Sermon: Shabbat Ha’azinu (Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner)

Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 27 September 2017

Just three letters. Two tiny dynamite words of only three letters. “Why?” and “How?”

 

These tiny words best embody the curiosity and inquisitive nature we want everyone, of all ages, to approach the world with.

 

We may love these questions,  but so often, we don’t have the answer to them.

 

As Jews, we devote almost a month and a half to an intensive process of asking this question of ourselves. Again and again we pose that same question: why? Why do we act the way we do? Why are we the people we are? How do we improve, how do we sustain the change? From the start of the Hebrew month of Elul leading up to Rosh Hashanah and all the way through to the final blast of the Shofar on Yom Kippur, we probe ourselves, trying to uncover more answers.

 

Our self-questioning reaches a climactic point in the most powerful reflective moments when we approach the confession, the Vidui. In that moment, in our high holy day prayer book, the Machzor, we read the wisest text, which I adore because it forces me to own up to where I am stuck:

 

“Before a person is healed, they must acknowledge their illness. Before a person finds light, they must know their own darkness.”

 

This is also the time of year when we widen our search for truth. We ask wider fundamental questions – why are we, as Jews, as Reform Jews, engaging in all of this introspection, self-reflection every single year?

 

What makes us return to this place and be a part of this community together every year? After all, we’ve seen in the news recently that being part of a religious community in Britain is more and more becoming a minority pursuit. We are all here though. Why? I believe there’s a simple answer that’s included in the second part of the confession, vidui, text which states that this self-reflection has to be more than just about us – we need to repent not just for just for ourselves but also for others, as it says, “for we are responsible each for the other”.

 

We return to our communities and flourish in communities as our communities are built on covenant – a commitment to each other that demands us to act. At times of celebration, we share in each other’s joy. In times of grief, we console one another and share the burdens of life. We feed each other, teach each other and provide for each other. In a world that has become ever more about the individual and less and less about communities, we buck the trend and show the power of what mutual relationships, can achieve.

 

In the portion from Deuteronomy, Nitzavim, that we hear heard on Rosh Hashanah, Moses reaffirms God’s Covenant to the Israelites – “you are God’s people…God is your God”. This is not the first time God establishes this kind of agreement. From the first covenant to Noah when God promised never to destroy the world again, marked by the rainbow to through the covenant between God and Abraham marked by the ritual of circumcision, covenants are renewed again and again.

 

Now is the time for us, as Reform Jews, to make explicit our relationship with each other through a national covenant of Reform Judaism that we are launching this year. This will be Covenant, a mutual understanding and commitment between our communities, rabbis and the central movement, Reform Judaism – or what I call Reform Judaism.org. We are inviting you to be an active part of this process.

 

What will this covenant look like? It will address our key questions directly, such as why are we involved in our Judaism? What is the nature of our relationships with one another? How should we relate to each other when we agree and when we disagree?

 

Our new Reform Judaism Covenant will articulate the key values that tie us together as a national movement. It will ensure that we spend more time talking the language of Reform Judaism, and not just talking about the practical details, the day-to-day processes that keep us moving – important, though they are. Our Covenant will give us the space to ask each other “Why?” And then “How?”

 

Only if we renew and restate our guiding values, how we interact with one another, our covenant, will we possess the foundation and strength to impact not only on ourselves, but on wider society as well.

 

I believe we should strengthen our Covenant now because Reform Judaism is needed in Britain more than ever. For instance, this year has been a very challenging one in Britain. When terrorist attacks occurred in London and Manchester, the government called on Reform Judaism to lead other faiths in reacting to these terrible events as we are recognized as outward facing, diverse, aspirational. We live holistic lives, linking who we are in synagogues, homes and who we are in the street. We bring our values into the world we live and we should be proud of the impact we have, of the example we set, we should be proud of being a highly valued part of Britain’s changing landscape.

 

Our covenant, how we are in relationship with one another, will deepen our identity and strengthen our well founded capacity to adapt to change. Every year, our teshuvah, our return means we must reevaluate ourselves and our Judaism. We are hardwired to evolve as Jews in response to changing external and internal circumstances.  The lesson of our heritage and our history is that our communities and values are strong enough to adapt to almost any circumstances without breaking.

 

As the demographic research confirms, in the face of overall decline of the non-Haredi, non Ultra-Orthodox Judaism community, the proportion of the community that we make up has continued to rise. In many respects, we are increasingly becoming the primary alternate voice and space to Haredi Judaism.

 

Our Judaism is robust, resilient as it’s entrenched in tradition; embraces evolution and change and now our different elements, stakeholders – rabbis, communities and the central movement will closer together through our Covenant.

 

In the same Deuteronomy portion we read on Rosh Hashanah, Nitzavim, Moses also tells the Israelites “that the Covenant with God is also with “those who are not present this day.” I ask you as a community get involved this year in the national process of articulating our covenant of and our commitment to Reform Judaism, just as Moses and God did with those who are no longer present, so that we better our world for future generations, for those who are not yet with us.

Shabbat shalom, G’mar Chatimah tovah