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For those interested here is the link to the recording of Rabbi LIsa's farewell service -  https://youtu.be/sPvi78Cz97M -  and the following is Rabbi Lisa's farewell Dvar Torah - Parashat Naso.

Serving SWESRS has been a Blessing

‘God said to Moses: One leader per day, one leader per day, let them bring their offerings for the dedication of the altar.’  In this closing verse of our Torah reading this morning, at the end of Parashat Naso, the longest sedra in the Torah, the Tabernacle is completed and sanctified. For twelve consecutive days, each tribe offers a new sacrifice of dedication at the altar. Each day, a new tribe brings its offering, until all twelve have been represented. Each of these twelve offerings is listed in minute detail, even though the sacrifices are exactly the same.

Why is it necessary to detail all twelve identical offerings? The Ralbag, Rabbi Levi ben Gershon, a 13th century commentator, suggests that we would have expected each chieftain of the tribes to bring the most lavish offering within their means. In a bid to uphold the honour of their tribe, they could have gone to great excess.

Instead, the princes opted to work together and avoided the temptation to outdo each other. The honour of each individual was secondary to the collective honour that they showed, as a nation, to God and God’s newly erected Tabernacle.

Rather than creating internal division and jealousy amongst the tribes, the leaders strove to demonstrate that the best way to show devotion to God is to join together in mutual love and mutual respect.

As I stand before you on my Farewell Shabbat, I am heartened that this is where we have arrived as a community. Over many years of its distinguished history, stretching back many years and many rabbis, time and again SWESRS was torn apart, rent asunder by internal division and jealousy, rendering our proud community damaged, divided, weakened.

Not one of us would have chosen the past 15 months, with Covid 19’s terrible toll on almost every aspect of our lives, with the tragic loss of so many of our members both old and far too young. Yet one of the upsides has been, not only the way zoom has transformed forever, the possibilities for being together as a community, but also the way this time of challenge has invited all of us, leaders and followers, members and friends beyond our community, to join together to step up in service of each other, in service of our community – showing greater kindness, giving more time, growing new relationships and new friendships, finding a renewed meaning and purpose in community and what we can achieve together through community. We have joined together in mutual love and mutual respect. Through our service of each other, in service of our community, we have served God.

Unlike the Holy Tabernacle, our SWESRS community, though sanctified, is not completed. The work goes on. An exciting new chapter, filled with possibility, lies ahead. I am assured that our community, and each and every one of you, will be in the very best hands with our new rabbinic leadership, the very best hands to take the community forward.

Back in Genesis, Abraham was told, ‘… And you will be a blessing.’ (Genesis 12:2). Abraham acquires the power to bless people’s lives, to help them unite the physical and spiritual domains, to transform their awareness of the world. In the opening verses of our Torah reading this morning, six generations later, God’s promise to Abraham is finally fulfilled. This gift, in the form of the Priestly Blessing, is conveyed to Moses and Aaron in words that are familiar to us all – the words of the Priestly benediction with which we close each service:

May God bless you and keep you!

May God shine God’s face towards you and show you grace!

May God lift up God’s face towards you and grant you peace!

Why does God instruct Moses to teach Aaron to bless the Israelites? Why doesn’t God just bless them directly, as he did with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Surely God wants people to be intermediaries for God’s blessings, so that we have the zchut, the merit and privilege, and the pleasure, the nachat ruach or nachas, of offering blessing to each other. This is why, traditionally, parents bless their children on a Friday night. When we bless others, we express goodwill and generosity of spirit. We experience ourselves as concerned for the wellbeing of another human being. When we bless others, we convey God’s love into the world.

Throughout our proud 65 year history, SWESRS, the first Reform community in Redbridge, has pioneered the transformation of Progressive Jewish life in East London and Essex – bringing blessing to the Jewish community and the wider community in our neighbourhood.

Serving this community over the past 5 years, encountering you face to face through joy and sorrow, has been a blessing to me. You have brought blessing to me. Thank you!

May we all enjoy the privilege and the pleasure of God’s blessings. May we, and this community, be blessed!

Ken yehi ratzon