From the Rabbi - June/July 2000

Dear Friends,

"We sold the house," the voice at the other end of the phone said to me.

At first I didn't understand. And then it hit me: my parents had sold the house of my childhood. Forty years to the day after they first laid eyes on its red brick façade, it was about to become home to another family.

While I am happy for my parents' good fortune in selling the house, the thought of never being able to return to 1026 Harvard Terrace is more than a little unsettling. For my entire life, I have always known that no matter how far I might travel, that house would always be ready to welcome me home. In just a few weeks, this will no longer be the case.

All of us have places indelibly etched into our souls. We know them so well: a home, a school, sanctuary, museum or beach. The memories of times spent in these special places help to shape our lives in ways that we cannot begin to fathom.

For the Jewish people, that place is called Sinai. For forty years we wandered its wilderness, learning to accept and assimilate the radical new relationship that was unfolding in front of us. Sinai was where we "grew up." In Sinai, we came to know our God and ourselves. But it was not until we left its protective embrace that we were fully able to become a people on our own.

This month we celebrate the festival of Shavuot. On Shavuot we remember how we stood at the foot of a mountain called Sinai and radically reshaped our understanding of holiness and the world around us. On Friday, June 9th at 10:00 AM, we will have an opportunity to celebrate with the Confirmation Class of 5760 at Shavuot services. For a brief moment, we will be given the precious gift of being able to see the world through their young eyes. We will share with them in the miraculous power of learning Torah together with their peers as they attempt to fit its teachings to the world in which they live. I hope to see many of you at this special service.

My relationship with the house of my childhood lasted for forty years_ the exact number of years that our ancestors wandered in Sinai. That cannot be a coincidence. In a sense, I am now about to embark on a new chapter of my life - just as our students are about to embark on a new chapter in their lives. I look forward to travelling together with all of you.

B'Shalom,
Rabbi Joseph R. Black

P.S. I hope to see many of you at the Tikkun Leyl Shavuot on Thursday night, June 8th from 7-10 PM. This is the first of what I hope will become an annual tradition of study and celebration on the eve of Shavuot for our congregation.

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