Every two years, I find myself surrounded by 5,000 people, give or take a few, who are participants in Reform Jewish communities in the United States and Canada. This December, that took place in San Diego at the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) Biennial Convention. We learned together, ate together, and prayed together. I look forward to these Biennials. Of course, it’s always nice to see old friends. Beyond that, however, I have the opportunity to find out what other small congregations are doing well that we can adapt, and to find out the same from larger synagogues as well. The seminars are valuable, and the hallway conversations often more so. This year, I learned about the B’nai Mitzvah Revolution, about how the language we use has an impact on the kind of community we seek to create, and about how all of these and similar issues relate to increasing holiness in the world.
As I tried to get from one event to another, I was reminded of what some of those who enter our doors must often feel. Although as I mentioned, I am a regular Biennial attendee, I still get lost, especially at the start of the convention. I am in an unfamiliar building with a schedule that is not my usual one, surrounded by people whom I typically do not know. Those who are not participants in our community, or who frequent it infrequently, probably have similar experiences at Temple Etz Chaim.
In his address to the Biennial, URJ President Rick Jacobs talked about what all of us need to do to make those who are less familiar feel welcome. The term he used was “audacious hospitality.” Rabbi Jacobs explained the first part of this term thusly: “I say ‘audacious,’ from the word ‘audacity,’ which the dictionary equates with boldness, fearlessness, and courage. The Jewish people is here today because those who came before us were audacious, courageous, fearless, and bold.”
As for the hospitality part, this is what Rabbi Jacobs had to say: “Audacious hospitality isn’t just a temporary act of kindness so that people don’t feel left out; it’s an ongoing invitation to be part of a community where we can become all that God wants us to be – and a way to transform ourselves in the process. Audacious hospitality is a two-way street, where synagogue and stranger need each other. Hospitality is not just our chance to teach newcomers, but, just as important, an opportunity for them to teach us.”
You can access these remarks in full on the URJ site.
When I heard Rabbi Jacobs’s comments, I thought not only of my trying to find my way around the Biennial and the help that so many volunteers there gave me. I also thought back to the meeting that we held at the Temple just before I left for the Biennial. There, both those who had been part of this community for many years and those who were fairly new to it had an opportunity to express their sense of what we are doing right and what we need to do better. We need more of that. We need to listen to each other, and we need to do so in a mood of audacious hospitality. Our community will be stronger if we can both teach newcomers and let newcomers teach us. We have a unique opportunity in the coming months to practice audacious hospitality. May we use it wisely.