Dear TBT Family,
This Jubilee year, we celebrate 50 years of TBT. Throughout the year, we will be celebrating the people who founded and shaped our congregational home, and telling their stories. That has led me to think a great deal about the narratives that shape our lives. On Yom Kippur, I spoke about what it means to know our Jewish story – in both our head and in our heart. The question is at least 2,000 years old, but it feels more urgent today than ever.
The cultural critic Neil Postman teaches that our lives revolve around "big stories -- stories that are sufficiently profound and complex to offer explanations of the origins and future of a people; stories that construct ideals, prescribe rules of conduct, specify sources of authority, and, in doing all this, provide a sense of community and purpose."These are meaningful stories; “thick” stories; those we tell and retell and learn from. When you think of Jewish stories like this, what first comes to mind? For me, it’s Pesach.
The Passover Seder revolves around the telling of the Exodus. This is our people’s foundational story. Its script is called the Haggadah, which simply means, storytelling. The first law of Purim is mikra megillah — we are to read the story aloud. Stories are universally powerful, and Jews are storytellers. We are blessed —and cursed – with some uncommonly powerful ones.
Furthermore, Jewish stories convey big ideas. Ideas like:
“You shall be Holy, for I am Holy.”
“In each generation, we all must see ourselves as though we, personally, left Egypt.”
“All of Israel are guarantors for one another.”
These are big ideas because they convey the heart of the Jewish mission: for cultivating the good and the sacred; for uplifting our fellow Jews; and for mending a very broken world. That’s what Judaism is for.
If all humans are storytellers, then being Jewish is a twofold invitation. Think for a minute, what in your Jewish memory do you hold especially close to your heart? Maybe it’s a wedding or Bar Mitzvah, or a holiday with family. In some way, your story converged with the Jewish story, forming a piece of your identity. What does that mean to you? What do you want it to mean to the next generation?
Jews are good at focusing on "head knowledge", which is absolutely vital. But it is the "heart knowledge" that truly matters. Heart knowledge is feeling that the Jewish story is ours to remember, celebrate, sometimes lament, treasure, and pass down. It is the deep, grounding understanding that we are protagonists in a millennia-old narrative. When we are rooted in that story, we find the ultimate antidote to rootlessness. It becomes our vehicle to resilience and Jewish joy.
But our grand, 3,000+-year-old Jewish story is really just a tapestry woven from thousands of individual, personal stories. The story of what your ancestors sacrificed for you. The story of a moment at a Shabbat table, a summer at Jewish camp, or a lifelong friendship formed right here in our synagogue. Our congregation is stronger when we show up regularly with and for one another, and to do that, we have to know each other's stories.
As your rabbi, one of my favorite roles is learning about your story. I am deeply interested in the unique experience of each family on your Jewish journey. To that end, I am reaching out to every member of our congregation during this Jubilee year. My goal is simple: to explore the ways you can find meaningful opportunities to participate and grow here at TBT, and to hear directly from you about how our community can better serve you along the way.
About half of you should have received an invitation in the mail from me already. The remaining invitations will be forthcoming in 2027. If, however, you haven’t yet received one but you’d like to meet sooner, just let me know. I would be absolutely delighted to sit down together.
I am here to help, to listen, and to learn. I can’t wait to hear your Jewish story, and to figure out together what the next chapter holds.
Shalom,
Rabbi Danny Moss