Years ago for my senior sermon in rabbinical school, I was assigned this week's parasha, Behar. Senior sermon was a milestone in rabbinical school. You prepared for many months with a assigned professor. My advisor was Rabbi Jerome Malino, zichrono livracha. Each student delivered the sermon during the weekday service, and then afterwards we filed downstairs for the sermon critique.

What I remember most from parasha Behar were the verses about taking a stand for the individual who was down on his or her luck.

Leviticus 25:25: If your kinsman is in dire straits and he/she must sell part of personal property, the nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his/her kinsman had to sell.

Leviticus 25:35: If your kinsman, being in straits, comes under your authority, let him or her live by your side, do not exact from them advance or accrued interest.

Leviticus 25:39: If your kinsman under you continues in straits and must work for you, do not subject him or her to the treatment of an enslaved person.

At the time of my senior year in rabbinical school I had an internship at a very affluent congregation in the suburbs of Connecticut. Their magnificent sanctuary was kept locked except for services. I remember with frustration a woman called wanting to simply sit in the Sanctuary. Because of the protocol to unlock only for services, her request was denied. At the same time, this congregation was very active in Social Action with committees and programs focused on righteous acts. While there was much good about this congregation's programming, I found the symbolism of a locked sanctuary disconcerting.

My senior sermon had something to do with the disconnect I witnessed between spirituality and social action. What sustains lifting up our kinsman/woman in dire straits if not a spiritual understanding of justice? I envisioned not only serving a synagogue one day where the two parts, G-d and social justice, would join together, but even more a Reform movement committed to social justice with G-d at the center.

It is in this light that we feel incredibly grateful that this Wednesday, May 5, with parasha Behar, we at Beth Shalom are integrating spirituality and social justice in a most powerful way. We are holding our first Action, calling upon the chief of staff for Senator Darrell Steinberg to hear our united voice of faith that legislation to improve the lives of foster children is a moral obligation.

To make this Action successful,
we need as many of you to be in the Sanctuary for the hour-long program:

Wednesday, May 5, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

(Cinco de Mayo refreshments served from 6:00 p.m.–6:25 p.m. in front of the Sanctuary)

At CBS, Social Action members are not sealed off in the seminar room to write letters to politicians. At CBS our sanctuary is unlocked, available for all who seek a holy place to replenish the soul. Right in the space where our prayers ascend each Shabbat and holy days, we will be speaking out as American citizens and as Jews for some of the most neglected young people in our society.

Since that senior sermon decades ago, it has taken time for the integration of social justice and spirituality to manifest. Thank you for your support, either in attending or sending your blessings for this May 5th Action, as we lift up our "kin in dire straits.”

Rabbis Nancy and David