A Lesson in Leadership
Last weekend, I was invited to be guest student rabbi at two different communities in the UK both at different ends of the country!
With the power of zoom I was able to lead Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday night in Cornwall, and then be in Hull Reform Synagogue for Shabbat morning. This also meant that I could maximise the Torah portion to deliver my thoughts from the pulpit twice- the wonders of being a student rabbi in the twenty first century…
The Torah portion – Shoftim – especially the bit we read in the triennial cycle this year - is hard going.
In it, God is preparing the Israelites for entering the promised land and gives instruction on how to conduct themselves if war would break out when conquering land inhabited by other tribes.
It felt particularly pertinent this year for obvious reasons and I prepared a Dvar Torah (short sermon about the Torah portion) on facing hard difficult truths and not falling into traps of simplicity at best, and pleading ignorance or denial or justification at worst, for some of the cruelty that happens that we are responsible for, at times of war.
But when it came to it, I couldn’t read it out.
For different reasons I did not feel it was right to share this particular piece for either of those particular communities last Shabbat.
I had the audience, I had the platform, but I didn’t have the voice quite right. It’s not that I didn’t believe in what I had written, but my job in that moment was to serve both these communities, who are at the forefront of preserving and creating Jewish life and safe Jewish spaces in places that are not predominantly Jewish, and I chose to offer words of comfort and encouragement, to focus on something else in the Torah portion.
I did however promise that I would post my sermon on my blog so if they wanted to, they could read it themselves.
So I opened the Wix app to upload my sermon and I am finding again that it is not quite ready, or I’m not quite ready, to share.
I just don’t think it’s my best piece of work, and if I am honest, I am concerned in the current climate as to how my words may be manipulated or taken out of context to weaponised against me or misunderstood without a chance for discussion and further understanding.
So in its place, I am sharing links to two sermons I’ve heard since, from different rabbis, ‘qualified serving in a pulpit with deep relationship to the communities in which they serve’ rabbis whose words I heard today and whose messages deeply resonated.
They manage to encapsulate so much of what I was feeling and articulates it powerfully, and I hope and pray that one day I can lead a community with humility and authenticity and bravery to also deliver similarly powerful and authentic sermons in the future…
