Wisdom For Builders / 02 Feb 2023

Redemption Does Not Mean An End To All Questions

A lot of us have been led to believe that to be redeemed means the conclusion of all challenges. There is a model for that. But it’s certainly not the only model, and living in the real world, I don’t think it’s the most helpful model, especially for builders. Moreover, I don’t even believe that finding redemption in the midst of our building is predicated upon success. Now I want to be clear: I want more success than failure. I couldn’t stay in the game if I didn’t have more success than failure. But I don’t think we need to limit our sense of redemption to the times we have been successful. Here are two examples from my life and work that help illustrate what I mean. First, the story of an organization called No Labels, which is a multi-partisan political movement committed to finding practical solutions to the ongoing challenges of policy polarization, including their sponsoring of the Problem Solvers Caucus. Friends of mine and supporters of Clal, who are also among the founders and lead funders of No Labels, were looking for new thinking about the way religion and faith are so often mobilized in political fights and often to further polarize and paralyze us. At some point, there was a discussion: we really should be able to gather leaders for whom faith is an animating issue and not have it be a polarizer. It may not be uniter, but at least bring some wisdom so that it didn’t make things worse.  That was the big idea. I/we hoped that this gathering would be convened through a major think-tank such as the Brookings Institution or the Aspen Institute. That was very exciting to me because I wanted to work with Brookings for some time and/or extend an old…

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Inspiring Story, Longform, This Week In Wisdom, Weekly Parsha / 02 Feb 2023

Take the Long Way: Parashat Beshalach

In my family, we have the concept of the “Stanton shortcut.” It pertains to an unnecessarily long path that my father, my brother, or I take when going from one place to another, leading to wonderful adventures or learning opportunities – and a far longer duration of travel than any of us anticipated at the outset. We’ve taken some wonderful “shortcuts” all over the world, using many different modes of transportation, and we continue to revel in the time we wound up spending together en route. Evidently, this is far from an original concept. A recurrent motif from the Torah is the unnecessarily long journey (both chronologically and geographically) that the Israelites took from Egypt to the Promised Land. What should have been a straightforward path along major maritime trade routes turned into a generation-long trek filled with challenges, power struggles, internal strife, and reversions to idolatry. One of the stated reasons for taking the long way, which surfaced after the episode with the Golden calf, is for the transition from the generations that knew being enslaved to a new one that only knew freedom and had a more open mindset. Another surfaced in the earliest days of the Exodus itself and can be found in this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Beshalach (Exodus 13:17 – 17:16). We read in Exodus 13:17, Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, ‘The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.’ As it turns out, topographical shortcuts can provide a shorter path toward a destination, as well as a shorter path back from it. Commentator Abraham Ibn Ezra points out that this fear was nearly realized in…

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Wisdom For Builders / 02 Feb 2023

In Search of Space: From Garage to Brownstone

In the Spring of 2017, a group of neighbors gathered with the question: ‘What are we going to do this Shabbat?’ After seeing the need for a prayer space in Harlem that felt truly inclusive and accepting of anyone who may walk through the door, they were determined to build the community they could not find. Born from this was Kehillat Harlem, a prayer space committed to Halachah (Jewish law) while holding this mission of inclusivity at its core. Fortunately, a proclivity for creativity led to the creation of the Harlem Shtiebl (shtiebel, meaning “little Room”). Kehillat Harlem saw in one community member’s garage (he was a superintendent of a building) the perfect space to gather. Pulling gym equipment to the side (they happened to make great coat racks), we found space for our small community. Determined to grow, we brought in a synagogue consultant to point us in the right direction. Sadly, after bringing our community members together over a few months in the summer of 2018, it became clear that we would lose our space. A university had purchased the building where we were meeting, and our friend and neighbor, the superintendent, was being moved to a new building on the Upper West Side.   As we packed and moved into storage, we were humbled but ultimately determined to keep Kehillat Harlem alive. We continued to meet every Friday evening, no matter who came or where we found space. And it was more than once when there were only three or four of us there, but we sang Kabbalat Shabbat with the energy of a congregation. We used the JCC Harlem monthly, but on other weeks we jumped between community members’ homes. Meanwhile, we never stopped searching for another space, though our budget was incredibly limited. We did…

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Spirituality & Faith / 30 Jan 2023

Is the Tree of the Field Human? A Teaching for Tu BiShvat 5783

A Teaching for Tu BiShvat

Spirituality & Faith / 24 Jan 2023

Tu B’Shevat Reflections: Grow Like a Tree

Lessons learned from the trees