In Celebration of Rabbi Sheldon Kirsch

In Celebration of Rabbi Sheldon Kirsch

Who do you look up to?  What qualities or experiences does this person possess that inspire you to be better person? These are always good questions to ask, but they are especially meaningful as Memorial Day approaches this coming Monday. On Monday, we will take time to ask ourselves who are the people we remember and honor for their service to this country and express our gratitude to them for enabling us to live our lives in freedom.

This past week, too, rabbis from around the world had the opportunity to give honor to those who have served the Jewish people with distinction for 50 years. Our Valley Beth Shalom family is especially proud to count two of this year’s honorees, Rabbi Sheldon Kirsch, and Rabbi Gordon Freeman (father of VBS member Sara Freeman Scharff), as communal leaders, as veterans of the Armed Forces, and as members of our community.

350 rabbis from around the world gathered for this year’s Rabbinical Assembly convention held in New York City. There would be a full agenda, from discussing new strategic plans to build a 21st century organization for 21st century rabbis to confronting the challenging questions of intermarriage and non-Jewish family members. But, before diving deeply into these concerns and so much more, the Rabbinical Assembly started its convention with an important celebration to recognize the careers of these colleagues who devoted 50 years of their lives to helping Jews find meaning in Judaism and the Jewish tradition.

Rabbi Kirsch’s contributions to the VBS community as a devoted participant of the Library Minyan are exemplary. As Rabbi Kirsch stood on the dais Sunday evening receiving the well-deserved acknowledgment and adulation from his colleagues, I was personally moved by all the honorees and the impact they have within our association of rabbis. I was impressed by the notion that our generation is one in which we find ourselves standing on the shoulders of giants. The rabbis of the past century built a magnificent Jewish world, replete with synagogue centers and communal organizations that have proudly placed Jews at the center of American culture and leadership. These rabbis, Rabbi Kirsch and Rabbi Freeman among them, each had an important role in developing Jewish life in America. While we wrestle with the most pressing issues facing the Jewish community today, we can look to these leaders who precede us to inspire us and confidently achieve our goals for sustaining a vibrant Judaism of our time.

The role of the rabbi is undoubtedly changing. Looking up to rabbis will not be because they are standing on elevated pulpits in the front of sanctuaries. Looking up to rabbis will be through the lenses of kindness, compassion and wisdom. As 350 colleagues clapped for these rabbis worthy of our honor and respect, we looked up to their virtues of kindness, compassion and wisdom. We should all be  proud of the possibility that upon their shoulders we can see such dazzling vistas of a meaningful Judaism for us and our descendents.   

Rabbi Sheldon Kirsch davvening Maarev with his grandchildren who led Shema, V'Ahavta, and sang Haskiveinu.