Author of "Embracing Auschwitz" and "Mensch•Marks: Life Lessons of a Human Rabbi - Wisdom for Untethered Times." Winner of the Rockower Award, the highest honor in Jewish journalism and 2019 Religion News Association Award for Excellence in Commentary. Musings of a rabbi, journalist, father, husband, poodle-owner, Red Sox fan and self-proclaimed mensch, taken from essays, columns, sermons and thin air. Writes regularly in the New York Jewish Week and Times of Israel.
Well, this is it, my final day as your senior rabbi. This week we moved into our new home and already most of the boxes have been emptied. And the place, now filled with our furniture and the shelves lined with our books, looks even better than we imagined. Even the dogs are adjusting well.
Plus, on Friday, to make the move complete, we had our wifi installed, thank God.
So, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, as my day counter reaches zero (see photo above and last fall's High Holidays sermons), I am sending out my final message on TBE's Constant Contact. I'll continue to be a presence in the bulletin, but for official TBE communiques, I turn things over to Rabbi Knopf and others, like Steve Lander, who sent out the Greenmans' baby announcement this week (and Mazal Tov to them!). I wish everyone the very best of luck in carrying forward TBE's sacred missions.
Meanwhile, Mara and I continue to bask in the (very) warm glow of last weekend's farewell service. And the tribute book continues to grow.
Finally, a reminder that I will still be as vocal as ever - even more than ever - on the issues and values that we cherish the most. Please subscribe to my Substack page - as hundreds of you already have - and you will not miss a beat. Simply go to https://rabbijoshuahammerman.substack.com/ - and tell your friends, your kids and your kids' friends too!
As I stated last week at the service and feel even more strongly following last Thursday's debate:
I am grateful for the years shared together and for shared experiences still to come. I am very optimistic about the future of this congregation, because I know what you are made of. And I’ve even more optimistic about the future of the Jewish people - and America too. I think we will emerge stronger from the crucible of these past few difficult years. So will democracy, here and in Israel. And now, freed from the forty years of grappling, I’ll be able to find new ways to help this generational struggle, here and in Israel.
With abundant gratitude, best wishes for the future and looking forward to seeing you again,
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman
PS - And if you wonder why I am optimistic even after THAT debate, send me an email and we can discuss.
Here are the video and audio of Friday evening's final service honoring Mara and myself. Thanks to all who made this evening so special, so authentic, so heartfelt - everything I had hoped for.
Further revisions will be made after Shabbat. Thank you so much for all the lovely letters. They have really helped us to remember key moments in your lives - and ours.
Yes it is warm in the Temple with the AC on the fritz, though great efforts are being made to make it more manageable. Still, I want to make it clear that if you have any health concerns, I would not want any unnecessary risks to be taken on my account.
That said, losing AC was not an issue for my grandparents' generation. The existence of AC was not conceivable for their grandparents. Now losing it, even just temporarily, has become nearly an existential crisis, which says less about our declining level of tolerance than the accelerating rate of climate change. Maybe it's fitting that my final service send this urgent message to all of us. Our level of sustainability is fast becoming unsustainable.
So dress lightly. I was going to wear a tie tonight but now will not. You can use your program as a fan (like in many churches) - or even bring one of those little toy fans (Shabbat doesn't begin until late). When my dad went to cantorial conventions, he used to tell me that some of the best singing was done in the schvitz. Let's sing like it's the schvitz at a cantors' convention!
I thank the many people who have written thus far. If you haven't yet and would like to share reflections, we will be updating this collection in real time over the coming weeks, so it's not too late. You can send it to me directly at my TBE email address (which I'll be keeping) - joshuah@tbe.org.
I will be on vacation after the conclusion of Shabbat (Shabbat morning will be my last service) until the end of June, after which I'll magically become rabbi emeritus. It's all rather jarring, and it's all happening at breakneck speed, which is why this Friday night is so important. It's a moment in history, and the speakers (who will all speak relatively briefly) will reflect different generations and experiences within the congregation over the past 37 years. There will also be people here from my prior pulpit, as this will be the culmination of over 40 years in the congregational rabbinate. I hopefully have many miles to go, and many challenges to pursue as a rabbi, but this is a time to take stock of a career as well as an era.
It is heartwarming not only to have seen the notes, but to know that several hundred have indicated that they will be present for this final service, which will also feature wonderful musicians along with stirring speakers. This is exactly the kind of send-off Mara and I wanted: Heimish, heartfelt and accessible to all. As you will sense from the booklet, the response has made us feel very good about all that we've experienced together. I am especially appreciative of the committee that has coordinated this special evening, led by co-chairs Elissa Garber-Hyman and Peter Kempner.
It would be a good idea to plan to get here early and maybe carpool, as parking will be at a premium. Also, it will be a hot day, so dress comfortably.
Finally, many have shared with me a sense of sadness, along with some disorientation, which is quite natural. Mara and I both feel it as well. Leaving so many people we've loved for so long will not be easy. You'll see in the program booklet many examples of how the history of our relationships is both broad and very deep. If you are feeling sad or just want a little closure or reassurance, please feel free to be in touch with Mara and me directly. We've had some incredible conversations with people over the past few weeks and would love to hear from you. You are not alone. Contact me at any time, using my temple email address.
So there may a few tears on Friday night. But I guarantee that you will laugh and smile too. It will be our chance to put the sweet into bittersweet. It's what we've done together for so many years.
I mentioned that my work at TBE effectively ends after Shabbat. ...And on Sunday, I'm doing a wedding of one of my old TBE students. That's why we won't say goodbye this Shabbat. Just Shalom!
As we prepare for my final service on the 21st (and don't forget to RSVP), I want to invite you to take a journey back to the future.
My installation as senior rabbi took place on Sept 11, 1992. On a special commemorative page that I created, you can watch the four-part video (including a priceless performance by our choirs)and see the program for the service, which featured "offerings" of new prayerbooks made by representatives of different demographic segments of the congregation. See the full lineup of the presenters and what they said. At the end, you can find the original text of my remarks for that evening, including some key advice I was given by Rabbi Mark Golub. The video contains the voices and images of so many no longer with us, including Rabbi Golub, my uncle Cantor Saul Hammerman, Hazzan Rabinowitz and the unmistakable voice of Alan Kalter, who was M.C. and inspiration for the whole event, and who is sorely missed by so many, including and especially me.
And then, at the very end of the commemorative page, you'll see one of the many notes I received back then, this one from a TBE teen, a certain Jody Siegartel. It is a note that I treasure as much now as I did then.
The text of my remarks that evening is noteworthy not only in that you can see my last-minute edits, but in how the speech reflects a vision that has carried me through from then to now; a vision of the role of the rabbi that was, I think, unique though hardly radical, reflecting the authenticity and integrity to which I always aspired. My quest was to be a "human" rabbi and not some icon on a self-made pedestal. Rabbis all-too-often become stereotypes of themselves, adopting a whole different persona to squeeze themselves into a preassigned role. I never wanted to do that. I wanted to be a fellow traveler. Most appreciated that model of leadership. Undoubtedly, some did not. You can judge for yourself how I did.
At my final service on the 21st, a number of congregants and clergy will be speaking to that theme and others, in recounting my time here and its impact on their lives.
The only downer regarding the installation is that the date of Sept. 11 would come to have an entirely different meaning a decade later. As we prepare for my final service in the coming days, let's hope the date of June 21 continues to be synonymous with the warmth outdoors and lingering light of summer solstice. I know that on that evening, warmth will be in abundance inside our sanctuary too.
My installation took place on Sept 11, 1992. You can watch the four-part video (including a priceless performance by our choirs) and then, below that, see the program for the service, which featured "offerings" of new prayerbooks made by representatives of different demographic segments of the congregation. See the lineup below. It was quite a memorable evening! At the end, you can find the original text of my remarks given that evening, including some key advice I was given by Rabbi Mark Golub (who was also terrific at the oneg). The video contains the voices and images of so many no longer with us, including the unmistakable voice of Alan Kalter, who was chair and inspiration for the whole event, and who is sorely missed by so many, especially me.
And then, at the very, very end, you'll see one of the many notes I received, this one from a TBE teen, which I treasure as much now as I did then.
The only downer is that the date of Sept. 11 would come to have an entirely different meaning a decade later. As we prepare for my final service in the coming days, let's hope the date of June 21 continues to be synonymous with the warmth and endless light of summer solstice. I know that on that evening, warmth will be in abundance inside our sanctuary as well.
The Program:
Here are my remarks given that night, followed by a congratulatory note received from a TBE teen, Jody Siegartel.
