On Tuesday, as it somehow always happens this time of year, I was on the phone with someone interested in converting to Judaism. We got to the topic of Peoplehood, which always feels like one of the most important concepts in being Jewish, and also one of the most difficult to teach.
On Wednesday night, I received a text message from a friend, Aleeza, asking me to join a Zoom Jewish geography game.The game picks one “Chosen One” - a random Jewish individual - and contestants race to use their connections to get to the Chosen One, in this case Josh Brener. Clues to who Josh is are revealed throughout the game (which is live broadcast on Facebook), and Aleeza is allowed to text folks to bring them into the Zoom room in the hope they’ll be closer to finding Josh. Those guests can each bring in one person, and the goal is to get Josh into the Zoom room. One clue stated that Josh is from Houston, and because my parents live there, Aleeza brought me in. We learned that Josh is 35, went to Bellaire High School, now lives in LA, grew up at Beth Yeshurun synagogue, and went to Harvard for undergrad. I tried to get a few people into the call: My dad, who is a rabbi at Beth Yeshurun; Peter, a friend from my gap-year program, who went to Harvard; an old acquaintance Arielle, who is from Houston and also went to Harvard. (In the end, Arielle had Josh’s phone number.)
The energy in the game was exciting, and for the 30 minutes I was a part of this game show, I felt a sense of adrenaline that I hadn’t recently experienced. Each moment of bringing someone else into the game felt like reaching closer to someone - someone I don’t even know and will likely never know. Sure, an element of why this felt so gratifying is because all of us are craving connection these days. And it was certainly a reminder of the important role that social connections plays in our lives.
There was an added layer here, a reminder that I am connected to other Jews simply because of our Jewishness. In fact, this game only works because of that connectedness among Jews, that sense of Peoplehood. This is a thing we know intellectually - we talk about being able to travel to any synagogue and know the prayers recited there - but having it play out on Zoom in real time adds an energy that makes that connectedness tangible. It’s not an abstract thing.
Finally, I only realized after the call that I have internalized an ability, a willingness, to reach out to others, to draw on the connection with them, simply because of our shared faith. Anyone who is a part of our big tent feels like family, even family I’ve never met. Our web of people felt tangible that night, and it was a reminder that it is always available to me, to all of us.
When Josh finally came into the Zoom room, though only Arielle knew him, we all felt connected. We were all excited to see him and knew that while the game was the mechanism that brought us to him, the connection itself was far bigger than that. That was Peoplehood.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Sarit
We will NOT be having services at shul this Shabbat. I hope you will join tonight at 6:15 for a bit of schmoozing followed by Hachanah l’Shabbat (Preparing for Shabbat) at 6:30. Click that link to connect on Zoom, and you can access the words for tonight's songs here!
Please click here for the Youtube playlist with davening and teaching I’ve prepared for this Shabbat (it will be uploaded before Shabbat).
Please check out our website for some Shabbat-related learning resources.
