TEMPLE TORAT YISRAEL
  • Home
    • Become A Member
    • Members' Pages >
      • Gabbai Group
      • Yahrzeit Form
      • How to be part of shivah...
      • High Holiday Participation
    • Support Us!
  • About Us
    • President's Page
    • Rabbi Aaron's Blog
    • Professional Staff
    • Lay Leadership
    • Social Action
    • Newsletter/Hadashot
    • Links
    • Hours & Directions
  • Events
    • Community Events
    • Shabbat and Holiday Services
    • RSVP Forms
    • Calendar
    • Flyers
  • Education
    • Cohen School >
      • School Registration Form
    • Torah Sprouts
    • Adult Learning
    • Audio Tutorials
    • Bar and Bat Mitzvah preparation

Toldot 5774:  More Than One Hand Clapping

11/1/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Yesterday morning I had one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life.  The Rhode Island State Council of Churches named me "Faith Leader of the Year" at their 4th Annual Heroes of Faith Breakfast.  My son and daughter-in-law and my very own Rhode Island cousin and a good friend all came to cheer me on (and I thanked the Council of Churches Executive Minister, Reverend Dr. Don Anderson for making me look good in front of my kids!).  But I was also blessed with the support of our Torat Yisrael community which filled a table as well as my colleagues of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island and the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island which also shared and filled a table.

After listening to my dear friend and colleague, Don Anderson, say some generously complimentary things about me, I responded with the following:

When I was a little girl in East Orange, New Jersey, I was often chased home by kids in a local parochial school . . . they’d chase me through the alleys in our neighborhood and called me “dirty Jew.”  When I was a young mother living in Jerusalem, I had rocks thrown at me from the Arab village across the road as I parked my car one night early on in the intifada years.  I was not a promising candidate for interfaith leadership.  The proximity of Christians and Muslims was more threatening than reassuring.

Jews engaged in the study of the Torah and rabbinic literature don’t sit in concentrated isolation in a library . . . we sit across the table from a chaver, from a study partner, and we examine, debate, argue, postulate, explore . . . the premise is that two heads are better than one.  The premise is that one person, no matter how brilliant, just cannot bring out all the depth of meaning of a text alone.  We each need a study partner to challenge us, teach us, show us paths we’d never be able to discover on our own.  

Indeed, the premise is that where two people come together to study Torah, the shechinah, God’s most imminent nurturing presence, draws even nearer.

I can tell you that the collaborative effort I have engaged in with Reverend Don Anderson, Imam Farid Ansari, Reverend Betsy Garland and so many other inspiring faith leaders in our state has been a journey of exploration, personal growth that has led to spiritual fulfillment.  I have learned from and been inspired by my chaverim, my partners.  These people have shown me paths I never would have discovered on my own.

The actions for which I am being honored this morning mean a tremendous amount to me and I am proud to be standing before you as the recipient of this year’s Rhode Island State Council of Churches Faith Leader of the Year Award.  Reverend Mercedes and Bishop Wolf and Reverend Balark, whose ranks I join today, the previous recipients of this award, are each visionary and inspired leaders.  The leadership of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches has taken an extraordinary step by bestowing this most respected award on a churchless rabbi.  Members of my terrific . . . and patient . . . congregation, Temple Torat Yisrael of East Greenwich,  are here today to support me and to express our congregation’s appreciation for this recognition.  There is another whole delegation of leaders from the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island who are also here in support and appreciation . . . the significance of this award is not lost on any of us . . . and is, indeed, treasured by all of us.

None of my actions, none of my achievements have been attained by sitting in concentrated isolation in my study . . . trying to build bridges between faith communities in a unilateral process is like clapping with one hand.  It can’t be done.

