You know, when you think about it, Judaism truly is an amazing religion. Every week we read a small part of the Torah. It not only tells a story, but gives us an opportunity to learn, to explore and to relate our every day lives to Torah.
When I researched the Parasha for this week and saw that it was Lech L'cha, I was really very excited. This parasha also fell on the weekend that I attended one of my first Women of Reform Judaism District 22 biennials. District 22 is the Texas/Oklahoma region of the Women of Reform Judaism, an international organization. We meet every other year to pray, study, share ideas and run the business of the district. How interesting. There really is a cycle to life, isn't' there?
As the portion Lech L'cha begins, God instructs Abram (he was not yet given the name Abraham) to “Go Forth to a land that will be shown to you”, the land of Israel. God expects Abram to leave his father's home and go to a strange land. Of course, Abram does as instructed. And he is not scared. Imagine if you were told to go somewhere you had never been before! I realize a lot of us do just that, when being transferred to a new city for work or to follow someone with whom we fell in love. But it is never a comfortable feeling. It can be downright scary and overwhelming
When I was a little girl, my mother was always involved in Sisterhood. She served as its first president when I was too young to remember. But I do remember her working rummage sales, baking, and chairing different committees. That was in New York, not San Antonio. I only knew a few women in our Temple's sisterhood when I got involved. At the time I was quite active in PTA and felt that if I did all that volunteer work for the public schools, I should also get involved in Sisterhood. I always paid my Sisterhood dues and one year, at the paid up lunch, I volunteered to be on the nominating committee. What was I thinking?? I didn't know anyone. I didn't grow up here like it seemed so many of the women had. But I figured I could make a few phone calls. I met a couple of the ladies on the nominating committee for lunch one day and felt a tad out of place. They were obviously friends, and I was an outsider. They were nice to me, but I just didn't know them very well. They threw out a few names of women who they thought would make a good president and women for the other officers. What did I know?? Then they asked me what I wanted to do on the board. I figured I could do a small job, so I said I would serve as the publicity chairman. All I had to do was write the monthly Sisterhood bulletin column. These ladies assured me this would be a good task for a newcomer to Sisterhood.
I was a good board member. I attended every board meeting, which back in those days were held at 10 o'clock on Wednesday mornings. I really didn't know too many people, but met a few young women like me who also had young children. But we were acquaintances. When the meetings were over, around 11:15, many of the women would start making lunch plans. “Where do you want to go for lunch?” I'd hear them ask each other. I was never asked, and I would gather my things and leave the building. Now that I think about it, I felt a little like Abram may have felt. I was “going forth”, lech l'cha, to a new place, to a milieu I wasn't terribly comfortable with, but I really wanted to be there, to do what I could for Sisterhood and Temple.
Time went by and I began to make friends with women in Sisterhood. I was asked to be a model when Sisterhood held its bridal fashion show, which was about twelve years ago. I had the honor of modeling the wedding gown of Betty Cohen, of blessed memory, a woman who later would become an inspiration to me. I started attending more functions and became more comfortable with the women in Sisterhood. I was asked to serve as recording secretary and later as financial secretary. Then one day 2 very active women in Sisterhood, who were by then my friends, called me on a Sunday morning to see if I would consider serving as President. I had some questions and concerns. We met over lunch.
I was an observant Jew, but not a terribly observant one. My children, although in high school by then, never became B'not Mitzvah. They were never happy in Religious School. My husband, who had very little Jewish upbringing, and I decided to take them out. Of course, we celebrated all the holidays, but I wanted to be sure that these very active Sisterhood women knew the score. One of them looked at me and said, “you know, this might make a difference to your children. Sometimes actions speak louder than words.” I decided to go forth and serve as president with the blessing of my husband and daughters. So, go forth I did. L'ech L'cha.
Serving as Sisterhood President was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I'm not a great cook and I'm not an artsy-craftsy person, but I like to think that being organized and leading are two of the things I do best. Well, that and playing mah jongg. I loved getting to know the women on the board and the Sisterhood members. I always went out of my way to make new members feel comfortable, because I remember my initial experiences in Sisterhood. I enjoyed working with the Rabbis and Temple staff. It was a challenging time. The Temple was under construction and fundraising was a challenge. But, with the hard work of many amazing women, I had a fabulous journey as Sisterhood president.
It's only natural that the Sisterhood president gets involved in the wider organization Women of Reform Judaism. Right before I became President, our district was holding its biennial in San Antonio. I was asked to serve as a co-chair of the local arrangements committee, along with a very active Sisterhood member who had been to many of these biennials. This was a good thing, because I had never attended one. And now I was co-chairing local arrangements. It turned out to be an awesome experience. Going forth with this huge commitment was a daunting task, made much easier by my co-chairman. But once the biennial began, I was hooked. In my earlier days in Sisterhood, I would hear women talking about their wonderful experiences at district and national biennials. They would leave their families for four days to attend workshops, pray together and get to know each other. As a young Sisterhood member I would think to myself: “ If I'm going to go away without my husband and kids for 4 days, I'm going to go shopping in N.Y., not to a workshop!!”.
After the very first event of the biennial, a Rosh Hodesh Thursday evening, I was in tears. Tears of emotion streamed down my cheeks. I was sharing my innermost thoughts with women I had never met before. But we had a connection. We had all gone forth to a place where we could be ourselves and not be judged by anyone. It was truly awesome.
I have since been to two national biennials and several District events. The Torah portion for one of those events was Lech L'cha. We were all going forth to places that we wanted to be in our hearts. What I mean by this is that sometimes you might want to take that first step, as Abram did, to enrich your life. When we attend these biennials, Sisterhood members share ideas, study Torah and try to dig deeper to find out more about ourselves. Lech L'cha. We move forward in sharing ideas and thoughts in the hopes of becoming better at leading our sisterhoods.
I now serve on the national board of Women of Reform Judaism. The work of this board is not like the day to day work done in a local Sisterhood. Besides meeting at the national biennials, we do meet yearly in the N.Y offices of WRJ, where I attend many meetings. The meetings were just as, if not more rewarding than the time I got to spend in NY before they began.
The epilogue to my story is that about 1 ½ years ago my younger daughter came home from school one day to tell me that she met a boy in her math class who was active in SAFTY, the Temple's youth group for high school students. She proceeded to tell me that she wanted to go on the spring kallah to Greene Family Camp. Every organ in my body was doing summersaults. I asked her if she knew anyone else in SAFTY, and she said she didn't. Talk about going forth to a place you've never been before! I was amazed that a 16 year old would do this, but kept my mouth shut. Two months later, I took Amy to the Jewish Community Campus to board the bus to go to Greene. She didn't know many of the kids. In addition, her one good friend was a guy and I knew they would not be bunking together. Amy had a blast that weekend, and quickly became involved on a leadership level, as well as making solid friendships. She has forged friendships with many of the kids in SAFTY and last spring ran for a position on the board. She now serves as the Co-Vice President of Communications. Her connection has brought her full circle: she now enjoys coming to Religious School, and serves as a Ma'Aseh, teacher's assistant, in Mrs. Goldstein's kindergarten class every Sunday morning.
My daughter, too, went forth. Lech L'cha. I think by reaching out, just a little bit, to our Temple community, we have reaped rewards that are tenfold to what we have given. I hope that if you can go forth (lech l'cha), like I did, or my daughter did. It may, like us, change your life, as it did Abram's.
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