In Search of Shalom and Sh'lemoot in Our Community
By Rabbi Jason Miller
This past September, I had the privilege and honor of joining some of the most spiritual individuals for a Shabbat of prayer, learning, eating and discussion. When first asked to be a guest of the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Havurah, I was a bit apprehensive. Where were these Jews spiritually? How did their community function without rabbinic leadership? Would I be familiar with their customs? Within the first minutes of Kabbalat Shabbat, I was put at ease. This Shabbat experience became a valuable model for me in the following weeks, as our entire world seemed to be shaken from its core.
In the days and weeks after September 11, it became apparent just how vital "community" is to us as humans. As we search for peace (shalom) and wholeness (sh'lemoot) in our global community, we Jews have learned to first look within our spiritual community - our havurah. It is with the caring individuals of our havurah that together we search for God in our lives, and as we learn from Rabbi Nahman of Bretslav: "Where is God? Wherever you let God in." With our friends and family in our community, we find the support, spirituality, hope and fulfillment to go on each day. It is from the strength of our havurah family that we muster the courage to help make the world a better place - a world that does not allow terror to prevail.
On Shabbat morning, as I led the havurah in Kaddish Yatom (the Mourner's Kaddish), I focused on its conclusion. We say the Aramaic (not Hebrew) words y'hei shlama raba min shamaya ["May there be abundant peace from Heaven"] after which we say oseh shalom bimromav hu ya'aseh shalom ["God who makes peace in high places, may God make peace"]. This seems to be a redundancy!
Commentators explain that the first statement is a prayer that there be no strife between us. The second is a prayer that in the event that disagreement does break out among us, the two sides should still be able to co-exist in heaven (bimromav). The proof for this is that, in heaven, the angels of fire and the angels of water stand side-by-side and do not cause each other harm. The last statement of the Mourner's Kaddish (oseh shalom) is fulfilled with bowing to the left, right and finally straight ahead while asking God to make peace. This choreography, the commentators explain, is performed because in order to reach shalom - meaningful peace - we must be ready to bend in all directions. We must be willing to "bend" and honestly consider the validity of each other's religious expressions and beliefs. It is only once we seek tolerance that we are ready to then stand up erect and pray with integrity the words hu ya'aseh shalom.
One of the ways in which we seek to make the world a better place is by praying for and working toward peace for all humanity. In the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Havurah, the additional v'al kol yoshvei tevel has been added to the words hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu v'al kol yisrael in recognition that for true peace to occur, it must extend well beyond our community, and beyond the greater Jewish community as well. It is no wonder that the Hebrew words for perfection and wholeness are produced by the same three letters as the word "shalom." When we join our hevre (friends) to establish a community of lasting peace, we become God's partner in bringing perfection to the world God created. Therefore, let us continue to look to our havurah for the inspiration do to tikkun olam - repairing the world, and make it the world that we want to pass on to our children and grandchildren.
