Power of Community: Invisible Lines of Connection (Nitzavim 5778 and Rosh Hashanah 5779)

A friend likes to picnic on Shabbat in the Shakespeare Garden of Golden Gate Park. She fills a picnic basket on Friday afternoon and sets it under a stone bench in the garden. That way the basket is waiting for her the next day as she finishes a long Shabbat morning stroll through the park.    

Recently, my friend was surprised to see an elderly woman standing on the grass in the Shakespeare Garden with a fishing rod. The old woman was casting her fishing line across the grass. Over and over again the woman cast her line. But the woman seemed more and more frustrated each time there was nothing on her line.  

My friend watched the old woman for a while. How sad, thought my friend. It seemed as if the poor woman was trying really to catch fish on the grass! My friend asked the old woman, “Fishing on the grass?” 

The old woman answered, “Yes. I am very hungry so I am hoping to catch something soon.” My friend said, “Why don’t you take a break and sit with me? I'm happy to share my picnic with you.” The old woman set down her fishing rod and joined my friend on the picnic blanket. Together they ate everything in the basket. Finally, my friend worked up the courage to ask, "I’ve never seen anyone else fishing in this garden. How many did you catch today?”

The old woman took a long look at my friend and answered, "You are the third one today!" 

. . .

Sometimes it is difficult to see the thin line that connects us to other people. Or recognize our need to be connected to others. As we come closer to the start of a new Jewish year, the Torah is reminding us about the shape of our community and the almost invisible lines that connect us to each other. In the opening verses of this week’s Torah portion, we are reminded of just how many different types of people are knit together in our community. It comes just before Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year). 

In the language of Torah, our community is not exclusive to the leaders or elders. It is meant to include those who are poor and those who have plenty, those who work with their heads and those who work with their hands, those who lead and those who follow, those who are old and those who are young. Even those who are present and those who are absent. And everyone in between. The Torah is quite explicit. (See Deut. 29:9-14.) 

A community that is defined so broadly and inclusively must find ways to bring people together. A grammatical oddity in a later verse in this week's Torah portion seems to highlight both the pain of isolation and the power of connection.  In Deuteronomy 30:3-4 Moses is reminding the ancient Israelites of the divine promise to bring back and restore the Jewish community that has been dispersed, no matter how far they have been scattered. 

These verses are interpreted as a promise of communal restoration. But the language is voiced in the singular. For example, the Eternal "will bring you (singular) back together from all the peoples [and places] where you have been scattered." How can the whole community of Israel be talked about in the singular? 

Shneur Zalman of Liadi (18th/19th century, Russia; founder of Chabad) suggested this singular grammar reminds us that a single person can all too often be alienated from or scattered beyond the embrace of their community. What is more, to be a whole individual, we need others. To be whole -- to live up to our fullest potential -- we need support or encouragement or wisdom from others. A friend, a mentor, a teacher. Every one of us needs others to be whole. 

At this season, as we look back on the year that is ending some of us are feeling alienated from those we "scattered" during the year. Or we might feel very distant from those we've disappointed or angered. The start of a school year that just began or the new Jewish year that begins next week challenges us to bring others back into our embrace no matter how far removed from them we feel. They need us as much as we need them. 

The start of a new year brings the opportunity to redouble our efforts at making and nourishing the connections that will complete others, complete ourselves, and sustain our community. To cast out our lines and draw in those invisible threads of connection. 

May the new year for each of us be sweetened by connecting and reconnecting with others. May our community be strengthened by the bonds that link us together.