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As often happens, when it is my turn to be speaking, there is so much happening in the world and in my brain that choosing a direction can be challenging. I turned to my trusty torah commentators, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Rabbi Shai Held, and I think I may have become even more challenged on the direction to take.

Rabbi Sacks notes that in the census of Nasso, the process of counting does not use the usual verb for counting but uses a euphemism of “lift the head.” he interprets this to be the evolution of individualization. Just as there is one singular God, we, each created in God’s image, are individual, singular, alone, and worthy of counting uniquely, not as masses.

Rabbi Sacks continues: We are independent but we are also interdependent. Our thoughts and feelings belong to the “I” but much of our existence depends on being part of a ‘we.” Despite its unprecedented estimate of the individual, Judaism is at the same time an irreducibly communal faith. There is no “I” without the “we.”

Rabbi Sacks, in his brilliance, hits the nail on the head of a core struggle I am having at this moment. What is the balance between individualism and communal? I am a born and raised Reform Jew, and in the millennial generation, we are stereotyped for our individual nature and priorities. I was raised with a model of Judaism that said, learn about the mitzvot and choose what you are going to observe because you find it individually meaningful. But I was also raised with the knowledge that Judaism is not a solitary practice, we join in minyan, a minimum communal number, for our worship, Reform communities fought for women to be included in that counting, not so we could discount the importance of that gathering.

I was also raised that Jews are responsible for one another. My grandparents were able to create lives because of the Jewish communities who came before them, who helped them get their feet on the ground. When I was in school my family helped settle a Jewish family from the USSR, we met the Pertzovskis at a hotel, brought them to the grocery store, helped celebrate their first Passover together, helped teach them English and learn about Judaism in America. We, like so many American Jews and Jewish institutions took on the task of fighting for the right of Soviet Jews to be free, and then helped them settle in our communities, because that is what Jews do. We care for our brothers and our sisters, no matter their backgrounds, their language, their observance, or their politics.

What must it have been for a Jew who was… opposed to migration, opposed to refugee resettlement. Their individual rights, and conscious had every right to dictate a different direction then the communal choice of Soviet Jewry resettlement, but they must have felt very lonely within the community. Should the community choose not to take action because some are opposed? Should a community decide its action because of the individual commitments of one leader, one donor, one rabbi? Even in democracy, we know the communal decision is not necessarily the correct or moral decision. We know that our democracy must preserve and maintain minority rights in order for us as Jews, a minority in this nation, to maintain the freedoms we have become accustomed too. So how should a community, choose a direction? And what should be the place of the naysayers?

Makhloket Leshem shamayim, an argument for the sake of heaven, Rabbi has mentioned this several times, and I will re-iterate it here. We must create and maintain a community that welcomes difference of opinions, that you can loose the vote and still feel it is your community. But I think Rabbi Sacks would say the onos is on us all. It is the responsibility of the leaders of the community to count our voices in a manner that “lifts our heads” that makes us feel seen and honors our individual passions. And it is the responsibility of the individual to keep showing up for the community. To know your judgement is no more righteous, no more valid, no more important than the communal wisdom or communal decision. It is an impossible task to honor everyone if the only way to feel heard is to get your way. We must all strive to be counted, and to count each other. We must strive to bring each other’s humanity to mind when we are mystified by teachings given, decisions made, or communal directions. We must try to ascribe positive or neutral motivation, even if we find the action outrageous. These are the actions of people striving to be in community, in spite of disagreement.

Nasso asks us to count with dignity and individualism. Nasso also asks us to be blessed. To find blessing through Priests, or through community, we use a set of common words. Yet each person should find the blessings individually relevant. May God Bless you and keep you. In what way do I need blessing today? My needs may be fundamentally different. And because God has made each of us unique and in God’s image, each of our blessings can indeed be unique and meant specifically for us. This is the magic of community. We can gather tonight for prayer, we bring our own individual shmutz of the week, our own needs, our own desires for what we need in the moment. And we join in communal words, and prayers and actions, and sometimes, with consistency, luck, and a little Godly magic, each of us might be able to leave tonight feeling the blessing they individually needed. Not every blessing feels calming and good. Sometimes our best blessings are moments to challenge, perseverance and strife. So if synagogue sometimes makes you feel unsettled, please try to learn from it, come discuss it. Find what the growth opportunity might be. As Moses liked to say, we Israelites are a stiff necked people, let us push each other to be our best selves. Let us recognize the learning we can do from those who make us uncomfortable. Let us show up for community, even if the community is outside our comfort zone. We are responsible for one another; we might live out that responsibility differently, but we must not forget that it exists.

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