In 2012, I stood before you and shared that I often feel like I am living in a Bible story, at that time I admitted that I felt as if I was living in Exodus when God commanded, Asu Li Mikdash, “build for me a sanctuary.” God said to Moses, “Tell the people they should build for me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell amongst them.” God did not say, “build a sanctuary for me that I might dwell with in it,” God said, “so that I might dwell amongst them.”  At that time in Beth Am’s history, we were preparing to leave our treasured building and it was to be the second to the last High Holidays we would spend under the Beth Am Jewish Star cut-out from the high ceiling that was once in this very place.  Back then as a congregation, we studied and shared about the meaning of Asu Li Mikdash, V’shocahti b’tocaham, “Build for me a sanctuary and I will dwell amongst them.” We learned about  how God doesn’t need the edifice, rather, we are taught, God dwells among and within us and that we take God with us where ever we go. For how could this not have been our story at that time?  We had just put 225 North McHenry Road–this building, then Congregation Beth Am’s home, on the real estate market and there were so very many unknowns.  It was a time of grieving, of saying good-bye, of feeling scared about the future of our congregational family.  We faced our reality with strength, even though it was so very difficult. Ultimately, we saw that a synagogue is nothing but four walls and an ark—it is the people that make the community, it is the people that give us life and sustain the congregation.  We are now five years from that sermon.  We have settled into Abbott Court.  It has become our home where we worship, learn, teach, meet, play, draw, meditate, practice yoga, repair and find refuge; Beth Am is a true sanctuary in a broken, complicated world.

Asu Li Mikdash-was our story for a few years, and then in 2014 I stood before you and offered a different biblical story I felt I was living in.    It’s not exactly a biblical story, it’s a midrash–a teaching of the rabbis, not found in the Torah.  It is the Nachson story.   The rabbis teach us that when the Israelites reached the Red Sea it did not automatically part. Frozen with fear, the Israelites stood at the banks of the sea crying out to God for help.  With the Egyptians quickly encroaching and the waters not yet parting, Nachson, a man of faith and bravery, entered the waters. Only when the water reached his neck did the sea finally part and the Israelites marched on to liberation.  Nachson.   Fearless.  Faithful.  Courageous.  Risk Taker.

In 2014, Beth Am, like Nachshon took the first step into the water, eventually walking across dry land into safety.  With wholeness, solvency, creativity, awareness and kavanah – intention, we gingerly stepped into an exciting, purposeful future.  We walked together striving to create a flourishing community that like all synagogues and houses of worship today, had to reinvent themselves in light of the hard-core facts that indicate the fastest growing religious group in the country are of the nones–not the catholic nuns but the N-O-N-E-S, the ones who want no-affiliation to a religious institution.

In the last 5 years, this group has gone from 15% to 23%[i] of the population and it is only expected to increase.   Synagogues and churches alike have to look closely at these facts and speedily address issues of no-affiliation, reevaluate our purpose, clearly define why it is that people should join us and reexamine the roles we play in society in general and in particular in our very own communities.

The synagogue is desperately needed today, for we live in era when people crave meaningful moments, ways to connect to the self, to others and to that which is sacred and bigger than themselves and this is at its core, what the synagogue is about.   Beth Am is about offering programs and opportunities for sure, but its first and foremost about its people.  Our synagogue should be a place of refuge, a place where kindness and civility can be found in a world that today is so lacking in the very fundamentals of decency and compassion.  Beth Am is a shelter of peace providing sacred space for celebrations and life cycle moments;, sharing our joys and our sadness and being there for one another.    Yes, the Nachson story of fearless liberation and pursuit of retuning to our highest selves was, and remains, much of the story we live.

And because we, Beth Am has been like Nachoson, we move now into another beautiful and important biblical adventure story.  The bible story I believe that our entire community as well as myself are living now is the very one we read this morning.  Atem Nitzvaim hayom. We read in Deuteronomy 29:9-10, “You stand this day, all of you, before the Eternal your God–you tribal heads, you elders, and you officials, all of the men of Israel, you children, you women, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to water drawer….”

This is our story today because we have made it through some harrowing moments and with strength and dignity we answer God’s call to choose life and live.

We stand here This day on the shoulders of those who came before us, we are a congregation that has never forgotten tradition, yet we are innovators who know that the only way to survive and to thrive is to be fearless and thoughtful people of faith who know that change is the only constant in this world and that the only reason our people has survived is because we have embraced this change, refusing to allow tradition to hold us back, and modernity to dilute our core values and that which sustains us.

