Rabbi's Messages

When my kids were little, they loved the TV cartoon Phineas and Ferb. It was about two boys who were bored during summer vacation, so they filled the time by building outlandish things, such as the tallest skyscraper in the world, a robot to do their homework, a NASCAR remote control, and a lawn gnome beach party of terror. You name it, Phineas and Ferb built it! Without the laws of physics as a barrier, the writers let their imagination be their guide toward creating amazing things (and I’m not even addressing the “secret agent platypus” storyline of the show). You’ll just have to watch it for yourself. Man, I miss that show….

What was cool about Phineas and Ferb was that the characters were always learning. Often, during one of their schemes, something would go wrong and the two would have to reassess and go in a different direction. In that sense, they embodied the deeply held Jewish belief that the more we learn, the more capable we are.

When we learn, we take ownership over the subject we are learning about. We leave algebra class with a greater sense of ownership of the laws of mathematics than we entered with, as well as a sense of how to use them and how they apply to our lives. Then, when we use mathematical principles in everyday life, we are putting into practice what we learned theoretically in the classroom.

Learning about Judaism is the same. The more we delve into the history, beliefs, and practices of the Jewish people, the more they belong to us. By exploring the meanings of the prayers, or the literature of the Holocaust, or the laws of Shabbat, we give ourselves permission for those things to become part of ourselves. Then, like Phineas and Ferb, we can use them to build things, such as a spiritual life, a supportive community, and a sense of belonging to something larger.

In the end, learning is so important in Judaism because it is a building block of creativity and ownership. As Reform Jews, it is our right and our responsibility to learn and think deeply about our Jewish practice so that we can build a Jewish life that is meaningful to us as individuals. What does your Shabbat practice look like? How do you keep kosher? What is your relationship with prayer and ritual? These decisions are different for each of us, and we are best equipped to make them when we are engaged in regular Jewish learning.

This month we have a number of opportunities for Jewish learning of different types:

• Saturday, November 10 at 9am: Rabbi Yael Karrie joins us from Israel
• Sunday, November 11 at 7pm: Jack Cahan Memorial Lecture
• Wednesday, November 14, 21, 28 at 6pm: A Walk Through the Prayerbook with Rabbi Streiffer

Please come out and join us for some or all of these programs. We may not build a roller coaster to the moon, but we’ll certainly build knowledge and important connections between ourselves, others, and Jewish tradition.

L’shalom,

Rabbi Micah Streiffer