Rabbi Laurie's Blog

In rabbinical school, if there had been a contest, I would have been voted least likely to ever be a congregational rabbi. I loved all the pieces of the job – teaching, counseling, organizing, officiating, service-leading. But I was quite ambivalent about the whole package, about leading a congregation.

I first found Shaarei Shamayim when I was 22 years old and responded to a flyer that stated the congregation was looking for a Hebrew school teacher. I got the job. The congregation was so different from other congregations I knew, and it opened my eyes to other approaches to building Jewish community. A year later I enrolled in rabbinical school, and near the end of my studies I saw that the congregation was hiring a student rabbi. I decided to apply because I knew this community. It was the only congregation I applied to. And I got the job.

We liked each other, and the next year I moved here for a half-time position. I traveled back and forth to London every few weeks while Renee completed her year abroad in rabbinical school. When I came there was so little infrastructure, so few office files, and so much drama.

But there was also so much vision, so much aspiration, so much dedication. You all poured an enormous amount of energy into building this beautiful community – through strategic planning processes, washing dishes at bnei mitzvah, fundraisers, and showing up for each other in times of joy and in times of sadness.

You were patient with me when I was a new rabbi. I made mistakes and sang off-key, and once I overslept for a bat mitzvah. I have learned and grown a huge amount over these years. We often say that rabbis shape communities. But it is also true that communities shape rabbis.

It feels strange to be here at this amazing celebration while the world is burning and democracy is crumbling. Just as we take out drops of wine to remember the plagues during a Passover seder, and we smash a glass to remember the destruction of the Temple at a wedding, so too do I want to acknowledge the grief and anger and meanness around us. As time goes on, I do not know what role Shaarei Shamayim will play in our society, but I know it will be important. You are the people I want to go through this with, that I want to organize with, that I want to be in community with.

It's the people who define a congregation – much more than its ideology or ritual practice. You have been so generous, creative, committed, and caring. I am looking forward to these next years and grateful to be in community with you.

Thank you for your presence and your love.