Live It and They Will Come!
Parshat Pekudei

March 8, 2003  -  4 Adar Bet 5763

It's so nice to be here with you this morning on one of those rare occasions when we don't have a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a naming, or an aufruf taking place. It's nice to be able to talk to you, my core congregation and fellow daveners.

Not that I'm complaining. Most rabbis would love to have a congregation as active as ours, particularly here on Long Island. Looking around I see many synagogues struggling simply to exist. Many of our Conservative congregations don't have as strong core of young members as we do any more. So I have to say I feel fortunate to be at OJC. It's just that because we're so active, we rarely have a chance to "talk amongst ourselves" and that's something we need to do from time to time.

When I sit down each week to prepare a sermon, I always consider who my audience is going to be. I use the word "audience" advisedly. When I get up to talk on a Shabbat Morning and there are two hundred strangers sitting in shul, they're really an audience and not a congregation. That obviously influences the topics I choose to address. This morning I'd like to talk to you, for you represent the heart and soul of our synagogue. You're the people who are here weekly; you're the ones who make a difference and for that I thank you. Today I'd like to share a message that I believe we need to hear as the active core of our congregation.

In interpreting the Torah's message for our daily lives, we sometimes make the mistake of missing the forest amid the trees. Often, in reading the Parshah, we become so caught up with the details that we miss the larger and more obvious message that the Torah teaches us. That's particularly true in the book of Exodus.

What could be more basic to our sense of identity than Sefer Shemot? Judaism begins here with the story of our redemption from slavery and the description of the revelation at Mount Sinai. The basic concepts and ideas of our way of life are found in the second book of the Torah. It is Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot all wrapped up in one eloquent literary package.

And yet in reading Sefer Shemot we often find ourselves confounded by its final four and a half Parshiot, the last fifteen chapters of Exodus. They contain a description of the Mishkan, Israel's portable house of worship, God's so-called dwelling place. It seems strange and almost anticlimactic to move from the pathos of Egypt to drama of the Red Sea and the power of Mount Sinai to a blue print for building a house of worship. We move from teaching people how to live and how to be holy to interior decorating and architecture.

And yet there can be little doubt of the importance of the Tabernacle. We see this in the final chapter of Exodus as we read about the completion of the Mishkan. The language of the Torah such as "Vayichal Moshe et hamelachah," "Moses finished the work," and "Vaya'as Moshe kikhol asher tziva Adonai ken asah," Thus Moses did; just as the Lord commanded him, so he did" are meant to echo the language in the opening chapter of Genesis: "Vayhulu Hashamayim vi'ha'aretz," The Lord completed the heaven and the earth," and "Vayichal elohim et yom hashevi'i milachto …asher asah," "God completed on the seventh day all the work which he had done."

The creation of the Tabernacle was meant to parallel the very creation of the world. Just as there was harmony with the completion of the universe so there would now be harmony as Israel established itself as a nation that could worship in God's special dwelling place.

It sounds a little like that famous line in the movie, "Field of Dreams." Moses seems to be saying to the people of Israel, "Build it and God will come." By following the fine details for this elaborate structure, Moses and the children of Israel establish a sacred location though which Israel could forge a relationship with God.

For over two thousand years Jews have built houses of worship, sacred space where they could encounter God's presence. The basic symbols of the tabernacle are still present here: the Ner Tamid, the ark, and the Menorah. We build synagogues with the hope that we will sense God's presence not only in this place but in our lives.

Only, we have overlooked what I believe is the most important detail in this elaborate blue print. The Tabernacle is not the beginning but the end of the process. In the Book of Exodus first we read about redemption and the preciousness of freedom, then we learn about the giving of the law at Mount Sinai, and finally we concentrate on how to live with integrity and holiness and how to sanctify time through Shabbat and the holidays. Only then do we learn how to build a place of worship.

So I'd like to suggest to you that the message in Exodus is the exact opposite of "Field of Dreams." It's not "Build it and they will come," but rather "Live it and God will come." The Tabernacle only became a possibility when Israel received the Torah and freely chose to live by it. Only when they became a holy people could they build a holy place.

American Judaism was been built on the opposite premise. The more assimilated we have become, the larger our synagogues have grown. And the more incapable we are of living jewishly, the more we have turned to Jewish institutions and leaders to vicariously live Jewish for us. We've come to believe that big congregations can help maintain Jewish life. If we hire the right Rabbis and Cantors as well as educators our children will remain Jewish.

Only it doesn't work that way. Big synagogues are only meaningful and effective if we have active and committed Jews. Otherwise, as we have seen happen time and again, when a young person begins to feel a sense of commitment to Jewish living, they immediately seek out a smaller and more intimate congregation made up of other traditionally minded Jews. Usually it is an orthodox community. One can't be Jewish without a community - and big synagogues, even populous synagogues don't necessarily make active communities.

And that is my message to you, my core community and my daveners. We have a big responsibility. It is not enough for us to show up on Shabbat morning. Unless we work together to created a community that is committed to Halachah and Jewish living, we will never be a true religious community. Jewish living must go beyond simply knowing what page we're on. And it has to extend beyond the hours we spend here each week. It must include a real sense of Shabbat (as defined by the Conservative Movement) and a honest commitment to Kashrut. It must be a group of people who study Torah on a daily basis, and view Tzedakah as a way of life instead of charity.

And it must begin with a sense of what traditional, (please note that I'm not using the word Orthodox here), what traditional Jews call "Kabbalat Ol Mitzvot," "an acceptance of the yoke of the commandments." That means you live jewishly not just because the Mitzvot are folkways or because they're pleasant (though they certainly are) but because you have a sense of obligation to God; you feel yourself commanded. That means that you are prepared to live jewishly even when it is inconvenient.

Until we can create a core community that shares these values we will not be able to create a true Halachic community. We may have a big synagogue but will have non-existent community. Of course we can't do it by ourselves. We need to work together to create a true Halachic community. We need to find a way to begin to establish a group of people who live jewishly not only in shul and in public but even in their private lives.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. We American Jews suffer from an Edifice Complex. What we need today are not big buildings or organizations but Jews who get it and share their Jewish lives with others. We need to create the kind of community that others will look at and say, "Gee, I'd like to be like them."

We must begin in small ways. We could begin with Shabbat though there are other areas of Jewish life we need to explore. Consider the following:

1. We're here and that's an important start to creating a Shabbat life style. But how many of us go home from shul to a Shabbat luncheon?

2. How many of us would consider inviting a guest to share our Shabbat meals? On any given Shabbat morning if attend Young Israel, chances are someone will greet you and ask if you would like to come to their home for Shabbat lunch. Shabbat is happening - it's no big deal to invite an extra guest home. Can we create a Shabbat that's more than just a three hour service?

3. Many of us light candles on Friday night. But how many of us see Shabbat extending beyond services until Havdalah? How often do we say, "I am not going to plan any unnecessary activities for the rest of the day on Shabbat?"

Live it and they will come. That must be our motto. Until we create a living community, a practicing community, Jewish life will not thrive. For what we need today are not big buildings but large souls. Not only that but when we live Judaism and share it with others it will become more meaningful for us as well.

Take my word. If we live it others will come. And I believe that will only happen if you and I begin to create a serious Halachic community that is prepared to answer the voice of God.

Shabbat Shalom