The Hebrew word for a group of people is kahal (spelled koof-hey-lamed).  The Hebrew word for community is kehillah (spelled koof-hey-YUD-lamed-HEY).  The only difference between those two words are two Hebrew letters, which when combined spell Yah (yud-hey), a name of God.  In other words, the power that transforms a regular group of people into a sacred community is the power and presence of God. 

 

I find this teaching to be both profound and inspiring.  I have been a part of many different groups of people—the groups of people I went to school with; the group of people that share an airplane with me when I fly; the group of people who attend with me a workshop or theater performance or movie theater.

I have also been fortunate to be part of various communities in my life, groups of people whose hearts and minds and actions are all turned to God.  Every year I gather together with a group of rabbis with whom I started rabbinical school; this is a sacred community, a kehillah, from which I find renewal, spirituality, and connection.  My home congregation in El Paso, Temple Mount Sinai, is of course on this list, as is the congregation where I previously worked.  Now, I am honored and thrilled that Temple Sinai is my kehillah, my sacred community.

 

At Shabbat services, I look out and see not only a group of people sharing a common space; I see people with different needs, backgrounds, and experiences, joining together to pray, to turn to God, and to find spiritual renewal and connection.  On Sunday mornings, as the joyful shouts of children erupt from every corner, as parents sit in the library or just chat in the parking lot, I do not just see a group of people passing time; I see a community gathered together for the sacred purpose of raising our children with a love for Judaism and Jewish practice.  When I stand with a Bat Mitzvah student as she reads from the Torah for the first time; when I hold the hands of someone who is sick or in mourning; when I find people reaching out their hands and arms to me in friendship and love, I have no doubt that I have found a kehillah in the best sense, a sacred community moved by the presence of God.

Since I started working at Temple Sinai just four months ago, I have felt a strong sense of bashert, of being at just the right place at just the right moment.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve this kehillah, and am honored to be installed as your Rabbi on November 20^th at 7:30 during Shabbat services.  I hope you will gather in our sanctuary and find there, once again, not just a group of people, but a sacred kehillah infused with the power and presence of God.