Rabbi Widzer's Library

From up on the bimah, I spend a lot of time looking at the magnificent tapestries in our Sanctuary. Their vibrant colors depict Jewish texts, symbols, holidays, traditions, and values, intricately woven into works of art, organized by the Hebrew months of the calendar. Designed by Rabbi Perlin and the Israeli artists Bracha and Menachem Lavee, they are overflowing with meaning. Rabbi Perlin’s sermons explaining each of the tapestries are available on the TBS website (https://www.tbs-online.org/about-us/-tbs-tapestries) and tell moving stories of their creation and symbolism.

It is the sophistication of their design that continues to draw my eye. So many elements combine to form each tapestry. Were any of the individual elements not there, if the tapestry was missing any one color of thread, a Jewish symbol, a Hebrew text, a depiction of a ritual, it would be lacking a sense of vibrancy and fullness. Could you imagine one of the tapestries having no blue in it at all? Or green, or red? Or lacking hamentashen or dreidels? Or texts from our tradition? Only with all of the individual elements in place can each tapestry reach its full potential as art and as a representation of our community.

I feel the same way about each of you. From our youngest students to our wisest elders, from our newest members to those who have been part of TBS since the beginning, everyone weaves their unique thread into the tapestry of our congregation. There are so many ways that people connect and contribute to the community. Maybe you’re a religious school parent who comes for t’filah on Sunday mornings and grabs a snack at the bagel bar. Maybe you’re one of the mahjongg players on Tuesday afternoons. Maybe you sing in Kolot Shalom, our youth choir, or teach in the religious school, or sign the Mi Sheberach “Get Well” cards in the lobby each Shabbat. Maybe you serve on a committee or task force, planning events or policies. Maybe you attend the Purim Carnival or Tashlich on Rosh HaShannah or a BeaSTY youth group event. You might bring in a couple cans of food for our donation box, or write postcards to prospective voters, or help build the Mac & Cheese Menorah. You might come for Shabbat to observe the yahrzeit of a loved one, or to celebrate a new baby in the family, or to mark a friend becoming Bat Mitzvah. Perhaps you are one of the Minyan Makers on Saturday morning, or the Sisterhood members meeting for Rosh Chodesh, or the Brotherhood bros grilling for a TBS cookout. Maybe you come for the learning, accessing our incredible offerings of education for all ages. Maybe you come for the praying, the chance to connect spiritually in the rhythms of our worship for Shabbat and holidays. Maybe you come to help make the world a better place. Maybe you come to connect with community.

Each of you brings meaning to our congregation. Without you, our tapestry of congregational life would be missing a vital thread that only you can provide. We literally would not be the same with YOU! And it’s not only about connecting and contributing to the congregation as a whole. It’s about the connections made between you and other people, shmoozing over cookies at Oneg, chatting in the lobby waiting to meet your kids after religious school, participating in a conversation in an adult education class, working together to make a difference on Yom Chesed. The assignment I gave on Rosh HaShanah morning to meet 4 new people at TBS this year is a goal to encourage you to connect on an interpersonal level. The more we each do that, the more our threads intertwine with others, the deeper and richer the weave of our congregational tapestry becomes.

The opportunities for connection are plentiful. This Kol bulletin, the weekly email, the Alef-Bet newsletter, the Shabbat announcements from the bimah and on the monitor in the lobby, all are filled with a myriad of ways to engage in the life of our congregation. There’s no wrong way to connect with the community. There are so many ways that might be right for you!

The multifaceted design of the tapestries in the Sanctuary means that there is always something new to see when you look at them. The multiple ways you can connect with, and contribute to, TBS mean that there are so many ways to sew yourself into the fabric of the community. I look forward to seeing in the months ahead how you will find your thread of connection.