TBT Blog

I love Amazon Prime!

With a couple of clicks, I can order whatever I want (almost) and have it delivered the next day.
And sometimes even the same day!

It feels like a miracle!

But…we know that miracles don’t usually happen quite so easily.

You will be reading this message in the middle of Passover, the time our tradition calls “zeman
cheiruteinu - the time of our deliverance.” We were “delivered” out of the shackles of bondage
and into the open world of freedom.

Did it happen with a couple of mouse clicks? Or with the waving of a magic wand?
No.

Our deliverance occurred after 400 years of servitude, after Moses wandered in the desert and
confronting the burning bush, after numerous confrontations with Pharoah, after 10 horrendous
plagues that both Israelite and Egyptian experienced. Only after all that did deliverance happen.

The lesson for us?

Real change doesn’t happen all at once. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes all of us. And that
is part of the reason that I have been invited to join the TBT family for the coming year. Not to
provide miracles. But to help (remember that word “help”) bring about change and to deliver the
congregation into a new place, a fresh place, a place of spiritual and emotional freedom.

The key word is “help.” I have no secret magic powers, no magic wand. This is work that you
and I - along with Rabbi Molly, our staff, and our volunteer leadership - will do together to bring
about healing and hope to and for our community.

Until July, I will be visiting TBT for a few days each month, getting to know you and beginning to
lay the groundwork for our efforts together.

My next visit is Friday-Sunday, April 14-16. I will have the opportunity to lead Erev Shabbat and
Shabbat morning services. If you are able, please consider joining me for either or both of these
services. Introduce yourselves and permit me to tell you a bit more about me.

As we sit, today, in the midst of Passover, let us consider from what we have been delivered
this past year? And what deliverance might we want in the coming days and months? While I
doubt that Amazon can bring those to our doorsteps, they (whatever “they” are to each of us) is
within our grasp…if only we work together to achieve it. Happy Passover.