Noah

by Rabbi Aaron Goldstein

I had a dream. I was on a stage with lights and the sounds of rabid excitement all around me. My hair was long and wet, tangling with the full beard on my face. Strapped to my body was a glitteringly array of mother of pearl, decorating my acoustic guitar that miraculously changed into a screaming, banged-up old Fender Telecaster whenever my fingers got over excited. My denim jeans were ripped at the knees, my pure white t-shirt was drenched with sweat and the Garden of Eden approached.

I woke up. I was a naff guitar player. The hair got in my eyes and the beard had itched me and everyone else so much they were long gone. My mum persuaded me to throw out the ripped jeans. The guitar was a bashed-up second hand job and the Fender Telecaster remained in the dream. Reality struck but the inspiration behind the dream was not lost. For my inspiration was not just Neil Young and Bob Dylan. My idols, were very real to me, hair ripped clothing and all. They were Pete Tobias, Marc de Leuw, and Clare and David Lassman, supervisors at Kadimah Holiday School, they brought music and Judaism together for me. I was one of those infected by their enthusiasm, skill, and love for the life that music and Judaism gave them, screaming for more. They were living music and they were living Judaism.

Their influence is still raw within me. They and others showed me how both music and Judaism were only fulfilled through me when I lived them. There was no right or wrong. The fact that I do not play guitar well does not stop me from filling my ears with the music I make. The fact that I found something in a bit of Jewish tradition that my friend did not made Judaism me. I was never told I was wrong, only to keep developing my ideas and to read and learn more.Those supervisors at Kadimah and the experiences I nurtured with ULPSNYC and my student years were my Noach. They were my comfort, my way through life. How did I know that Noach could be my comfort? Because my Hebrew teacher, your rabbi, taught me how to look up Hebrew words in a lexicon by their root letters. She gave me the skills to that find out ‘Noach’ can also mean to rest, to cause comfort, to have a quiet attitude amongst others. Your rabbi, my Noach gave me a skill that opened up to me a world that excites me and makes me live through Judaism, the world of midrash. Midrash excites me because I feel that if the rabbis of a thousand years ago had the right to express themselves and their opinions relating to the Torah, then so do I. I can write myself into the text. I can become part of the Torah and live it. I found this week a wonderful midrash in the collection called Tanhuma, that explains the connection between the name Noach and its meaning of ‘comfort’ and in it I see my own experience. It begins by quoting part of Genesis 5:29.

“And Lamech called his son Noach, saying: ‘This one shall comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands.’” (Gen 5:29). Before Noach’s birth, what was reaped was not what was sown. Where wheat or barley was sown, thorns and thistles were reaped. But after Noach was born, the earth returned to orderly growth. What was sown was reaped-when wheat was sown, wheat was reaped; when barley was sown, barley was reaped. More! Until Noach’s birth people worked the soil with their bare hands, as implied by the words of the Torah “the toil of our hands.” But after Noach was born, he, to help them, invented the plow, the scythe, the hoe, and other implements for cultivating the ground. [1]

My supervisors, your rabbi and many other rabbis and communities I have worked with have been my Noach. They have given me the tools to live, grow, and appreciate the world around me through Judaism. They are still helping me to transform my life from the chaos of a child and the big kid that remains within me, into tranquillity and order. And they are the ones who helped me to develop my own ideas and thoughts, through encouragement and never saying, ‘you can’t do that!’ They gave me the opportunity to be a teacher and then a head teacher when I had no direct training as a teacher. They gave me the opportunity to take services when I had no experience of doing that. They gave me the opportunity to sit on the rites and practises committee even though I had no thorough education in all the traditions and customs, minhags of a community. They gave me the opportunity to study at the Leo Baeck College and they gave me the opportunity to try out new ideas to see if they would work.

They gave me the opportunity to express Judaism through the enthusiasm and fervour that I had developed from my ULPSNYC days and helped me work out how my Judaism could become a part of their traditional practise. They were my Noach’s and they have allowed me to be to have the opportunity of being a Noach to others, especially in my new role as Outreach Director for the ULPS.

During one of my recent presentations on the new Outreach project, someone complained about the missing generation. They are not a missing generation, I responded, we missed them and now we miss them. I related my experiences that I have told you about and questioned how many of our shuls, how many of our communities and rabbis had been nurtured as I had been. There was silence.

All of our communities have a remarkable opportunity today to becomes Noach’s to the many people in our Jewish world who have not been given the opportunity I have. During our Centenary year, Liberal Jews have the opportunity to remember their history. To remember how radical they felt when they bucked the trend and joined a Liberal shul. Why, because they were so excited that they could sit and pray and socialise together in a way that matched their modern way of living. They were taken with a fervour when they introduced an organ and sang beautiful choral music in shul on Shabbat, often led by a woman. Do you remember that fervour, that radicalism of following our modern instincts and liberal, Jewish values.

And now in our Centenary year we have the opportunity to look forward and allow others to feel that fervour and excitement. Many of our number today would not have been accepted in an Orthodox shul as who we are and want to be. Liberal Judaism allowed us the opportunity to be the kind of Jew we want to be. There are thousands out there who want that chance. This synagogue is leading the rest of our movement in this enterprise. Through your Outreach programme, you will have the opportunity to welcome lots of new characters. You will be able to see their enthusiasm and fervour, like the children in our community. They are enthused because they have a new opportunity to receive information and knowledge and experiences of Judaism. At first it is difficult to assimilate the new into the life they lead. That is where we can really reach out.

We can reach out by including new members and our young people into our every activity. We can encourage them to harness their enthusiasm and life experiences by being teachers and assistant teachers. We can invite them to be on our committees and Council, even our ritual committee. Do not be afraid. Change is frightening but remember the fervour that you first bought to Liberal Judaism and then let others also bring their fervour and their own individual expression of living Judaism. If we do not, we become orthodox ourselves.

I have already explained how your Rabbi has been a Noach to me. There is another midrashic tradition that Noach did not sleep all the time that he was in the Ark because all through the day and night he was busy sustaining souls, feeding all the animals at their appropriate times.[2] An Outreach project is exhausting. Therefore, it is not just about those that lead it: it is about every member of the community being a Noach, a comfort, and a source of peace to each other. Today you at BHPS are the pioneers for our movement. I wish you every success and support in your venture to live Judaism and let others experience it too.

Amen.

1] Tanhuma, Bereshit, #11. [2] Tanhuma Buber, Bereshit, #2.2

Rabbi Goldstein is the Outreach Director of Liberal Judaism

This sermon was given on Shabbat Noach Saturday 20th October 2001 at Brighton & Hove Progressive Synagogue