Good Shabbos. Shabbat Shalom. Tonight we celebrate our Temple's Sisterhood, in this its 85th year of existence. How much the role of our Temple Sisterhood has changed since its inception in 1920 as "The Ladies Auxiliary." No longer identified solely as the wives or daughters of Temple members, we are leaders in our own right and take pride in being a part of the North American Reform Movement as the Women of Reform Judaism.

We learn from the Book of Ruth, which we will read on Shavuot, that a woman's place in Ancient Israel was defined by her relationships with the significant men in her life. Once upon a time I might have been known only as Charlie's daughter, or George's wife, or Matthew's mother. My identity would have been derived solely from my connections with my father, husband and son. No longer is that the case. Some of you have known my daughter, Rachel, since she was a small child. Let's just say that she's no shrinking violet. And can you imagine her today going by the title "rebbetzin?" She even jokes that when they get mail addressed to "Rabbi and Mrs. David Komrofsky" she asks, "Where am I in that string of names?"

I take pride in my relationships with my husband, children and grandchildren, and they add so much richness to my life but they do not define me in and of themselves. In fact, I think that more than being known as "Dr. Stern's wife," my George is known as "Bobi Stern's husband!" A few years ago I used to wear a nametag at services that read "Barbara 'Bobi' Stern, Proud Nanny and Temple President. George's nametag read "The President's Charming Husband."

As I reflect on the meaning of my life as a Jewish woman in the 21st century, I am reminded of a single word that is repeated twenty-two times in the Hebrew Bible. It reflects our ancestor's readiness to do God's work, to take up whatever task was theirs. That word is "hineni - Here I am." The word "Hineni" was first spoken by Abraham when he was commanded by God in Genesis 22 to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham's response to God's call was one word: "Hineni, Here I am." The word "hineni" appears twice more in the story of the Binding of Isaac and five more times in the stories of Jacob, Esau and Joseph. In each instance the word connotes something more than mere physical presence. "Hineni" means that "I am here with all of my being, physically and spiritually, ready to do what I need to do and fully present in the moment."

This Shabbat I would like to share with you my thoughts on how being fully present enough to say "hineni" has impacted three significant areas of my life: my relationships within my family, my experiences as a teacher and nurse, and my own ongoing search for spiritual meaning and fulfillment.

I could not talk about sisterhood (with a lower case "s") without mentioning the person who has taught me what it means to be a sister. Our kids make fun of us because Iris and I talk on the phone at least ten times a day, and see each other almost as often. Though we are eight years apart in age, we are as close as two sisters could ever hope to be. Growing up in the Bronx and Teaneck, New Jersey, she and I were blessed to be surrounded by family who taught us how to appreciate life. We did not have a lot, and our parents, Charlie and Edith, worked very hard to share what little we had with others who had even less. Living this way from the very beginning has helped me to understand that the most important thing in the world is family, and that every moment I am privileged to be with my family is a moment when I must say "hineni - Here I am."

For some years now, I have been a Religious School teacher. It's now been some twenty-five years since Roberta Louis Goodman first helped me into the classrooms at Temple Beth-El, and some of my students have gone on to become teachers themselves. I approach teaching in the same way that I approached nursing. Each lesson and interaction with a student takes it own "nursing care plan" of diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. When my students come to me, inside and outside of class, to seek connections to Judaism and God, I must be able to answer "hineni - Here I am." When I began teaching I found it helpful to explore what my own children were learning. At the time both Matthew and Rachel were in elementary school, making mischief as much as they were studying Judaism. Now they are an attorney and a Jewish educator, and each is the parent of two children. I'm sure that they learn as much from their children's education as I did from theirs. And as I watch my children and grandchildren live Jewish lives I am able to experience those moments very deeply because I can step back and say "Hineni." This is a special reward that I get for putting up with Matthew and Rachel's antics all those years, for shlepping them to and from Religious School and NFTY events and for spending all of those summers at Greene Family Camp. And there is no better place to say "Hineni" than Bruceville, Texas when it's 120 degrees in the shade.

The Hebrew word for sister is "achot." Our Temple's organization for women is called "sisterhood" because we are vastly different people bound together in our many roles as women. Interestingly, the word "achot" also translates as "nurse." Some of you may know that I am a registered nurse by training. I graduated from the Mt. Sinai School of Nursing in 1962. (That's the Mt. Sinai in New York, not the one in the desert. Still I have been wandering for more than forty years since I left school. My nursing skills and George's medical skills are what brought us to the Greene Family Camp for all of those summers. That and the need to make sure that Matthew and Rachel would be thoroughly embarrassed by having their mom and dad at camp).

Those years in nursing school and just afterward helped to define a large part of my character. Whether it was nursing to indigent patients in Spanish Harlem or taking extra shifts to make ends meet while George finished medical school, I needed to be fully present during those hours that people's lives were literally in my hands. In those moments of critical care I needed to be able to say "hineni - Here I am." It helped that I find nursing to be a very spiritual act, because bringing comfort to the sick is a means of imitating God, one of the mitzvot for which the earthly reward earns heavenly capital. So to the members of our Temple Sisterhood, all of whom I consider to be my sisters, I say we are also "nurses." We have nursed this congregation through many years and been the motherly conscience that has helped to make Beth-El a house pf prayer for all peoples. We have volunteered our efforts on countless occasions and in innumerable ways, always ready to stand up and say "Hinenu - We are ready" when our help is needed.

In my own ongoing quest to find meaning beyond the ordinary, I am touched by a passage that we read in Gates of Prayer: "Eternal Source of good, we thank you for the numberless gifts and blessings that fill our days: for life itself and its endless variety; for all that sustains body and mind; for love and friendship; for the delights of the senses; and for the excellence of Your teaching, which deepens our life and enriches our days." It is the variety of life's experiences that makes our existence so exciting. Whether we are facing joy or sorrow, we need to be fully present enough to say "hineni - Here I am." Otherwise we miss out on what life has to offer. And it is just as important to be present for the pain as it is to be present for the pleasure. Without the distinction, we could never really understand what happiness really is. This a lesson we learn each Shabbat when we make havdalah to distinguish between the sacred and the ordinary; if every day was sacred, how would we know? The Hebrew poet Naomi Shemer noted this duality in her song "Al Kol Eleh," when she wrote "As the bee that brings the honey needs a stinger to compete, so our children need to taste the bitter with the sweet." As a woman, wife, mother, sister, nurse, volunteer and teacher I have tasted the bitter and the sweet and each has added something to my life. Had I not been fully present to experience these different moments, my life would be poorer.

This Shabbat, as we celebrate the idea and the organization of Sisterhood, I pray that we will all remember the commitment of our forebears. In 1920 a group of women organized the Ladies Auxiliary, and in so doing gave us an extraordinary gift. They built a Temple Sisterhood whose presence has enriched this congregation and helped to make Temple Beth-El the spiritual home that it is. Like the women of valor who built the institutions entrusted to our care, may we all be able to say "Hineinu - We are here, we are ready, we are fully present to do God's work in this world."

Amen.

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