We’ve been busy the past few months.  We’ve become better organized, with subcommittees for Shamusim (ushers) and Ritual Objects & Books.  If you’re interested in having the honor of being a shamus, you can now get involved with the shamus program, chaired by _______.  Or, if you’re interested in caring for our Torah scrolls, prayerbooks, tallitot, mezuzot, and other sacred objects, and possibly learning a little about Jewish sacred art in the process, you can get involved with the Ritual Objects & Books subcommittee, chaired by _______.  Everyone is welcome at RPC meetings, which are always open to the community.  The subcommittees meet informally outside RPC meetings and are a way to get involved without committing to attend the regular meetings.

At our June 8 meeting, we voted to endorse the recommendation of _______’s third-grade students, who came to our meeting in May and argued eloquently for mezuzot to be placed on doorways at Temple.  We were thankful to the students for teaching us by their example of community involvement, and we are proud to endorse their leadership in recommending the addition of more mezuzot.  We also thank _______ for his support and encouragement.

We also voted to recommend a change in the Temple’s food policy.  I hope this will settle the current confusion over food by giving everyone clear expectations.  We voted to recommend that if meat is served at a Shabbat morning luncheon, it be placed on a separate table and labeled with the name of the dish.  This will prevent Jews who keep kosher from mistakenly eating a meat dish without realizing what it was, which has happened several times in the past few years.  It also leaves the menu options open for families and potluck contributors.  At Temple Beth Am, we value every person’s choices and understand that our observances are diverse.  I hope this will minimize confusion over food so we can concentrate on enjoying each other’s company.  The matter now goes to the Board for a decision.  And I’ll see you at a Shabbat morning luncheon soon!  (Please consider coming to the service prior to the luncheon as well.)

We’ve now concluded our food discussion, and are starting High Holiday planning for 5767.  To borrow a phrase from our Jewish advocacy organizations, RPC needs your help now, more than ever.  We’re not even asking for money, but for help planning specific parts of the High Holidays experience, and volunteers for the honor of being a shamus (usher) for the community.  Due to the construction, we’ll need more help than usual in managing traffic flow, so now is a great time to try ushering!  We’ll offer training to make sure you’re comfortable, and you might get an extra piece of honey cake on Rosh Hashanah.  If you enjoy it, there are opportunities for shamus service throughout the year.

I’d like to add an appeal for members of a new Safety Committee for the Temple, chaired by _______.  We’re trying to create a group to focus on safety and security, including egress and seating, accommodations for disabled congregants, building security, emergency procedures, and traffic flow.  Safety will be even more important this year, during construction.  In the past, these issues have largely fallen to RPC, but it seems wise to create a group specifically interested in helping develop better policies and procedures around safety.  Please consider joining ____ on the Safety Committee so this important work can begin.

Shabbat services continue throughout the summer, so please join us on Friday nights and at Shabbat morning minyan.  See you at Temple!

Q: What’s going on with Temple Beth Am and the Reform movement in general?  Is the pendulum swinging back toward tradition?

A: I think we embrace traditions, update and reframe them, and create entirely new practices, with about the same frequency.  We haven’t made a decision on the food policy, and RPC has been split on that matter in the past.  We’re also working with the Rabbis on issues like our Jewish calendar and the format of services.

Some people speak of a pendulum, but I don’t think that metaphor is accurate, as if we merely moved in circles.  What’s happening is a natural progression in the growth of Reform Judaism: from simpler distinctions to more nuanced ones, from struggle to governance; from clear, definite answers (albeit different from the traditional answers) to deep, probing questions.

For traditional Jews, most of the questions we struggle with are decided by a combination of literal Torah and rabbinic precedent.  Traditional Jews do not endorse individual or democratic community decisions on these matters; they do not ask which calendar we should keep, what our food practices should be, which ritual garments should be worn, whether our services should contain Hebrew, English, or music, or any of the other everyday issues in the ritual life of Temple Beth Am.  Our more traditional chaverim (friends and comrades) sometimes accuse us of “picking and choosing.”  To which we give that wonderful and quintessentially Reform Jewish response: Yes, we pick and choose.

Neither do we embrace all traditions simply because they’re traditional, nor do we reject them all for the same simple reason.  We pick and choose.  Reform Judaism is developing a real diversity of practice.  We are held together, today, less by shared practices and more by shared values, which further radicalizes Reform Jewish identity, for it means we are all Jews by choice.  Far from swinging back toward a tradition that proffers definite answers, Reform Judaism asks new questions.  We embrace diversity.  We pick and choose.

We often reject traditions: for example, the old misogyny and homophobia which we abhor, but which religion too often supports.  We reject such traditions completely, not merely because they are irrational, but because they are hurtful and wrong.  Our concern is not that such traditions are outdated: they were wrong in ancient times, and they are wrong now.  We have no qualms about rejecting them.  We pick and choose.

We also embrace certain traditions.  Many of us fast on Yom Kippur, not because it’s rational but because it’s spiritually useful.  We celebrate Hanukkah and Passover, not because they fit well with American society, but because we love them and their strong connections to Jewish roots.  We practice tikkun olam, to mend the world, not just because the Torah says to, but because with a God-given conscience we know we must.  We pick and choose.

In the middle lie the issues we discuss at RPC, neither clearly right nor clearly wrong.  On these issues, we embrace diversity of practice, which is the most radical Jewish approach possible.  Our proposed rules are attempts to provide a diverse community with a safe space to congregate around shared values; to do so, we must make careful agreements that all of us can live with in a shared community space.  We do this work carefully and with much concern for each other; we do it democratically; we do it ourselves, informed by learning but without appeals to absolute textual or hierarchical authority.  We pick and choose.

Our practices are not described by a pendulum swinging in any direction.  We’re becoming comfortable with the notion that not all of us follow the same practices in our community, which is an even more radical Reform Judaism than the more monolithic Classical Reform of decades past.  We celebrate our strong, shared values with an array of activities and worship styles.  We give each other space to pick and choose.

The Jewish year rolls into spring, as it’s done since the beginning of history.  This month, RPC considers some fascinating questions that affect how we apply our ancient heritage to religious life at Temple Beth Am.  Every interested member is welcome to join us at our May meeting, which will be on May 11 at 7:30 p.m.

We have a treat in store: the third-grade class, which has researched Jewish practice on mezuzot throughout the year, will send student representatives to discuss adding more mezuzot to Temple.  In response to the students’ inquiry, which was their own initiative, they’ve been invited to present their arguments on condition that they support their views with Jewish sources and are prepared to answer questions from the Committee, as would be asked of any presenter.  The Committee will then consider the matter, and may make a recommendation to Sandy and the Rabbis.

Also at the May meeting, we will again take up the food policy, as I explained in the April bulletin article.  There will be discussion time, during which motions to decide the matter (that is, to make a recommendation to the Board) will not be in order.  Such motions will be in order at the June meeting.  This discussion is highly sensitive, and it must be done with careful deliberation and with sensitivity to the needs of every community member.

I’d like to communicate clearly about what the goal of the food-policy discussion is, and what it isn’t.  Food is important to Judaism both in our ritual and as a symbol of our practice, so this matter takes on significant emotional weight.  Our community currently suffers from confusion on whether meat is to be expected at b’nai mitzvah luncheons, which leads to an understandable if unfortunate (and rather too familiar) debate whenever meat is served.  Our current policy does not prohibit meat, but neither does it clearly permit it.  We need to find an end to the cycle of this discussion.  By proposing that RPC recommend a policy—one way or the other—I’m proposing not to restart or revisit the discussion, which has been perennial, but to end it, in a way that hopefully everyone will find satisfactory.

Above all, our goal is not to make a bold statement on the future of Reform Jewish practice.  Our goal is to eat lunch together, in peace, as a single community of people whose kashrut practices differ.  We don’t just coexist at Temple Beth Am; we create a warm, welcoming Jewish community together, for all our members, families, and children.  The most important practice we can adopt, and the most important example we can set for our children, is not to either eat meat or not eat meat.  It is to join together as a diverse community around shared food, in a way that everyone can live with, to create a single Jewish extended family of worship and friendship.  When our children see us achieve that goal over lunch—far more than whether or not that lunch includes meat—they will learn what our beliefs as Reform Jews are all about.

Jewish history will go on, whichever policy RPC recommends on meat.  It’s an important question, but we must recognize that the future of Judaism doesn’t depend on the adoption at Temple of our own family’s practices, because our practices differ.  The future of Judaism does depend, however, on our creation of a community of friendship around Reform Judaism, in which our diverse community feels comfortable gathering together.  With or without meat, that community-strengthening work will help determine the future of Judaism.