One prayer that is most meaningful to me is the one that begins, “Birth is a beginning and Death a destination, and Life is a journey.” The prayer states that “victory lies not at some high point along the way, but in having made the journey, step by step, a sacred pilgrimage.”
Temple Shirat Shalom is a new congregation – By definition, we have all journeyed from somewhere else.
If all politics is local, religion and faith are personal. My personal religious journey began at Temple Beth Shalom in suburban Philadelphia. It was a large congregation, and I shared the bimah on my bar mitzvah day with two other boys who came of age the same week! We had a swimming pool, basketball court, state-of-the-art language lab, three rabbis (a main rabbi, an emeritus rabbi, and a back-up assistant rabbi). We had a beautiful sanctuary designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Yet, for the time I was there, I felt like a stranger in a crowd.
Compare that to TSS – without permanent walls, utilizing visiting rabbis, and with an innovative and vibrant attitude, but it feels like a family, and I have never been so content to be a part of a congregation.
So for me, it’s not the building and trappings of the Temple, it’s the people inside.
Our congregation is on its own journey – evolving and growing and imperfect, like any family or group of people. But it is a warm and welcoming and spiritual place for those who choose to be involved. We are flexible and innovative, and through TSS, you have an opportunity to transform your past caterpillars into butterflies of religious and spiritual life.
If you haven’t joined, please join. Your dues and donations allow us to develop the many projects and programs we have envisioned that we don’t yet have the resources to bring to fruition.
If you joined and are not involved, please get involved. There are lots of opportunities to be involved – come to worship services or come to our activities or at least open the email announcements to see what’s going on so you can decide if you want to participate or not.
Our congregation is on its own journey – It’s not always smooth, and we might not have it all together, but as a congregation, together we have it all. I hope you will all join the journey.
L’Shana Tovah.
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