Here at Kavana, where we strive to "empower each of us to create a meaningful Jewish life and positive Jewish identity," we must create the space in which members of our community can try to unravel these strands. In our pluralistic community, there is no assumption that we all share a single perspective, or that we would all unravel this ball in exactly the same way. However, we are all committed to being "in the work" together, with more nuance and a lot less yelling than what we see playing out in Congress and in the press this week.
Here at Kavana, we find ourselves in the midst of a lovely week -- full of an incredible variety of content-rich programming and meaningful Jewish community experiences. Here are but a few snapshots from recent days:
By this evening, the Jewish Emergent Network's Rabbinic Fellows will have arrived in Seattle from around the country for their Kavana site visit. Over the coming days, we look forward to teaching them about our unique Kavana model, including them in our Shabbat services on both Friday night and Saturday morning, and allowing them to peak in on our community in action (from Gan and Havdalah Club to a Board Meeting). We hope you can join us!
We do want to acknowledge, though, that as rosy as this local picture looks, there has been a complicated national backdrop for us as Jews this week. Debate over anti-Semitism has dominated both discussion on Capitol Hill and also news headlines... and being the subject of this kind of debate leaves me feeling squeamish.
This situation is still unfolding and changing, but to us, right now it most feels like tangled ball of yarn, with many different colored strands wound and knotted together. At this point, all we feel prepared to do is to acknowledge the discomfort and name some of these strands:
This tangled ball is such a mess!
Here at Kavana, where we strive to "empower each of us to create a meaningful Jewish life and positive Jewish identity," we must create the space in which members of our community can try to unravel these strands. In our pluralistic community, there is no assumption that we all share a single perspective, or that we would all unravel this ball in exactly the same way. However, we are all committed to being "in the work" together, with more nuance and a lot less yelling than what we see playing out in Congress and in the press this week.
We are so happy to be engaged in the sacred work of building Jewish community with all of you -- certainly when it feels good and smooth and rewarding, but no less when it feels thorny and heavy. Wishing you a happy second month of Adar (as today is Rosh Chodesh Adar Bet, in this Jewish leap year!),
Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum & Rabbi Josh Weisman