September 2003 The 25 Year Mark (Excerpts from Rabbi Kass' sermon of June 28, 2003) By Rabbi Alvin Kass This Sabbath marks the completion of twenty-five years of service at the East Midwood Jewish Center. I am certainly filled with gratitude to Almighty God for allowing me to reach this milestone, and I desire to proclaim loud and clear the traditional sheheche-yanu prayer. I am especially thankful to mark this occasion with my beloved wife and helpmate Miryom who has marched hand in hand with me for almost forty years. If you think it is hard to be a rabbi, I can assure you that it is far more difficult to be a rabbi's wife. But she has performed that role in the most exemplary fashion, consistently manifesting dignity, intelligence, common sense and patience. Most of all, I wish to express to this congregation my appreciation for the opportunity to share the last quarter century with you. Miryom and I have been privileged to make many friends in the community with whom we have shared the "highs" and "lows" of their lives and to whom we feel bound by the closest of ties. A rabbi and a congregation go together like a body and soul, and I profoundly hope that it has been a mutually productive and beneficial union in which the synagogue has risen in beauty and glory. A lot has happened within our community during the last quarter century. Despite demographic changes, we have succeeded in maintaining this synagogue as a viable institution, still the largest and most prestigious citadel of Conservative Judaism in the borough of Brooklyn. We have raised up a new generation of young members and leaders who have brought great vitality and creativity into our midst. We have been blessed by the merging of East Midwood with Congregation Shaare Torah, the Progressive Shaari Zedek Synagogue, and the Jewish Communal Center of Flatbush. We have one of the finest Senior Citizen programs in the city. We have an excellent Talmud Torah that consistently wins prestigious contests throughout the New York Metropolitan Region of United Synagogue, and we have the only full-fledged Talmud Torah Hebrew High School in all of Brooklyn. We have a Sisterhood which is the envy of synagogues all over the country. We have succeeded in transforming East Midwood into an egalitarian synagogue where both men and women share together all the privileges and obligations of being a Jew. We have established an outstanding adult education program which attracts people from far distances. We play host to the Rabbi Harry Halpern Day School, the only Solomon Schechter school in Brooklyn. There are many concepts of rabbinic leadership. Some rabbis consider themselves CEO's or ecclesiastical functionaries. I personally adhere to the old fashioned notion that a rabbi is principally and essentially a teacher. A rabbi performs that role formally and informally, verbally and in writing, by precept and example. Although in many quarters preaching has fallen out of fashion, I still take sermons very seriously and regard them as an essential method of communication. To be effective, preaching ought to meet high standards of logic, erudition, delivery, relevance, and sensitivity. I can't think of an honor that could have been given to me which is greater than the opportunity to serve as a rabbi. You can engage in meaningful activities, move others, and participate in the major endeavors of our era. You can bring our extraordinarily rich Jewish heritage to bear on the great issues of our time. Most important of all are the familiar things we do day in and day out - express love for others and help those in distress including the victims of illness, bereavement, conflict, shame and injustice. Thank you again for allowing me to be part of the Jewish past, the Jewish present, and, please God, the Jewish future. On Rosh Hashanah Judah Gillman Kass will be two months old. He has difficulty speaking, but he asked me to express along with Miryom, Sarah, Lewis and Sarah, and Danny and Debby our best wishes to all of you for a l'shanah tovah tikatevu, may you be inscribed for a good and healthy year.