Personal
On this page you will find articles that focus on those chance or passing moments in our personal lives that appear to be outwardly small but are significant nonetheless for their influence upon our mood, our feelings of connection with others, and our spiritual lives.
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Becoming Ordained As A Rabbi
Ordination day. On this day, you will take on the title Rabbi. Like it or not, from
this day hence, you will be not only you…you will also be a symbol. You will
represent the entire Jewish tradition. Your presence will conjure up for your
fellow Jews the Hebrew school lessons they hated, the time they got teased for
taking a matzah sandwich to school, the childhood rabbi who condemned their
exploration of Eastern religions, the Yom Kippur appeals for money that, as the only part
of the service you could understand, seemed to dominate the whole thing. You will be the
embodiment of that piece of themselves from which they are alienated; you will be that
piece of themselves that they would like to ignore but can’t; you will be the God
they hate. But you will also be their longing for their great-grandmother’s strudel,
and memories of playing with their grandfather’s tsitsit. You will be the God they
cry out to even when they struggle to believe.
Meditation:
As I become a teacher, may I continue learning;
As I become a counselor for others, may I hear my own voice and Yours;
As I become a leader, may I understand how to use power for the good.
Blessing:
(On the morning of your ordination)
Blessed is the one who instructs us: L’asok b’direvi Torah--
to fill our lives with the words of Torah.
Ritual:
After the public ceremony of being named a rabbi, hold a private one with a
‘veteran’ rabbi who is willing to guide you over the years as you find your
strengths and weaknesses in your rabbinic work. Plan to keep a log of the
conversations between you and your "shepherd," referring back to them as
each Rosh Hashanah approaches.
Teaching:
Who is wise? One who learns from all people.
(Pirkei Avot)
It is pleasant to ascend the pulpit but it is difficult to descend.
(Yalkut Shemoni, 845.)
And the Lord said to me: "Do not say, ‘I am just a child,’ But go wherever
I
send you and speak whatever I command you. Have no fear of them, for I am
with you to deliver you." …The Lord put out His hand and touched my mouth
and the Lord said to me: Starting now I put My words into your mouth."
(Jeremiah 1:7,9)
Yoreh yoreh; yadin yadin; yatir yatir
May this one decide? This one may decide. May this one judge?
This one may judge. May this one permit? This one may permit."
(Traditional ordination formula, Sanhedrin 5a)
Love work, hate the rabbinate.
(Pirkei Avot 1: 10)
"It is the hasidim who make the rabbi."
Mendel of Kotzk (Tales of the Hasidim, Buber ii.9)
Commenting on the verse, "I have found one human being in a thousand":
"Such is the way of the world: a thousand enter for the study of the Bible, but
only a hundred pass from it to the study of the Mishna. Ten of these proceed to
the study of the Talmud, and only one of the last attains to ordination as
Rabbi."
(Kohelet Rabbah to Kohelet 7: 28)
”One should not say: I will study in order to attain the degree
of Rabbi. One should study for the love of it, and the honor will come in
the end as a by-product."
(Nedarim 62)
Aseh l’kha rav
Select a rebbe, a master-teacher, for yourself
(CLAL Faculty)
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