Sunday, November 23, 2014

Thanks and Giving


Rabbi Moskowitz’s remark from the Temple Beth Torah/St. Matthew Roman Catholic Church Interfaith Thanksgiving Service on November 18, 2014


We take a moment of silence and offer prayers for the rabbis who were murdered in Jerusalem this morning.   We pray that that their souls will find peace in the world to come. In addition we offer prayers of healing for their families and for the rabbis and students who were injured in the attack.  May we know a world where everyone can celebrate differences and instead of striking out as those to appear to be on another side, help us to revel in our similarities and work together to create a safer world for every soul.

A moment of silence.

Thanksgiving is always one of my favorite holidays.
#1 reason-- I don't have to work. Something we have in common, Rabbis, cantors and priests usually find themselves working on everyone else's holidays!
#2. It is a holiday that brings us together.  All you have to do is be an American or want to be an American or be mildly sympathetic to Americans and you can celebrate.   Even vegans are finding ways to enjoy this this day.
#3.  It gives us an opportunity to come together Christians and Jews, TBT and St. Matthew RCC to feed the hungry and to celebrate with prayer and song.

What are we celebrating?
Thanksgiving Day.  Well that is obvious,  but it struck me that this day is not called - "day of thanks". Or "giving thanks day." And that would have been enough, a day to remind us to give thanks.  A time set apart for expressing gratitude.
       - for offering thanks for having food to eat
       - for family and friends to share it with
       - for having a roof over our heads to keep us dry
       - for heat to keep us warm

We all suffer from days when we are down and have trouble finding what to be thankful for.  Sometimes we have to dig deep to offer thanks.  When that happens I like to ground myself in my body.  I look for the simple joys that often get over looked.
Thank you God that I could open my eyes today and see you world full of color and shape.
Thank you God for ears that allow me to hear music and laughter.
Thank you God for giving me the ability to use my mouth to speak and sing.
Thank you God for legs that allow me to get where I want to go.
Thank you God for hands that allow me to touch and reach out to others.

Each of us has our own list and not all of our body parts do what we want them to so all of the time, but each of us has a list like this that grounds us and helps us to realize how much we have to be grateful for, even on really crappy days.

Let's return to the day we are celebrating.  It is called- Thanksgiving.  For the name itself has another lesson to teach us.  After we offer thanks, then we need to give.

Now the original namers might not have seen much significance in this name but rabbis never let that stop us from creating meaning from a text.

Thanks is followed by giving to remind us that after we give thanks we need to focus on giving.
We can give of our time, our money, our possessions.  We can give our talents, our skills, ourselves.

We can use our eyes to see who is in need.
We can use our ears to hear cries of pain and pleas of distress.
We can use our voices to speak out against the wrongs in our world.
We can walk to where our help is needed.
We can use our hands to lift up the fallen, whether they have fallen physically or mentally or emotionally.

We must use all of the gifts of our bodies and minds so that we can work together to create better conditions and rights for immigrants
To stop human trafficking
To insure that everyone has meal this Thanksgiving day and everyday.
To make sure everyone has a plate to eat off of and a table to rest that plate on in a warm room.
We can work to help others achieve the freedoms we have come to take for granted in this great nation that we call home.

As we work on our giving, and on using our gifts to make the world a safe place for everyone, we are again reminded to give thanks for what we have, and the cycle continues.
This is an important cycle to cultivate.  For the gifts we have been given and offer thanks for are the very same ones that can be utilized to help others.  Let's take this a step further.  What if the only reason we have been given these gifts is so that we can help others.

Oh God, allow our coming together to be a reminder for each of us to offer thanks by giving of ourselves to help those in need.  Thank you God.

Monday, September 8, 2014

The Lost Art of Patience

I watched a highly acclaimed  movie at Cinema Arts and I didn’t quite “get it.”  It seemed rather unremarkable.  It was about a fairly average family with slightly more than the usual stresses of life.   It had a lot of coming of age elements for   both the young kids as they mature into teens and for the parents as they grow into adulthood.  As I was watching I wondered when the kid actors had been replaced by teen actors.  I figured the casting director had done such a good job that I missed the switch.

As I was leaving the theater a review of Boyhood, caught my eye.   It explained the brilliance of the movie.

Boyhood was filmed by Richard Linklater over a 12 year period of time.  He used all the same actors and allowed them to age naturally – in real time.  No wonder I had missed the switch.  There wasn’t one.

To me the true genius of the film was Linklater’s patience.  Twelve years is a long time to work on one movie.  But this was a project that couldn’t be rushed.  Had it been, it wouldn’t exist.

Patience, savlanut, in Hebrew is becoming a more difficult trait to cultivate.  We live in a quick world.  If a video doesn’t download in 2 seconds, we get frustrated and give up on it.  If our food isn’t ready in 2 minutes we get impatient and eat something else.  If a movie goes longer than 2 hours, we get ancy and start checking our phones.

This leads to a ‘”give up” mentality.  We are losing the ability to have the patience to see a project through, to let an idea germinate.   As this happens we will no longer have the joy of finally achieving a goal for which we have waited and worked hard to attain.

Sometimes we still experience this joy in sports or in a dance class.  If we have a coach or teacher who is willing to give us the chance to grow and to improve, we might get an opportunity to patiently grow.  But many adults don’t put themselves in a class situation with new, sometime frustrating challenges. Malcolm Gladwell’s premise of 10,000 hours being the amount of time it takes to become an expert at anything, certainly takes patience and perseverance.   Will we become a society of quitters of people who settle for mediocracy?

Being a good listener, valued as the most important skill in a relationship, takes patience.  We have to be willing to put aside our own desire to rush in and speak if we want to really understand someone else.  We have to give them time to formulate their thoughts and ideas.  Sometimes it might mean to sit in silence and listen to the words which aren’t being said.

As Rosh HaShanah approaches, set an intention to start something now that you might not finish until next year or the year after.  Pick a new skill to learn.  Plant some bulbs this fall and enjoy them next spring – the literal flowers and the figure seeds of a new project.  Or just sit patiently and listen.