And, it's over

By now many of you are back together with the family and friends who supported you up until the ride. For those of you who rode and are at home reading this, the stories you can share will far surpass any blog entry or afterthought about the mountains climbed and the experiences shared. For those of you who supported someone, all I can say is...you should be so proud of them and you should know that every rider paved a way that he/she has so much right to be proud of.

The ride came to a close with a final stretch from Tzippori to Haifa, with a stop for breakfast at a place that is perhaps only reachable by bike. The riders enjoyed one last meal and then climbed one last mountain to Or Chadash congregation where the ride culminated and every participant was able to enjoy the feeling of satistfaction that overshadowed the soreness and exhaustion felt after such a long week.

Here are a few words shared with the riders before they departed breakfast for that final stretch to Haifa. It was a great week and one that no one will soon forget...kol ha'kvod to all who participated and everyone who supported the participants.

For every situation we find ourselves in, there is both an immediate focus and a larger context in which our experience fits into. I would be willing to bet that at the beginning of this week’s ride, many of you were thinking about how to get from one mile to the next…from one day to the next…and how to break down the overwhelming challenge of biking 5 days straight and finishing 220 miles into increments that seemed reasonable so as not to psyche yourself out by looking at it as one giant clump. Each day was a new start, each rest and relaxation stop served as a break to make the mileage attainable and the road traveled seem more easy to trek. But, as we sit here this morning, it is my hope that as you draw near to the finish line, the big picture of all that you have accomplished this week begins to flood the mind and this ride is no longer broken down into bits and pieces but the awesome feeling of accomplishment that comes with today’s finish will combine all 5 days and 220 miles of focus, effort and of course, that odor that is pleasing to God and probably has become quite familiar to each of you over these challenging days.
The parsha that we read this week in Leviticus focuses on the laws of sacrifice, but as we move into this new book of our story, we see a shift in the larger picture for which our people’s history and tradition continue to emerge. Many commentators believe that the Torah should have, in fact, started with the book of Leviticus. After all, if the Torah is really a law book and a blueprint for the way in which we are to live as Jews, than it is highly appropriate to think that the book of Leviticus, which embodies a majority of the laws revealed in the Torah, would come at the beginning of our written story. In Genesis and Exodus we see a detailed narrative of creation, the stories of our matriarchs and patriarchs and the Jewish people leaving the land of Egypt and wandering into the desert without clear direction as to where they will end up. As we enter the book of Leviticus, we see a change from this folklore story to detailed descriptions of the way the Jewish people are to live and the laws that they are to abide by. The Israelite people build for themselves a Meeting Tent and we also begin to see the centralization of a community, even though they are still wandering in the desert without clear direction as to where and when they will stop and reach the Promised Land.
There is a larger picture to everything that we do. The laws of sacrifice that are outlined for the Israelite people in this week’s parsha provide a detailed account of how individual are to act and the obligations of the community to offer sacrifices to God, but exists as just one small part of many other laws and rules that the Israelites are to follow in order to be pleasing to God in a larger framework. As we move from measuring our distance in the small increments of mile to mile and rest stop to rest stop to the larger picture of crossing the Promised finish line and accomplishing a week long ride we should also put into context the larger picture for why we have come together this week.
The State of Israel is the homeland for the Jewish people. Our history here dates back thousands of years and the recognition of Israel as a homeland for the Jews in the modern world is approaching its 60th year of existence. As a people that have constantly had to grow, change and adapt to the outside world, now we have a homeland established for our people, in which we must also continue to grow, change and adapt our efforts to make all facets of Judaism thrive within the borders of Eretz Yisrael.
We are North Americans and Israelis here together. We are doctors, Rabbis, students, and kibbutzniks. We each have our own challenges and strengths that we bring to our lives and have brought to our time together this week. I believe that over the course of this week, whether over a beer at the end of a hard day or on a walk break taken half way up Har Tur’an I believe that each of us have found many ways in which we relate to one another and commonalities we share but one thing unites us all…each one of us is committed to seeing Progressive Jewish communities and education thrive in the Jewish homeland that you have just taken by bike.
This week you have sweated and climbed mountains as a way of showing just how much you are committed to Israel and to Progressive Judaism being a part of the fabric of Israel. Beyond that, you have engaged the communities from which you come in pulling funds that will help to support Progressive Jewish communities already in existence here and help to give birth to new ones, to encourage native Israelis to enter in to rabbinate as Rabbis Reformi, to further Progressive Jewish education and to continue to strengthen the statement that there is more than one way to be Jewish and that Progressive Judaism can be alive in our Jewish homeland just as it has soared in communities B’hutz ha’ aretz. You have not only committed yourself physically to this task, you have brought together the communities you will soon return to with every community that each person here represents, to make a difference for our homeland and our people.
There’s a small picture that we look at when we need to focus. We break down large tasks into smaller components so that we can make them manageable to tackle and prevent ourselves from drowning in the anxiety of a project to large to accomplish in one fell swoop. After living for almost a year in Israel, as a first year rabbinic student, I am aware that the task of introducing Progressive Judaism into Israeli life and finding ways to make it relevant and important to a people are different here then outside of Israeli. Where we are challenged at home for people to formulate community in order to also feel Jewish culturally and to feel connected to other Jews, here Progressive Judaism serves to provide options to grow religiously and spiritually within the Jewish homeland in a way that mirrors the egalitarian and progressive lifestyle that penetrates most of Israeli life, even if every day Israelis have the unique pleasure of living in an overall Jewish society. We must break down the big picture and find ways in which we take small, but significant steps, towards accomplishing such an awesome task.
But, the big picture is important. It provides framework and it provides momentum. A day long bike ride from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea would have felt only marginally as gratifying had it not been coupled with four more days of riding and two other bodies of water visited after the fact. As you make your final descent into Haifa and take in the awesome feeling of accomplishment that is about to overwhelm the soreness and exhaustion your bodies undoubtedly feel, consider the role you play in helping to shape our Jewish homeland. Those of you who live in Israel are making an incredible statement by aligning yourselves with the Progressive Jewish movement here in Israel. You are pioneers helping to create space within Eretz Yisrael that says there is, in fact, a place and a need for Progressive Jewish communities to exist and to grow. And, for those of you who will travel back to your homes and communities outside of Israel when this ride is over, you have spent 5 unforgettable days riding alongside our Israeli sisters and brothers, strengthening the relationship of a Jewish people that is international and that is committed to a homeland that /exists for the entire Jewish people.
Those who defend the order of the Torah as we know it, argue that if the Torah had started with the book of Leviticus the story of the Jewish people would have lacked the necessary framework in which we would then understand the laws introduced in this book. Genesis and Exodus therefore exist to draw the larger picture for why the laws given in Leviticus are important and to create a sense of responsibility to a history and tradition that is more than just law, but is about a people on a shared journey.
Each day of this week now blends into the big picture with a finish line just on the horizon. /This journey also blends into a larger journey that encompasses generations of Jewish people, committed and passionate to bringing about change and living their lives in order to see Judaism remain vibrant and alive. You have trekked the land f oour people and of our heritage, while at the same time constantly affirming your commitment to Progressive Jewish life, both in the communities from which you come and in Eretz Yisrael. I commend you riders, not just for what you have given of yourself physically and emotionally this /week. I commend you for engaging in the big picture of Progressive Judaism and your commitment to Am Yisrael Chai (the people of Israel).

Jessica Y. Gross
HUC Rabbinic Student