As I write this message to you, I am with beloved colleagues, former classmates, friends, and teachers at the American Conference of Cantors/Guild of Temple Musicians (ACC-GTM) Convention in a beautiful setting in San Diego, CA. While my surroundings are glorious, sunny, and perfectly temperate, I cannot help thinking about the poor air quality that all of you, my beloved friends, and my family are dealing with back in Chicago. I am praying for you, your good health, and that this will pass quickly, and that we as a society will transition to a new, way of life which will help us to gain the tools to manage the crises facing us with climate change, and that we will do so not from “knee-jerk reactions” which can often result in “kicking the can down the road”, rather, that we will learn work together to try to overcome these extraordinary challenges.
The theme of the convention is in fact, Transitions. Each day is filled with beautiful prayer services led by colleagues, with familiar and new melodies to help punctuate this theme of transitions. There are many different learning opportunities offered by our colleagues, which included a panel discussion in which three individuals shared their stories about different transition points in their careers which presented great challenges, and how they managed these transitions and came out on the other side. One session which particularly resonated with me was a peer workshop presented by two newly married colleagues, Cantor Ze’evi and Rabbi Ariel Tovlev called “Beyond the Binary: Gender Expansiveness in Judaism”, It was incredibly inspiring to study texts about this topic and see how the Rabbis very early on were writing commentary to help society understand the concept of non-binary and androgynous. I think perhaps the biggest takeaway for me from that discussion was the realization that one of the names we use in addressing God is in the plural—Elohim, (“im” for the 3rd person). This gives a better understanding of those who identify as “they/them”, rather than the binary pronouns of “she/her”, or “he/his”. There is much more to share, and I am happy to meet with you anytime you’d like to discuss over coffee.
We see this concept of transition in this week’s Torah portion, Balak, which contains one of our signature passages of the Shabbat morning service, Mah Tovu. Moses is pressing on towards the goal of making it to the Promised Land, leading the flock alone, as his siblings Miriam and Aaron have died, and as they are forced to fight enemies in surrounding lands along the way, God continues to lead them to victory each time. However, Balak, the King of Moab, is determined to see their demise. He sends his henchmen to a man, Balaam, and tasks him to destroy them. Balaam is a righteous man who worships God and wants to do the right thing. Balak eventually takes Balaam to the peak of Mount Peor, which overlooks a wasteland where the Israelites were camping. Balaam was witnessing firsthand the transition of the Israelites, from their encampment in strange lands to their fighting against enemies, and was inspired by how they were making the best of their situation of transition, where they were facing so many unknown elements in their journey to Eretz Israel. The Chassidic teacher, Netivot Shalom teaches that it is within these steps of transition that we are made whole. He teaches that we must delight in the journey in order to attain wholeness. Balaam was witnessing the delight of the Israelites as he looked onto their encampment and declared, “Oh how good are your tents, oh Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel” Mah Tovu, ohalecha Ya’akov, mishkenotecha, Yisrael.
No matter who we are, how old we are, where we live, or what work we are doing, we are all in some kind of transition. Like the challenges faced by the Israelites, the transition is often challenging and uncomfortable, to say the least. It is my hope and prayer that as we journey through society’s challenges of climate, social, and so much more, we can resist the urge to “wish them away” as I often am guilty of. Rather, let us keep our eyes and hearts open for these joyful moments along the way, and really soak them in. Even as I am writing this, with my worry about how my family is dealing with the poor air quality, I am seeing a young father walking by with an infant baby, with his sweet little head resting on his shoulder, and I feel great joy because it reminds me of my sweet babies at home. While I am having such a rejuvenating time here, I cannot wait to get back home to hug, kiss, and cuddle them. These are the moments when I can truly stop and say, “God is here, and I did not even know it”.
Please enjoy this inspiring setting of the young voices of HaZamir Chorale as they sing together Lewandowski’s majestic setting of Mah Tovu. I hope it will allow you to experience the awe and grandeur that Balaam had when he declared these words in our Torah portion.
Shabbat Shalom,
Cantor Susie Lewis Friedman