June 13, 2013  / 5 Tammuz,  5773

faith  noun

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.

2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.

3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.

4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.

5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

It could be said that all of us are creatures of faith ... For, in order to survive, grow, advance, we must maintain some sense of confidence - whether in the self or in others. 

How we show our faith - THAT is the crux of our identity. 

Some within the Jewish community choose to wear their faith on their sleeve, whether, literally, through their apparel, their God-infused language, their halachic discipline, or any combination thereof.  Others have a tendency to manifest their faith through the ethical nature of their everyday lives.  Some reserve faith for the profound moments of life and death (said differently:  "there are no atheists in a foxhole.").

Most of us who maintain affiliation with congregations have discovered that faith is best maintained in community - even if we are inactive members - and that our needs can be met more easily when guided by a mentor, teacher, or rabbi.

A growing concern of religious leaders like me is how we these many "shows" and blend them into the lifeblood of the synagogue.  No longer are Jews feeling compelled to fit neatly between the lines of denominations, but everyone is looking for something authentic and meaningful.

Barry Camson, in a brilliant essay for the website eJewishPhilanthropy.com entitled "The Seventy Faces of a Congregation," envisions a solution as follows:

           Each one of the members in a kehillah (faith community) represents a different
           Face of Torah. Each individual has a unique understanding of what it means to   
           be Jewish and a unique set of individual Jewish needs. They have their own views     
           on how a kehillah should be, on the role of the kehillah in the community and the            
           world, on how actions in a kehillah can be supportive of connecting to HaShem.    
           One could see this as each creating an individual midrash.

           These same individuals involve themselves in collective midrash-making as they
           look for like-minded others or at least interesting others with whom to further
           develop a collective midrash. They may seek others who wish to pursue Talmudic
           learning or initiatives of tikkun olam. They may seek others who have the same
           vision of Jewish communal life. They may seek others who have an expanded role
           for women in worship and Judaism or how everyone can be fully included in the
           Jewish community. They may seek others who have an expanded view of the role           
           of ruach in worship. They band together to collectively construct their Judaic          
           enterprise and to build it out both in reaching towards HaShem as well as to  
           reaching out to their fellow human beings and to their communities and the  
           world.

How might we import some of this thinking to our kehillah?  I submit to you that two preliminary steps are necessary to even begin getting there (and with this I shall leave you in reflection until next time):

            1.         showing our faith boldly without making our faith a "show."

            2.         letting go of the fantasy that our faith is monolithic and embracing instead
                        the attitude that each person has his or her own path and set of needs
                        which should be accorded respect.