“This is where I belong because there is a Jew in need.” In tribute to Rabbi Avi Weiss

I had the privilege of attending the Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT) dinner on Sunday night honoring Rav Avi and his family. (That’s where I heard Rav Avi’s quote that is in the title of this entry.) I have previously mentioned my admiration and respect for Rav Avi. The dinner was a spirited affair suffused with love.

See here for the video that was shown. It is definitely worth watching. Mamash, a gevalt!

Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky of Los Angeles, a former assistant to Rav Avi, posted the lessons he learned from him. They are well worth learning – whether you’re a rabbi or not.

 (1) No matter what else is going on in the world, in the moment that someone is sharing his or her personal struggles with you, there is nothing else going on in the world. For each person is a world unto himself.

(2) Try your utmost to love everyone. If you can’t, the rabbinate’s probably not for you.

(3) Don’t be afraid to be different. Especially when you are being different in the name of including and embracing those who would otherwise be left out.

(4) A shul is family. And like any family, it has older people, and younger people. Healthy people and sick people. People who are more typically “abled” and people who are in some way disabled (and we are all in some way disabled). People whose Judaic knowledge is strong and people who are just now learning. When you look around shul on a Shabbat morning, it’s got to look like a family.

(5) Not everyone who is ritually observant is religious, and not everyone who is religious is ritually observant. Rabbis need to deeply understand this.

(6) Don’t sit on the bima. That’s not where the Jews are.

(7) It’s (almost) never a bad time for a niggun.

(8) Lifecycle ceremonies are teaching times. They are precious moments when people’s hearts are open in an unusual and wondrous way. Don’t let these moments become mechanical rituals.

(9) It makes no difference whether you’re teaching a class of 3, or giving a sermon in a room of many hundreds. You always give it your all.

(10) Your wife is the most important person in the shul.

Rav Avi: May you be blessed with many more years of good health, together with your family, so Am Yisrael and the entire world can be the beneficiaries of your love and passion.