Each time we read from the Torah at a morning service here at
Temple Shalom, we say several prayers.
The first one is the Leadership Prayer, which can be found at the top of
page 376 in your prayer books. It goes
like this:
Source of all being,
May the children of this community learn these passions from us:
love of Torah, devotion in prayer, and support of the needy.
May we guide with integrity, and may our leadership be in Your
service.
May those who teach and nourish us be blessed with satisfaction,
and may we appreciate their time and devotion.
Bless us with the fruits of wisdom and understanding,
and may our efforts bring fulfilment and joy.
Blessed are You, Adonai, whom alone we serve with awe.
This prayer comes
after the Torah and Haftarah readings, and immediately before the parading of
the Torah around the sanctuary before putting it away in the Ark. As such, we probably do tend to say it
rather pro-forma. After all, the
Haftarah reading, unless you’re following the reading in the Chumash, is
a passive activity and it is easy to be lulled into a bit of inattention at
that point of the service. Or perhaps
you’re just thinking beyond this and the other prayers recited at this point of
the service, and anticipating the rabbi’s brilliant drash that will be
following in a few minutes. (Yeah, right!)
So the Prayer for Leadership can easily escape your close
attention. If so, no criticism
meant. But let’s take this occasion to
parse out this very important prayer and try to understand the deep values that
it expresses.
First, we ask
that the children of the community would learn from us three passions: love of Torah, devotion in prayer, and
support of the needy. What we’re
really asking God, is that we would be imbued with these three
passions. How else would our
children learn them from us? The three
passions listed represent a ‘top three’ list of qualities that describe the
‘ideal’ Jew. Torah is, of course, the
basis of everything in the Jewish worldview.
It represents the will of the Living God. Devotion in prayer puts us in a dialogue with
the One who gave us that Torah. It
prepares our hearts to receive the Torah’s message. And support of the needy is how we train
ourselves to look beyond our own horizons, to the wider world around us. It’s how we stay aware of, and hurt for, the
suffering of others. It’s one of the
most important ways that we endeavour to build a better world. If we cannot allow these three passions to
infuse our personalities, then we have no business claiming a place in the
leadership of a sacred community such as this.
Then, we ask
that those who teach and nourish us be blessed with satisfaction, and
that we may we appreciate their time and devotion. How can we expect capable people to step
forward to teach us and therefore ‘nourish’ our souls, if they will not
experience some measure of the blessing of satisfaction? This satisfaction is the only real reward one
gets for giving of oneself to the community.
At least in the universe that you and I inhabit, there are no six-figure
salaries, nor any particular prestige, given in return for this effort. There is only the satisfaction one derives
from doing something worthwhile. From
making a difference to others. And how
does the community let those teachers and leaders know that they have done
something worthwhile? Well, it starts when
we appreciate their time and devotion.
In the third
and final bakasha, or entreaty, we turn away from the teachers and
leaders of the community and ask a blessing upon the community in its
entirety. Bless us with the fruits of
wisdom and understanding, and may our efforts bring fulfilment and joy. And of course, this blessing follows when
we bless our teachers and leaders in the ways that are expressed in the first
two requests. Because iff our
teachers can be imbued with the passions of love of Torah, devotion in
prayer, and support of the needy and therefore guide with integrity and
lead in God’s service…and iff those who teach and nourish us are blessed
with satisfaction because we appreciate their time and service…then,
wisdom and understanding, fulfilment and joy will be the fruits enjoyed, as
a result, by the entire community.
And the leaders
and teachers of whom this prayer speaks, surely include the likes of me, the
professional who has a unique calling to full-time sacred service. But they also include the many lay
leaders of our community, those who service as teachers and prayer leaders and
board members and other leaders and functionaries. In a small community such as ours, it ideally
includes a large portion of the membership.
If it does not, that means that not enough of you are stepping forward
to help and serve.
This evening we
have bestowed a particular honour, that of Life Membership, upon Jan Marriott. She is one of the key lay leaders in our
community. We have made her a Life
Member of the shule as a small gesture of thanks. During her years with our community, she has
fulfilled at one time or another, each and every one of the lay leadership
roles which I just mentioned. We bestow
upon her this honour in recognition of the time and sweat she has put in to
this congregation over the years.
At such a
moment, it is altogether fitting that we take a close look at the leadership
prayer. It serves us well to remember,
those of us who have stepped forward to lead, what this enterprise we call
Temple Shalom is all about. It serves us
well to remember the devotion that our leaders, lay and professional, have
given to each one of you sitting in this sanctuary tonight. It serves us well to remember, as we bless
those who step forward to serve, that each and every one of us is thereby
blessed. Shabbat shalom.
No comments:
Post a Comment