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Looking Ahead While Remembering our roots
MAY 2007
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Photo by
Chris Gaines |
"Hope is the ability to combine aspiration with patience."
– Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
Dear Friends,
While walking through Old Town recently with my parents, I saw CBI's first building in Heritage Park, our synagogue home from 1889 to 1926. It was wonderful to stand on the steps and look out on the rest of San Diego. I imagined what synagogue and Jewish life must have been like during our early days.
My father wondered aloud what our second building looked
like, so we hopped in the car and drove to Third and Laurel.
There we could see how much CBI had grown from those early
days. Finally, bringing our little impromptu tour of CBI Jewish
life to a close, we came back to our present majestic campus.
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The impact of this journey, for me, was far-reaching. It is evident in almost everything we do that we are the mainstay of Reform Judaism in San Diego, but it was not until I actually physically journeyed from place to place that I understood how this came to be.
I began to really think about our life as a community and all the wonderful
places we have been. And even more, all the wonderful places we are still going!
And then I found this anonymous piece.
It reads:
I am the synagogue. I am the heart of
Jewry. I have shielded you for more
than two thousand five hundred years.
Through all these cruel ages, swept by
wrath and sword, I nursed you with
the words of God. I have helped heal
your wounds with bounds of faith. I
have steadied your minds and
strengthened your hearts with the
vision of the Eternal.
When your ancestors wept by the
waters of Babylon, I came into the world
summoned by their needs; whenever
they were in the valleys of many
shadows, under the heels of the pirates
of all ages and all lands, I gave them
loving asylum. In Babylon and in Persia, in Greece and in Rome...and beyond to
four corners of the earth, I have been
and by my presence have brought living
waters of the Eternal. When the world
derided your ancestors, I restored them.
When they were cursed by others, they
were blessed by me.
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I am old and I am young. I am older
than the memories of the historians and
as young as the youngest child. I bring you
peace by teaching you duty. I sanctify your
lives with holy seasons. I preserve your
heritage. I make faith of the fathers and
mothers and the faith of the children.
Behold, a good doctrine do I give
unto you, do not forsake it. I am the
synagogue. Join with me and let us walk
together — for neither of us can walk
alone.
What a fitting reminder for each of
us as we begin another exciting time in
our history, strengthened by our
synagogue community — a time of
transition from one rabbi to another. As
we say goodbye to Rabbi Citrin and wish
him well in his retirement and teaching,
we remember all that he has done for us
and the entire Jewish community during
his distinguished career.
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As we welcome
Rabbi Berk, a distinguished rabbi in his
own right, we are comforted by the
presence, warmth and scholarship he
will bring to us. As we travel through
time, we are aware of what has
connected us for three centuries — our
synagogue, our community and most
importantly, our hope.
Together we have remained for many
years. And together we will remain for
many more. Our beginnings, perhaps
now, seem auspicious. But our future
burns brightly along the horizon. Let us
all walk together, strengthened by each
other and armed with two great
constants, hope and faith.
May this be our blessing.
Always,
Rabbi Glenn Ettman
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