To find the Genesis of Jewish guilt, one needs not look much further than the Book of Genesis. Before there is even a Judaism, there is a worry about not doing Judaism right. We saw it last week, when Abraham sends off his first born Ishmael and nearly sacrifices his second born Isaac. And we see it in this week’s Torah portion Chayei Sarah, when Abraham is caught off guard in how to bury his wife Sarah.
Last week, Lex Rofeberg, the co-host of the podcast Judaism Unbound, said, “the most common American Jewish experience, or the most common Jewish experience anywhere, is the sense that one is not Jewish correctly.” Whether you agree or disagree with his statement (and I would tend to agree), ask yourself whether you or anyone you know have felt such an emotion in a Jewish setting? If so, what does that mean about being Jewish that the primary experience a newcomer has is a negative one?
At Shir Shalom, we are actively striving to change this perception. We want people to walk through our door – whether they have walked through it a thousand times or it is their first time – and feel confident they will be accepted in their spiritual home. I do not believe in a God who checks off who has been to services, and who has not. The bigger question for our CSS team is whether the experience has been a meaningful one. A synagogue is many things to many people, most importantly to us is that it is a place of comfort and support, where any one who enters is accepted and embraced for who they are. This is something even Abraham and Sarah would have appreciated.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex