Prayer and the rabbinate
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I had the best realization in liturgy the other day. We were debating some issues in the liturgy of Reform Judaism and whether current practices were similar to those of the old reformers. We talked a lot about what we know as individuals, what we think the movement does liturgically and where we think the Reform/Progressive Movement of Judaism is headed. And the truth is, right now is a very exciting time, liturgically speaking, for Reform Judaism. A new prayerbook is in the works (even though there are many drafts out there) called "Mishkan T'fillah" and in the next few years, the Reform Movement will have adopted this book as our prayerbook. In fact, my class is the first HUC class to be using this book, rather than Gates of Prayer, to learn from and conduct our services from. This all caused me to think about the evolution of prayer and liturgy and about how me and my contemporaries are going to be very influential in the next several years, in terms of the liturgy that we use, the minhag that we develop from using this prayerbook and the liturgy included in it, and the views we have about using this new prayerbook. What an empowering and inspirational feeling!!!! There is such a positive energy in knowing that I get to make decisions in the next several years with this sort of brand new slate, and that I truly am the future leadership of Reform Judaism!!!! I mean, I knew all of this already, but it was so refreshing to have this ephiphany in liturgy class...to know that what i ma studying and what I am doing really has a greater significance to it than just me earning grades and getting training for a profession.

Reform Judaism, I am proud to say, has come to be a kind of Judaism that deals a lot with choice. Choice through knowledge. I am learning so much this year, and i know that i may not always do or feel comfortable with all that I am learning and the new customs that are old traditions for some but new for me. But that's the beauty of choice...when you know what things are for, why they are there, and what their purpose is, that's when you get to make your choice. Is this right for me? Do I want to be this type of rabbi or that type of rabbi? In cantorial class the other day, someone made a comment about knowing why we do things so that with confidence we can say "I understand that we do it this way, but I CHOOSE not to do that." I think that this year I forgot all about my love of choice in Reform Judaism. Like I'm afraid to reject things that are uncomfortable for me because I am learning that they are in place for a reason. Just because they are there and NOW I know about things I didn't know before, doesn't neccesarily mean that I have to chose to do those things. I can't be afraid of choosing what feels right for me. Because if I am not empowered to make choices that are right for me, as a future Jewish clergy person, how will others gain the confidence to do it for themselves? None of us should be afraid of making choices that are different from others...in school, in work, in life.