We stand here today as a people who have said, Here I am—Henani to being God’s people in covenantal relationship. We know that the mitzvah of study, prayer, and social justice work is not optional and that to be a light to the nations does not happen atomically, but takes perseverance, resilience and an open heart.  We Stand Here Today, open hearted and humbled knowing that there would be fewer people served, less joy, more alienation if Beth Am did not exist.

We stand here today because we know that to be a truly welcoming religious institution means that we not only have to say hello to each other in the hallways, but when we ask, “How are you?” we also actually listen to the answer.   We know that to call ourselves ‘welcoming’ can only be true if our souls meet in heart to heart contact with Hesed and Rachamim, as people who engage in acts of loving-kindness and compassion. Beth Am is welcoming.

We stand here today as a strong community where people come to feel better.  Healing of the spirt is not only about giving and receiving compassion it also includes sharing our simcha–joy.  When we celebrate our milestones together, our life cycle events and holiday festivals together, our spirits are lifted and we feel better.

We Stand here today as a community of learners who seek to know and understand from whence we came, and who are also aware that learning Torah and sacred texts serve us in every aspect of our lives.  We are the People of the Book and our sources provide us with an ethical and moral blueprint of how to live a life of purpose and value.

We Stand here today as a community that recognizes we are all created b‘tzelm Elohim, in the image of God and are thus obligated by mitzvot to take care of each other and the world.  This means that we help and it also means that we give tzadekah.  The Talmud teaches even the one who receives charity, is not exempt from giving and supporting the community.  So we give tzedakah and we devote time and energy to the Beth Am food pantry, to ongoing work for social justice including immigrant rights, ending hate crimes and anti-semetic rhetoric, and more. We have been leaders in the northwest suburbs on immigration rights, and in participating in the mitzvah, vahavta l’raecha kamocaha—love your neighbor as yourself  And so We Stand Here Today as a community who hears the commandment, v’ahavta l’reacha—to love the stranger as yourself. This afternoon will read from the holiness code, (Leviticus 19:33). Where we are commanded,  “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall do him no wrong.  The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. The stranger –is actually quite familiar to us, or should be. Our families came to this country from foreign lands, most of us seeking asylum from oppression, many of us made it into this country illegally.  We needed a place to be safe.  We experienced closed doors when shiploads of our people including our children, fleeing from the Nazis reached our shores only to be turned away and sent back to their deaths. Today we are in the midst of the worst global refugee crisis in recorded history and less than one percent of the world’s more than 60 million refugees will even have the chance at resettlement. We stand here today, people who are working together loving the stranger as we still, take care of one another.

We Stand here today as a community and citizens of this world that know that we do not exist alone, that there are other Truths that must be respected, and that the only way towards creating a more peaceful planet is to know the Other.  We are a community that engages in interfaith dialogue, programing that includes Jewish, Christian and Muslim youth with the Children of Abraham Coalition,  pulpit exchanges and trips to Israel with our non-Jewish brothers and sisters. We are a community that values all of us here together, the Jew and the Non-Jew alike.  We know that there are many interfaith families here at Beth Am and we are grateful to our non-Jewish family members who help raise our children, who are partners in showing our kids that they are part of a great people who love them and that they are loved and who take time and effort to see to it that our values are kept alive in their homes.

We Stand here knowing, lo alecha hamlacha ligmore… that it is not up to us to complete the task of repairing the world, but we are not exempt from it either.

The Story we live today is that We Are Standing. Together.  It could have been otherwise.

Asu Li Mikdash: We have built a sanctuary and have found that God works in our life and through each of us, is with us wherever we go.  And we are like Nachson.  Fearless people of faith who know that sometimes taking a risk and believing in ourselves and in the Holy One to guide us, brings forth outcomes beyond our expectations.  And Atem Nitzvam hayom, we Stand here today. How blessed are we that in answering the call to be a community of meaning and purpose, we have breathed new life into our home. And with this new life we have taken it upon ourselves to bring joy, healing, learning, friendship, kindness and justice into our lives and in the world.

This year we are welcoming many new members.   We are so pleased that you have joined our congregational family. I am glad you are with us.

We Stand here today as one congregational family, Beth Am– The house of the People.

May we be blessed with countless years of living biblical stories together.

[i] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/14/the-factors-driving-the-growth-of-religious-nones-in-the-u-s/