HUC Purim Spiel! Every Senior Sermon

Delivered as part of the HUC-JIR class of 2017 (and friends) Purim Spiel. See a video of the sermon after the jump!

I open with a joke. It's not a very funny joke. But you have to laugh out of obligation. Then I transition into a personal story. The personal story starts off cute and accessible. And it starts to take a turn. A serious turn. But it ends with a message. An important message. And now. We have started the sermon.

In this week’s parsha we learn a valuable lesson. I'm going to tell you the lesson. It's a valuable lesson. In the time of Torah and in our day today.

Here is a line of Torah. אקרא בעברית ואתם תדעו שאני תלמיד חכם (translation: I will read in Hebrew and you will know that I am a good student). In the Midrash it talks about this line of Torah. It is a profound statement. I'll read it in a way that you should know that your mind should be blown.

But. Don't worry. I know more than Midrash. I'll quote a medieval interpretation and an obscure Rebbe from the 18th century. And these texts also speak to us today. But also. Feminism. The patriarchy is everywhere. But! ברוך השם. We have our people's most important commentary: the Torah a women's commentary. And it really wraps everything up. Feminism.

You see. Every text and every parsha speaks to how we can build intentional community. Because community organizing and meaningful one-to-one relationships. And then we can live out our Jewish values. Values...which no one defines, but they are our core values. You see, we must build a meaningful community, centered on appreciative inquiry, and meaning, and rooted in Jewish journeys, which inform our meaning making process.

The first meaningful experience I had with meaning making in community was during my time in NFTY. It was reinforced at URJ summer camp and Hillel at Brandeis. And then I went straight to HUC. So I have learned all the life lessons I need.

Since then I've been using my knowledge to make choices through knowledge and I have practiced saying sov when I recite kaddish. Wow. I'm holy.

In this liminal moment, it’s time for me to say something controversial, but I’ll say it with a pastoral tone so you won’t be angry at me. But, let’s talk tachlis for a minute. We think we are doing it all right, but really, as our Torah says: אדבר עוד פעם בעברית (translation: I will speak again in Hebrew). You see. It all fits together.

Now it's time for me to give a nechemta. Remember when I told you my personal story. Well. My personal story is actually about all of these ideas. Nechemta! Nechemta nechemta...nechemta.

Therefore: tikkun olam and btzelem Elohim. Women of the wall. Pluralism. Transdenomenational. POST-denominational. Tzedek tzedek tirdof.

Mi sh’beirach IMOTEINU Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, Leah, Bilha, Zilpa, Hanna, Hulda, v’Sally Preisand, v’avoteinu Isaac Meyer Wise, Stephen S. Wise, Hermann Cohen, v’Abraham Joshua Heschel. May we be blessed by all the stuff I just said.

And that's why we should admit intermarried students to HUC-JIR.

Kein yehi ratzon.