate, “L’Dor Va’dor” (from generation to generation we shall proclaim God’s greatness). The event was indeed magnificent to me as a five-year old child and it taught me in unequivocal terms that Shul Is Cool. To this day, the recollection of that first Shavuot ceremony brings a smile to my face, while I revel in reflection and a sense of youthful accomplishment! As we enter Shabbat and prepare for the holiday, I look forward to hearing your Shul memories and to sharing my other Shavuoth memories. You will hear of all-night study sessions, early morning sunrise Minyanim, and of course, my mother’s strawberry cheesecake. In the spirit of the holiday, may our days be filled with Torah, learning and prayer, and may the Promised Land of Milk & Honey speedily find the ultimate redemption of eternal peace. Shabbat Shalom & Chag Sameach, Rabbi Eric L. Wasser, EdD, Hon.DM
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