From the Pulpit: Let’s make this a year of listening

By Rabbi Daniel Mikelberg

Temple Israel

In weeks past, we’ve gathered as communities in honour of the chaggim. Significantly, we have also been immersed in a hard fought election campaign. We may even have found ourselves sitting beside those in opposing camps. This is beautiful as it represents that there is more that we share in common than what separates us. Too often we lack settings where we gather amidst those with contrasting views. This, unfortunately, is countercultural and does not reflect our present day reality. We erect walls, be they physical or virtual, blocking out that which we don’t like. It’s as if we’re afraid to encounter the other. After all, listening to their words might modify our own opinions.

Alas, we’re too fixated in our own spectrum. There’s a Chasidic legend passed down in many variations that speaks to this topic:

On an evening stroll, a leading rabbi heard the cry of a baby coming from his student’s house – a cry that pierced the night. He rushed into the house and saw his student enraptured in prayer, swaying in pious devotion. The rabbi entered the home and cradled the baby to sleep. When the student emerged from his prayers, he was shocked and embarrassed to find his master in his house holding his baby. He justified his absence by elaborating on his obligation to pray. But the Rabbi responded that he could not ignore the needs of the little one: “My dear student, if praying makes one deaf to the cries of a child, there is something flawed in prayer.”

The student in this story – paraphrased from Rabbi Donniel Hartman’s book, Putting God Second: How to Save Religion from Itself – is so focused on his exclusive call to follow God’s word, that he is oblivious to the needs of his daughter. And many of us are also stuck in our ways, unable to recognize the cries of the other before us. At this season of new beginnings, we are called to listen carefully to the voices around us, to the immigrant, the Indigenous Canadian, the Black Canadian, the impoverished, etc. As we open ourselves to the stories beyond our own, we enable ourselves to step forward together.

Our blinders keep us focused on the here and now. It’s all about winning the game. Now that the election has passed, it would be better for us to look beyond, to the long-term impact of our actions. We can keep the ring of the shofar with us year round. The shofar reminds us that something is being asked of me, of each of us. As we respond to the demand, we find purpose and meaning. Too often we get distracted and move in our separate individual directions. Imagine a world where we listen attentively to the other in the same way that we approach the shofar call.

Let’s make this a year of getting back to basics. Let’s put down our smartphones and speak to those around us! More importantly, let’s get away from our preconceptions, the obstacles that get in our way. Let’s focus our attention on listening and working together. Even when we don’t always like what we hear, let’s still find space to integrate these words of opposition. This will likely be jarring and uncomfortable, but it will also be inspiring, unifying and beautiful!

Jewish community participates in Capital Pride

Members of the Jewish community gather, August 25, before marching in the Capital Pride Parade. (Matthew Horwood)

By Matthew Horwood

An enthusiastic delegation of people from the Jewish community marched in this year’s Capital Pride Parade in Ottawa on August 25. Marchers included representatives from the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), Hillel Ottawa, Jewish Family Services of Ottawa, Kehillat Beth Israel, Temple Israel, and Or Haneshamah.

The parade was the culmination of the week-long Capital Pride Festival, which included more than 60 events held across the region.

Among the events was a potluck Shabbat dinner at Temple Israel on August 16 and a Shabbat dinner at Kehillat Beth Israel, co-sponsored by Federation and CIJA, on August 23.

Jess Burke, who staffs CIJA’s LGBTQ2+ Advisory Council, said the August 23 Shabbat dinner was attended by 170 people, which made it the largest Pride Shabbat dinner since CIJA first began hosting the dinner three years ago.

CIJA received a grant from Federation’s Jewish Experience Microgrants program to support the dinner, as well as a tailgate party that took place before the Pride Parade began.

“We are very grateful to the Federation Microgrant program for their continued support on meaningful, engaging community programs,” Burke said.

Burke was also enthusiastic about community participation in Capital Pride.

“Through this channel and our strong community partnerships with the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, Temple Israel, Kehillat Beth Israel, Or Haneshamah and Hillel, we were able to mobilize a large marching contingent of both LGBTQ2+ Jewish community members and allies,” she said.

Dara Lithwick, a member of CIJA’s LGBTQ2+ Advisory Board, is a long-time supporter of Pride, having come out more than 20 years ago with the “instrumental support” of her rabbi.

Lithwick said her role with CIJA involves advocating for inclusivity, as well as working with local Prides to ensure that “Jewish spaces are queer friendly, and queer spaces are Jewish friendly.”

Lithwick said in the future, she would like to see broad participation from all the major congregations and Jewish organizations in Ottawa.

“I think there has been a wonderful evolution over the past 15 to 20 years, and it’s only going to get better. We are all created in God’s image and we have a duty to both love our neighbour, and also love and care for the stranger,” Lithwick said.

Miriam Izbinsky, who marched in the Pride Parade for a second year in a row, said she attended to support her Jewish friends in the LGBTQ community.

“I love coming out here and supporting them as much as I can. People who are Jewish and are a part of the Pride community need to be supported as much as possible,” she said.

This year’s Jewish Pride delegation included a homemade float: a car decorated with balloons and streamers, and topped with a giant inflatable unicorn. The car’s owner, Sasha Kathron, Jewish student life coordinator at Hillel Ottawa, said she was “honoured” to march in the parade as an ally of the LGBTQ community.

“Times are changing and I think we are moving in the right direction. I think we need to lead by example and lead with love, not hate,” Kathron said.

Jewish Federation of Ottawa President and CEO Andrea Freedman said she makes a point of attending Pride every year because she believes it’s important for Jewish leaders in Ottawa to be allies to the LGBTQ community.

“Seeing Ottawa come together to have community groups and businesses marching – as well as families bringing their kids – was fantastic,” Freedman said.

“It’s such a remarkable message of inclusiveness and care for our fellow citizens.”