November 2021
Dear Chevre,
One of the things I love about congregations in general and about Leyv Ha-Ir~Heart of the City in particular is how we hold the past, present and future all at once. I love having known people in their prime who are now at later stages of the life journey; their history is wrapped into the community's living story and their contributions live on in the continuity of the congregation. I love that we mentor young music directors and often give opportunities to rabbinical students. We invest in the future of Judaism.
Today in my chevruta (learning dyad -- I've had the same partner for twenty years!) we were looking at a Hasidic teaching about the quote "There is nothing new under the sun." I'm sure you've heard that saying from Ecclesiastes. The teaching was that there is nothing new under the sun, i.e., renewal is not in the realm of material things. Rather, renewal comes from spiritual practices. Therefore, the invitation is to root yourself in the Source.
Rooted in the Source, both memory and imagination become spiritual practices that connect us to our pasts and help us live into the future. Do you make space in your life for remembering and for imagining? Do you take time to re-read your diary, or write a memoir, or look at old photos or to have a "conversation" with your ancestors? And do you get a chance sometimes to do things imaginative like doodling or singing, water color, fabric art or poetry, or have a "conversation" in which you are the ancestor?
Let's hear it for finding what is new that is not under the sun!
With love,
Rabbi Julie
