[Note - exciting news at the end of this post!]

Welcome to the third week of our writing together. I hope that you’ve been able to find a good rhythm in your days and your week that allows for a satisfying and meaningful practice, and that you have appreciated yourself for doing what is often hard, courageous work – sitting down to find yourself on the page, exploring inner voices and truths, perhaps coming to know yourself in a new and different way. I also hope you have been finding your writing and sharing with colleagues, facilitated by a skilled and caring colleague, to be enriching and nourishing.

On that note, since our focus this week is on tikkun olam, I want to say a word to those of you who may not currently be active in social justice causes, who may read through this week’s prompts and respond, “This just isn’t me.” You may say – I’m someone who metaphorically works to bring Moshiach in how I daven, in how I teach texts, in how I sit with the bat mitzvah, with those who are out of work, with the college student who’s just been raped, the parent whose child is addicted, the person studying for conversion. I shine with the couple under the chuppah, with the family on Zoom, forced to virtually bury a loved one a long plane ride away. To you I respond, know always that the work you do is holy; consider dipping a toe in the waters of a different kind of holiness.

There’s much to chew on in this week’s prompts. As always, it’s OK to choose just one and sit with it for the week, come back to the others in the weeks ahead, the months ahead. Meanwhile, let me encourage you to continue reaching out to your facilitator and fellow clergy, letting them know what’s working for you in this program, what you need.

Prompts for week 3

(1) - Entering the Conversation

When I was growing up in Brooklyn, my mother didn't read the New York Times. In the evenings [after work] when she finally had an opportunity to sit down and relax a little, she read the afternoon edition of the World Telegram and Sun, a paper that had Ann Landers and a page of comic strips in the back. From this I learned that the affairs of the world are complicated, dense, beyond the capabilities of women. From this I learned that women are not political. For some years into adulthood even, the palpable anxiety I felt when faced with a page of Hebrew letters [I spent many years in Hebrew 101 to no avail] was the same palpable anxiety I felt when faced with the front page of the news section of the New York Times: I can't do this, this is for grownups, this is for men.

~ Tell a story from childhood or adolescence about someone in your life who, positively or negatively, modeled a way to interface with the problems in the world. What did you learn from them? How do you carry that person with you today?

(2) - Getting Proximate to the Problem

Get proximate to the problem. Get close to the things that matter, get close to the places where there is inequality and suffering, get close to the spaces where people feel oppressed, burdened, and abused… See what it does to your capacity to make a difference, see what it does to you.

Bryan Stevenson, founder and Executive Director of Equal Justice Initiative; initiator of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery AL

~ When have you gotten “proximate to the problem”? What was “the problem”? What qualities of yours allowed you to get close? What happened? How did you change, grow? Did you help to bring positive change? What were the circumstances and what did you do? Were you able to celebrate that? Build on that in future activism?

~ When have you felt an impulse to get “close to a problem” but wound up feeling unable to do so? What were the obstacles? What did you learn from this experience? Notice if there’s a punishing or judgmental tone – can you tell the story from the place of compassion? And can you find an opportunity for moving on and trying again?

(3) - Choosing Your Ground

~ Consider the range of local, national and global problems. What is one particular issue/need that feels most compelling for you in this moment: national and local politics? racial justice? climate change? antisemitism? sentencing and prison reform? education reform? adult literacy? trafficking? the opioid crisis? Jewish-Muslim relations? income inequity? homelessness? health care needs? There is also obviously an equally long list of concerns for Israel. As you consider this very long list, it’s important to be aware not to spread yourself too thin; it’s important to feel called to what you’re doing so you‘ll have staying power.

Now consider your particular strengths: calm in a storm? energetic? passionate? long-term strategist? practical problem solver? focused on the here and now? visionary? strengths as an organizer? tech skills? committed and firm in your beliefs? deep listener? conceptual thinker? out-of-the-box thinker? coalition builder? eloquent writer? connections to media? webmaster? an understanding of the legislative process? fiery speaker? past experience or training in one of the above issues?

Respond to this prompt by digging deep to begin connecting how you might creatively harness your innate strengths to contribute to one particular area of concern.

(4) - Finding Mentors and Partners

Not yet 75, Ruth

In November 2008, an interfaith group of forty Americans traveled to Israel and the West Bank to support the work of Rabbis for Human Rights. We visited Israeli and Palestinian human rights and social justice programs and planted trees at various sites in solidarity with peace initiatives.

Striding toward the far end of the rocky field,
the olive sapling balanced on her hip—
about the same heft as an eighteen-month-old—
she surveys the difficult terrain, the raw
November morning, then exercises patience
as she waits her turn for the pick.

She remembers another time, another world,
remembers what it was like to be here then,
working the soil in an infant country,
full of dreams and prayers and innocence.

A full lifetime of striding, balancing life
on her hip, looking for the places to plant life,
life that longs only to be planted and to grow.
Unbelievable, she thinks, that anyone fights
over this soil impervious to shovels, soil
that resists even a pick and a strong stubborn back.

And now, her turn, she digs. Rhythmically
the pick rises and falls, slowly persistence
is rewarded, the hole finally deep and wide enough,
she places the olive sapling in the earth.

But all the hard years have taught her
physical straining is just the beginning
of planting a tree. She stands and waits
for the song and the prayer to rise within her
then tears come too, tears of sorrow
and pain, tears of hope, fierce love.

What more have the hard years taught her?
Be on the lookout for what needs to be done
and for partners—the only hope is shoulder to shoulder;
surrender to the work, persist, especially in rocky soil;

don’t give in, don’t give up, don’t give out
and don’t get sentimental—it’s a waste of time;
always at the end, listen for the prayer, the prayer that rises
within, listen for the prayer of thanksgiving and the prayer
of supplication—thank you God for the strength to do this work,
thank you God for returning me to this beloved place;

please God, nurture this tender sapling,
grant it long life, let it bear much fruit.
And please God, see our suffering, hear our cries,
help us to find each other—isn’t it time yet for peace?

The raw morning is warming. She turns back toward
the truck, striding to bring the next sapling.

~ I doubt that efforts to address societal problems can meet with much success when undertaken solo – With what admired friend[s] or mentor[s] would you like to stand “shoulder to shoulder” in tikkun olam work? What might you hope to do with them?

May your courage and openness be strengthened by this early Elul work and may it be a hallmark of your day-to-day life and spiritual practice in the coming year!

So, what is the exciting news? I frequently use my poems for teaching as I’ve done throughout this program, and I know many of you find it fruitful to include my writing in your teaching, your dvrei Torah... So I made a request and it was granted – the publisher of A Spiritual LIfe: Exploring the Heart and Jewish Tradition (2nd ed., 2007 SUNY Press) and the publisher of Finding Words (Behrman House 2011) have both granted my request to offer a generous discount of 30% to both books through August 31!

Even though you may have a sentimental attachment to your copy of the 1st edition of ASL (1999), you should know that the 2nd edition has more materials, including a special chapter of seven ready-made themed sessions with clusters of poems and accompanying prompts, not only for your personal use, but to offer discussion or writing groups. You may order as many copies as you like of both books.

A Spiritual Life – discount code – XAMF21 (take care to choose the paperback rather than the $95 library edition!)

Finding Words – discount code - WORDS21

Clergy Writing Circles 2021