Sermon Sunday! A few word from Rabbi Lewis... Permit me a bit of a puzzlement. In a conversation with some synagogue folks, they shared with me the excitement they had on a recent European trip. I declined their kind invitation to join them for a viewing of their photo albums but, in great detail, they described their thrilling adventure overseas in a pleasant conversation. The museums. The restaurants The historical sites. The charming alley ways. The exotic shops. And, as they were about to complete the details of their journey they added, with a sincere, reassuring chuckle... And Rabbi, yes, we went to services at the local shul. I smiled, and thanked them for their detailed, enthusiastic tour, but turned away a bit mystified. On the Continent, they go to shul, but here, in Marietta, they dont. Five thousand miles away, they acknowledge Shabbos, but a few miles away, alas, it is just another Friday night and Saturday. What is it that compels us, when strangers in a strange land, to seek out religious services, but when we are in our familiar hood, we do not? I suspect that they are not alone in the displaced search of foreign speaking lansmen. When far away, there is something spiritually soothing that we crave when in an unfamiliar place that we seem not to need with the same urgency when at home. As tourists, we don a kippa and search out a shul, in need of an Amida and a shtikel herring. Distance somehow makes the heart grow fonder for faith, proximity somehow diminishes the yearning. Im thinking of planting some palm trees in the lobby, setting up a souvenir shop near the Tree of Life and putting Etz Chaim on Travelocity. I wonder if that will help Shabbos attendance?
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 13:43:06 +0000