When people ask me
about The Community Synagogue, one of the things which I love to talk about is
the Torah study program which we have at this synagogue. I speak with pride
about the fact that every Shabbat morning at 9am a group of people come
together to learn about the week’s Torah portion. This is a group which I enjoy
spending time with, and the questions and insights which they raise always deepen
my own understanding of the Torah.
As impressive as this
is, people are usually even more struck when I tell them about our 6th
and 7th Grade Torah study program, taking place at the same time
during the school year. While I know that people are there because it is a
required part of our Bnei Mitzvah program (I’m sure many would rather still be
in bed), I love the fact that children come together with their parents to
study and learn. There is a unique energy in the room which comes from adults
and children studying together. I will be honest and admit that it was one of
the most intimidating things I had to do when I started here as a Rabbi (and it
took some time for me to find my groove), but it is now a group I really look
forward to learning with.
On Shabbat mornings as
a community we make a real statement that Jewish education, and especially the
study of Torah, is something which we should be engaging with at every stage of
our lives. In the wider American Jewish community, many people wrongly assume
that study and learning can finish with the Bar or Bat Mitzvah. In reality
learning, and especially the study of Torah, is something which we should
engage with at every stage of our life.
In the Talmud Rabbi Ben
Bag Bag famously said of the Torah: ‘turn it, turn it, because everything is in
it’. It was a reminder that every time we return to the study of Torah we learn
something new which speaks directly to us. The answers and the lessons are
always there within it, but they wait for us to be in the right place, at the
right stage of life, to ask the question and thus learn the answer we need to
hear.
In putting together the
core values of our Synagogue it was clear that Education and Torah would be an
important piece of what we do. We would not be The Community Synagogue, which
all of you know and (I hope) love, without our Early Childhood Center, our Religious
School, and our Hebrew Chai program; together providing for the educational
needs of our children from birth until the age of 18. But in making a statement
about education and Torah it had to reach beyond just this group and so we seek
to provide ‘meaningful Jewish learning experiences to nurture an environment of
lifelong learning’.
Learning is an
important part of what we do as a community, and it is an important part of
what we do as Jews. In the times of the Talmud the Rabbis were once sitting
around together discussing whether study or action is greater. Rabbi Tarfon
(who famously said: ‘it is not your duty to complete the task, but neither are
you free to desist from it’) said that action was greater; while Rabbi Akiva
said that study was greater. The other Rabbis got involved and ultimately
decided that study was greater because it leads to action. For the Rabbis study
was arguably the most important pursuit because it leads us to be active in the
world.
For us today sometimes
our study together will lead us to action, but sometimes we can study lashem
shamayim simply for the honor of Heaven, for the enjoyment of the learning.
At various stages of our lives we will be looking for different things from our
Jewish education, but the important thing to remember is that through all of
the stages your Community Synagogue is here to provide you with those
opportunities for learning.
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