2005 Rabbinic Charge by Dan Ehrenkrantz

Some years ago, the members of this graduating class decided to change the course of their lives. They decided to dedicate their professional lives to Judaism and the Jewish people. Together, your class has spent a combination of well over fifty years engaged in serious Jewish learning
 
Today, we celebrate you, our graduating class: we celebrate your accomplishments at having successfully completed a rigorous course of study and we celebrate your potential-the hopes and dreams you will be able to fulfill by making the Jewish community better than it ever could have been without your leadership.
 
Your choice to frame your response through the words found in this week's torah portion, the priestly blessing, is particularly fitting.
 
Among the important tasks of the priests was the responsibility to bless the people with these words. Numbers chapter 6 verse 27 pictures God saying: "So they (the priests) shall put My name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them."
 
Although you are not priests, it is the task of leaders to bless the people.
 
One of the ways to understand petitionary prayer, prayer asking God to fulfill our desires, is through the concept of imitatio dei-that is, if we ask God to cure the sick, we are simultaneously reminding ourselves of the importance and value of dedicating ourselves to those who are in need of healing. The efficacy of the prayer then lies in our ability to bring about a change in our own behavior.
 
I would like to examine the priestly benediction--those ancient words found in this week's torah portion and referred to by you in the response of your class a few minutes ago-through this lens. 

Yivarkeha adonay v'yishmarekha-May God bless you and protect you

What is the meaing of bless-barekh?
 
The root of the word barekh is connected to the word for knee. The knee connects the lower leg to the upper leg and allows it to bend. Similarly, a blessing creates a connection. May your rabbinic work be one of constantly creating connections-connections of people to one another, of people to Jewish tradition and of people to themselves. And may those connections allow people to experience new flexibility and spiritual mobility.
 
The root of the word barekh is also connected to the word for a pool of water. Just as when we jump into a pool of water we are refreshed and awakened, so too can a blessing bring us new awareness and make us alive to the present.
 
In your lives as rabbis, you will often find yourselves in situations where you attempt to bring a new perspective or a different approach to the moment. Sometimes you will succeed in helping people or communities navigate difficult territory by helping them discover new ways of thinking, feeling or behaving. When you do so, you will have the rare privilege of fulfilling God's charge to Abraham "va'heyeh brakha"--that you should be a blessing.

V'yishmerekha

To be a guardian is a difficult charge. As rabbis, you are entrusted to represent and ensure the perpetuation of a tradition that is thousands of years old. While the life of a modern rabbi is quite different from that of an ancient rabbi, you share this commitment and this responsibility with the rabbis of the past. Judaism is in your hands.
 
But what does it mean to guard Judaism? Judaism is alive and therefore constantly changing. Being a good guardian means to be able to help Judaism grow in ways that will help it flourish in new environments. Guarding is sometimes about keeping Jewish tradition from being touched by outside influences; and it is sometimes about opening Jewish tradition to creatively engage outside influences.
 
Occasionally, we may discover that the ancient has been waiting for something new in order to allow it to reach its real potential. At this moment I will say that the ancient has been waiting for all of you to help it reach its potential for today's world.
 
You are Judaism's shomrim-while it is the task of the entire Jewish community to determine when guarding Judaism means insulation and when guarding means creative engagement, your opinion and your judgments will typically carry more weight and more power. You are among the very few Jewish leaders in history who have been educated specifically with this tension in mind.
 
The education of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College is unique in the way it balances respect for and knowledge of the past with the tools and the perspective that encourage change and creative experimentation as an approach to bring about a vital Jewish future. Our work has borne great fruit over the last thirty plus years. I have every expectation that the members of the class of 2005 will continue the tradition of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, becoming leaders of organizations that don't yet exist, revitalizing established communities, and changing lives through their caring presence.

Ya'er adonay panav eylekha vihuneka-May God's face give light to you and show you favor

In the Talmud Yerushalmi, masechet pesachim, the image of the face being lit up is used to describe the experience of discovering a new and meaningful teaching. Kohelet teaches: "Hochmat adam ta'ir panav-A person's wisdom lights up their face." The image of Moses coming down the mountain, his face shining, comes to mind.
 
You have had the unique privilege of studying intensively. We all know there is a great difference between having a facility with information and having hokhma, wisdom. People will respect you for what you know, but they will gain most from your ability to turn what you know into the experience of "bringing light to their faces."
 
This experience of bringing light can't come from you alone. The people you encounter must be open to the experience. When it happens, it is a rare and wonderful gift.

Vihuneka

To bring light and to receive light, to gain wisdom and to share wisdom-this is chen, grace. The sum is greater than its constituent parts. We are aware of the touch of the divine.
 
Yisa adonay panav eylekha v'ya'sem lekha shalom-May God's face be lifted toward you and bestow upon you peace.
 
So often, what people need is to have someone "lift their faces towards them." The power of knowing that someone cares, that someone is paying attention, changes the way we experience life.
 
In your careers, you will be asked to make room in your hearts for a great many people. This is one of the spiritual paths you will walk; learning to open your heart again and again to the people you encounter. Their sorrows and joys, their hopes and fears, the petty things they care about and the important things they care about. In all cases, they hope that you will lift your face towards them and by doing so help them find shalom u'shleymoot-a sense of wholeness and completeness.
 
Yivarekheha adonay-make connections, experience and share amazement at life, and you, you yourself, will be a blessing

V'yishmarekha-guard and protect; innovate and create

Ya'er adonay panav eylekha vi'huneka-bring light to people's faces through the teaching and sharing of wisdom isa adonay panav eylekha v'yasem lekha shalom-lift your face towards those you encounter and in doing so help them find wholeness and completeness.
 
And now, let me tell you that you can't be expected to do all this alone. You will need the cooperation of the people you will serve. And most of all, you will need help from your family and friends. If you are to do all this for others, you too must find ways of finding these blessings for yourselves in your own lives.
 
So after exhorting you to bring this God-like presence into the lives of others, let me offer to do my best to bring this presence into your lives and invite all who are here to do the same. Together, we can make the world a better place, a place with more wisdom, more love and more peace.
 
I offer you this creative translation of the priestly blessing written by grandfather, a reconstructionist rabbi, as my personal blessing for you:

May God bless you and be mindful of you. May God illumine your minds and be gracious to you. May God make you conscious of God's presence, fear God's absence and may God grant you that inner wholeness and completeness we call shalom u'shleymoot.
 
These words, the words of the priestly blessing, have been waiting for you to come and fulfill them. They are over 2500 years old, but today, through your commitment to fulfill them in ways unimaginable by their original authors, these ancient words are renewed.
 
I ask all here to join me in renewing the ancient through the present as a commitment we take on to support you and others in making this vision a reality.