With the winds of the Red Sea still blowing past us, we begin the process of counting. For one moment each day, we stop the journey, and stand witness to the forward march of time and the aggregation of our days. We number these days, one to forty-nine, and we mark them, unambiguously, with blessing. Every day, every hour, every minute counts in the space between Passover and Shavuot. Time is precious, and what we choose to do with our time, even more so.
This point is made ever so clear when I take note of you, my colleagues, and the outstanding things that you are doing every day, every hour, every minute. Everywhere I look, I see you innovating and creating, offering of yourselves and your talents, doing meaningful work and making a significant impact—upon individuals, families and the community at large. I see you in the news and online, on Facebook and face-to-face; creating new social justice agendas, pushing for positive change, initiating necessary conversations, and standing up for what you believe, no matter how popular or unpopular the cause. You, all of you, are making a difference.
Every one of you is remarkable. Every one of you is worthy of blessing. Whether you are in the pulpit or in Hillel, whether you are a chaplain or an educator, whether you specialize in community organizing or conversion, counseling or computers; whether you are pastoring to a community of thousands or taking care of your children; whether you are full-time or part-time, half-time or three quarter time; whether you find yourself off the beaten path or on it; whether you make your mark through articles written, sermons delivered, lunches packed, or petitions signed; whether you call yourself senior or associate, assistant, educator, executive, CEO, COO, CTO, pastor, chaplain, artist, maven, activist, actor, mom, dad, brother, sister, or simply “rabbi,” you COUNT. You MATTER. You have something absolutely extraordinary to offer.
All of which leads to my impassioned pitch to you, my dear colleagues. As the newest member volunteer for RavBlog, I, along with the esteemed staff at the CCAR, am looking to add your voice to our RavBlog rolls. We want to hear from you and read your thoughts, we want to learn from you and be inspired by you. We want to feel with you and commiserate with you. We want to be challenged by you and be inspired by you. We want to laugh with you and cry with you. We want to cook with you and craft with you. We want to highlight your victories and give voice to your struggles. We want to dream with you and vision with you. We want to hear from you, period!
Whatever you want to say, however you want to say it, we want to hear it, and share it. We want to spark conversations—online, offline, and everywhere in between. We want to create a platform for discussion and debate and dialogue. We want to shed light on all the incredible things you do each day.
And so, to that point, I am asking you to help us grow and deepen RavBlog. Help us highlight more of you and more of your exceptional projects and initiatives and ideas. Help us expand our reach, not only to rabbis who haven’t yet subscribed, but also to interested family members, friends, congregants and community members.
Think about contributing and urge your colleagues to do so as well.
One of my personal goals is to cast a wide net, and to connect with as many of you as I can, in service of making RavBlog more representative of our multi-faceted rabbinate. But rather than wait for me to find you, I wholeheartedly invite you all to reach out to me! By all means, message me on Facebook or email me at sarasapadin@gmail.com with ideas, pitches, thoughts, questions, concerns, comments, and the like!
As we count our days and watch them pass, we recognize that there is no time like the present—to make our voices heard, to share our stories, and to contribute to this vibrant community of ideas. I’ll bet you’ve got a terrific blog post just waiting to be submitted to RavBlog today! I’m so looking forward to hearing from you.
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Rabbi Sara Sapadin resides in New York City. She most recently served Temple Israel of the City of New York. Sara now volunteers as the CCAR RavBlog Member Volunteer. Interested in writing something for RavBlog? Email Sara.
