Mordecai Kaplan would begin his classes at the Jewish Theological Seminary by writing God in English in the board without the dash in the middle. Inevitably one of the rabbinical students would stand up to reprimand their teacher. In response, Rabbi Kaplan would erase “G-O-D” and write “proc-ess” in its place. Because for him, the word “process” was much holier than a nondescript English word for the divine. Famously, Rabbi Kaplan’s seven-word description of God was, “the process that makes for salvation.”
For me, what Rabbi Kaplan is pointing out is that the process that goes into making things possible, is much more important than the final result. We see this in this week’s Torah portion, Korach, where a group of rebel leaders confront Moses with the following challenge: “You take too much upon yourself. Don’t you see that the entire community is holy – every one of them. God is with them too. Why then, do you lift yourself up above the rest of God’s community?” (Numbers 16:3). At first glance their complaint is legitimate, but how Korach voices it is not. This is no quiet discussion, but a public declaration of insubordination. Moses, ever the thoughtful leader, does not respond right away, instead falling on his face in a sign of humility. While Korach and his fellow rebels scream and rant, Moses quietly tries to calm things down. While the end result is Korach and his fellow rebels being swallowed up into the earth, the process still matters, public versus private, bold versus humble. Instead of being damaged by the attack, Moses proves his mettle.
This Shabbat, CSS is holding its first Bunis Memorial Lecture, dedicated by Dave Bunis to his late father Louis Bunis, one of the early adopters of Rabbi Kaplan’s philosophies and the founder of not one, but two Reconstructionist synagogues. Rabbi Rayna Grossman (they/them) will share their wisdom about how growing up in Temple Sinai helped lead them to the rabbinate. I hope you will join us in celebrating the legacy of a denomination that has elevated “process” to the level of the divine.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex