February 2011 CCAR Newsletter - 7

Voices of Torah
Purim
(Janice Garfunkel)
I have just learned that I have Stage 4 (metastatic) breast cancer, and the January deadline has arrived to write my d’var Torah on Purim. Purim, one of my favorite holidays, is joyous and frivolous. My mood is tragic. But tragedy is also at the heart of the Purim story. The definition of a Shakespearean comedy is “tragedy averted.” The Jews of ancient Persia were raising their children, planning their futures, when one day a town crier announced that on a certain day in Adar, they were all to be killed. Someone cast lots, and their number was up. All of a sudden, there was a guillotine suspended over their heads. Esther intervened (if not her, salvation would have come from another place), and imminent tragedy turned to relief and joy. In our long history, salvation has not always arrived in time. In every age, a tyrant has arisen to destroy us, and millions have been killed. I think of the line from the movie Jurassic Park, “life will always find a way.” Somehow, despite our losses, we Jews have managed to survive in whatever hostile soil we have landed. I would appreciate your fervent prayers that my personal tragedy will be averted too (HaRav Channah Batya bat Esther).

Colleagues-on-Call
s CCAR provides enhanced service to our members, the concept of a CCAR Listening and Referral Service has emerged. Through this service the CCAR provides you the opportunity to speak with carefully selected and trained CCAR members, Colleagues-on-Call (CoC). Any member who feels the need may reach out to speak with one of the Colleagues-on-Call. (Please see the list at the CCAR member website.) Colleagues-on-Call serve as active listeners. This is not intended as formal therapy or psychological counseling, nor is it intended to involve more than one conversation, perhaps two at the most. Colleagues in greater need will be referred to other CCAR resources or other support services. We hope that this also furthers chevruta in our membership while ameliorating the isolation that our colleagues sometimes feel. The CCAR is committed to supporting its members personally as well as professionally. When rabbis need help with personal issues and challenges from family dysfunction to addiction to employment, they may turn to a variety of CCAR services. We are grateful to Larry Goldmark for his valuable ideas in moving this project forward, as well as to others including Steve Arnold, Seth Bernstein, David Lipper, Edie Mencher, Shira Stern, Bill Rothschild, and CCAR rabbinic staff, Steve Fox and Debbie Prinz. The volunteer Colleagues-on-Call (CoC) will serve as “therapeutic listeners” to CCAR members who feel the need to talk about a problem they are facing, whether professional or personal. These individuals have been trained by CCAR staff and professional counselors, though they themselves may not hold any counseling degrees. However, they do have considerable rabbinic experience and have been selected to be a CoC because of their reputations for their wisdom as well as their discretion. Whether your chosen work is in a pulpit, an organization, academia or chaplaincy, rabbinic work can be challenging. When it is rewarding and fulfilling, gam zu l’tovah. Sometimes, however, the work overwhelms us, or frustrates us, or puts us on a precarious road of a dubious ethical nature. At such times, it might be helpful to reach out to a rabbinic colleague who needs no background information to “get us,” someone who understands our predicament. Please know that all conversations with a Colleague-on-Call will be completely confidential, unless you disclose communications of imminent danger to yourself or others, or of harm to
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Shemini
(Amy Scheinerman)
Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them; he then stepped down after offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the offering of well-being. (Leviticus 9:22) Torah tells us that Aaron blessed the people with birkat kohanim prior to completing the sacrifices in the newly dedicated Mishkan. The Rabbis, however, tell us that Aaron completed the sacrifices, descended from the altar and only then blessed the people (M’gillah 18a). We might be inclined to prefer the Torah’s order of events. Aaron’s primary concern appears to be serving the people and insuring that blessing rests upon them, as if to say: people come first; ritual comes second. Or put another way: human needs are primary; ritual serves human needs. What, then, do our Sages wish us to see in the alternative order they propose? Perhaps three things: (1) It is the sacred duty of the priests, as Jewish leaders, to teach the people that Israel’s purpose derives from God and hence our focus ought to be on our obligations to God. (2) The priests themselves serve as Jewish role models by focusing their energies on serving God first and foremost. This does not prevent them from serving the people; to the contrary: this orientation provides motivation and engenders energy to serve Am Yisrael and indeed all humanity. (3) The priests must attend to their own spiritual needs in order to serve the people. If they constantly attend to the needs of others, setting aside their own spiritual and religious needs, they will soon lose their sense of purpose and commitment. They will burn out. What was true for the kohanim of old holds for many rabbis today.

February 2011 CCAR Newsletter

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2011 CCAR Newsletter

February 2011 CCAR Newsletter - 1
February 2011 CCAR Newsletter - 2
February 2011 CCAR Newsletter - 3
February 2011 CCAR Newsletter - 4
February 2011 CCAR Newsletter - 5
February 2011 CCAR Newsletter - 6
February 2011 CCAR Newsletter - 7
February 2011 CCAR Newsletter - 8
February 2011 CCAR Newsletter - 9
February 2011 CCAR Newsletter - 10
February 2011 CCAR Newsletter - 11
February 2011 CCAR Newsletter - 12
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