By Nicole Berne (4-16-09)

Today is seven days, which is one week of the Omer.

 

It is a tradition to count the days between Passover and Shavuot, as we mark our freedom from slavery and celebrate our freedom to accept Torah. This is called "counting the omer." This year we will observe the tradition of "counting the omer" by sharing stories about the many different ways that we have been turned on to Jewish learning, and through Jewish learning to Torah.

The New Emanuel Minyan has always intimidated me. The quality of congregational involvement was terrifying to me when I first went as a pre-Bat Mitzvah, and continues to astonish me whenever I go. I love listening to everyone's thoughts during the discussions that emerge, but I don't speak up myself very often.

Beth was leading the discussion about the actions of the Hebrews as they left Egypt. We were debating interpretations of a word describing how the Hebrews came to possess the goods that they fled with. One interpretation meant that the Hebrews stole from the Egyptians, the other that they were given the supplies. It was a controversial concept: no one liked the idea that "our" ancestors had stolen - even from those who had held them in captivity. Yet many people believed that this was more realistic than the alternative: that the Egyptians, who had enslaved the Jewish people, would simply give them their possessions. It was fascinating to listen to, but it just didn't sit right, somehow. Finally, someone made some comment, which I confess I no longer remember, that caused me to have a brainwave of sorts.

I raised my hand.

"Why does it have to be one or the other? Isn't it possible that the wording is deliberately vague and open to different interpretations because this is referring to the group as a whole - and when does a group of people EVER act in unison? Couldn't it be interpreted in different ways because the people acted differently?"

The next day, I ran into Rabbi Aaron on my way to the class I was working in. He stopped me to say that he heard I made a great comment yesterday. I was totally blown away - that someone had thought enough of what I had said to mention it in a later conversation was unbelievably affirming.

 

By Nicole Berne

These stories are brought to you by the Temple Emanuel RE-IMAGINE project, an 18-month initiative sponsored by Hebrew Union College, devoted to re-thinking and re-structuring our religious school.