Daily Kavanah – Shabbat Message From Rabbi Yoshi – Friday, June 16, 2023

Just one week ago, I had a conversation with a colleague about changes in Jewish life and education. The conversation centered around confirmation, a practice now more than 200 years old in the Reform movement. As you walk down the main hallway in our Sanctuary building, you see photos of enormous classes—50-60 high school students every year—but, as the years go by, the classes become considerably smaller.

One might infer that participation in post-b’nai mitzvah Jewish education at Wise has dwindled. Tell that to the nearly 100 teens I saw gathered in our Zeldin-Hershenson Hall for Camp Wise orientation this week. Tell that to the nearly 200 teens active in one or more of our programs, from serving as staff for Camp Wise during the spring and summer, to our Wise Readers to Leaders Junior Literacy Leaders, to our Wise Temple Youth members, to our Sunday morning madrichim.

They come for all sorts of different reasons: to see their friends, to connect with beloved staff and clergy, and—I think above all else—because they feel called to contribute, to make a difference, to serve.

This is what inspires me most—their desire to serve others.

I’m thinking especially about service this week, as we prepare formally to install our new Board of Directors this Shabbat. Our lay leadership at Stephen Wise Temple and Schools truly embodies one of my favorite verses from the Psalms:

We are called by our tradition to serve, to contribute joyfully to our community, our tradition, our future, and our God.

Walking around Zeldin-Hershenson Hall, I reconnected with young people whose b’nai mitzvah I had the privilege to officiate in recent years, graduates of our schools, friends of my daughters, children of congregants whom I’ve come to know so well. They were there for all sorts of good reasons related to community and to the joy you can experience when you are embraced by it. But they were there to serve, as well, with joy and with gladness.

May their example inspire us all to think about how we might serve others, our community, and our world more fully.

Shabbat Shalom,

—Rabbi Yoshi