Getting an award for the work I’ve done with my partners in faiths makes me a little nervous . . . because somehow the bestowing of an award feels like a summing up.  But I don’t feel done with any of this; we have way too many more journeys to take together.  There are still so many mistaken assumptions waiting to be blasted, so many barriers of wariness to lower, so many infinitely rich bridges of trust to build. The conviction that real faith creates a safe space for mutual respect and reciprocal learning fuels this journey.  I first sat down at those tentative breakfasts with Reverend Anderson and Imam Ansari  in the hope that we might demonstrate in some small way that real faith fosters peace.  We’ve achieved much more than I had ever hoped with my chaverim, my partners in faith. When we come together to live the principles of all our faiths, the shechinah, God’s most imminent, nurturing presence, draws near and blesses our joint enterprise.  Let’s keep that shechinah very busy!



0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Rabbi Amy Levin

    Rabbi Amy Levin

    has been Torat Yisrael's rabbi since the summer of 2004 and serves as President of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island.  
    Rabbi Levin lived in Israel for 20 years and was the second woman to be ordained by the Masorti/Conservative Movement in Israel.

    Categories

    All
    Aaron / Kohanim
    Abraham
    Adin Steinsaltz
    Anti-Semitism
    At Times Of Tragedy
    Bar / Bat Mitzvah
    Bin Laden
    Blessings
    Bring Back Our Boys
    Community / Kehillah
    Conservative Movement
    Covenant / Brit
    Deborah
    Democracy/Independence
    Deuteronomy / Dvarim
    Dina
    Diversity
    Environment
    Esau
    Exodus / Shmot
    Exodus / Shmot
    Family
    Festivals
    Genesis / Breishit
    Genetic Diseases
    God
    Gun Control
    Haftarah
    Haiti Earthquake
    Halachah / Jewish Law
    Hanukah
    Harold Kushner
    Holiness / Kedushah
    Holocaust / Shoah
    Humility
    Immigration
    Interfaith Relations
    Interfaith Relations
    Isaiah / Yeshayahu
    Israel
    Israel And Jewish Observance
    Jacob
    Jesus/Christianity
    Jewish Fast Days
    Jewish Holidays
    Jewish Identity
    Joseph
    Kashrut
    Kiddush Hashem / Sanctifying God
    Korban / Sacrifice
    Kvod Habriyot
    Labor Day
    Leadership
    Leviticus / Vayikra
    Light
    Masorti: Israeli Conservative Movement
    Memorial Day / Yom Hazikaron
    Micah
    Miracles
    Miriam
    Mitzvah / Commandment
    Month Of Sivan
    Moses
    Mourning / Aveilut
    Nachamu
    Names
    Natural Disaster
    Nelson Mandela
    Noah
    Numbers / Bamidbar
    Passover / Pesach
    Pete Seeger
    Pidyon Shevuyim / Redemption Of Captives
    Poverty
    Power Of Speech
    President Obama
    Privacy And Security
    Psalm 100
    Psalm 104
    Psalm 121
    Psalm 144
    Purim
    Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
    Rabbi Avraham Soltes
    Rabbi Brad Artson
    Rabbi Laura Geller
    Rabbinical Assembly
    Rabbinic Judaism
    Revelation
    Reverend Martin Luther King
    Sarah
    Seder
    Shabbat
    Shavuot
    Shekalim
    Shifra Alon
    Sinai
    Slavery
    Song Of Songs / Shir Hashirim
    Tabernacle / Temple
    Terrorism
    Thanksgiving
    Tikkun Olam
    Tikkun Olam
    Tisha Bav
    Torah
    Veterans Day
    Western Wall / Old City Of Jerusalem
    Women
    Yael
    Yom Kippur
    Zachor

    Archives

    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
    • Become A Member
    • Members' Pages >
      • Gabbai Group
      • Yahrzeit Form
      • How to be part of shivah...
      • High Holiday Participation
    • Support Us!
  • About Us
    • President's Page
    • Rabbi Aaron's Blog
    • Professional Staff
    • Lay Leadership
    • Social Action
    • Newsletter/Hadashot
    • Links
    • Hours & Directions
  • Events
    • Community Events
    • Shabbat and Holiday Services
    • RSVP Forms
    • Calendar
    • Flyers
  • Education
    • Cohen School >
      • School Registration Form
    • Torah Sprouts
    • Adult Learning
    • Audio Tutorials
    • Bar and Bat Mitzvah preparation