Delivered on Kol Nidre 5784, 24 September 2023 at Drexel Hillel
It is said that when God formed human beings out of the earth, God didn’t just gather dust from one place to make them. Instead, God took dust from all four corners of the earth, near and far, and God took dust of many colors, red, green, yellow, both light and dark colors. When asked why all of these different dusts were needed to form human beings, God responded, so that when one person meets another person, the second cannot say to the first “this place is not your place, you were not created from it. Go back to the place that you were created from.” Instead, every person can walk from place to place and know that they belong. (Yalkut Shimoni, Genesis 1:13)
Our high holiday theme this year is the question, Where Do You Belong? I’ve spent a lot of time lately reflecting on this question and the idea of belonging and community. Tonight, I would like us to think about what our responsibility is to each other when it comes to theses topics. I am going to primarily speak about the context of Drexel Hillel, because that’s where we are, but our responsibility to others is relevant in most parts of our lives.
There’s a mitzvah that relates directly to belonging, that is the mitzvah of hachnasat orachim - welcoming the stranger. This mitzvah underscores the importance of hospitality, kindness, and inclusivity. It encourages individuals and communities to create welcoming environments and to treat all guests with respect and care. One of our communal duties is to extend a warm welcome, and share our space and resources generously with one another. This mitzvah is often associated with hospitality in the home. Hillel is often called a “Jewish home away from home,” and this is a perfect place to reflect on this mitzvah.
Hillel is a place where people come for shabbat and holidays (especially when they are unable to go home for them), it’s a place to study and relax, to enjoy a meal, and to see friendly faces. It makes sense that this needs to be a place where people feel like they belong, but whose responsibility is it to make that happen? It might be easy to think that this kind of welcoming is just the responsibility of staff, or the JSA (the Jewish Student Association) or OMG (Orthodox Minyan Group) boards, but it’s actually each of our responsibilities to take ownership of our space and help others feel that this is their place too.
A great example of welcoming others that is found in Torah comes from Genesis, chapter 18. This is when Abraham and Sarah encounter visitors near their home. Verses 1-8 read:
Let’s slow this down and think about what’s happening here. HaShem has appeared to Abraham, and while with G-d, Abraham sees these three travelers approaching. Torah says that as soon as Abraham saw them, he ran, ran from the presence of HaShem towards these unknown men. Wow, how incredible! Our great patriarch Abraham found it more important to welcome these people than to remain in conversation with G-d; that should teach us how important it is to do this kind of work. It’s also key to notice that it’s the whole household preparing the feast, Abraham and Sarah included. It’s not just them as heads of the household, and it’s not just their workers jobs either, but rather it’s the responsibility of the entire household to greet the guests.
Just like Abraham and Sarah’s household, we too have a responsibility to welcome and care for others. Now I’m not suggesting that it’s on us to prepare a feast every time someone new enters the building, but it would be nice to offer a friendly “hello”, to provide a seat at a shabbat table, to take a moment to show someone around, and help them find a staff member if they have questions you can’t answer. We often overcomplicate what it means to be hospitable to each other, it really can look like just acknowledging the people around us. One of my favorite features of this building is the use of glass throughout the second floor, so pretty much wherever I’m working or studying, I can acknowledge the people walking by with a smile or a friendly wave.
Now a lot of what I’ve said up to this point assumes some sense of belonging, but what about those who don’t feel like they belong here, and want to? I think there are a few ways to approach this. Myself and the rest of the staff are happy to make introductions and help you find people you share interests with. We have Orthodox, Conservative, and Soulful groups that meet and pray together throughout the year and are great places to find community around shared spiritual traditions and styles. There are many different fellowships like Kol Yisrael, the Jewish Learning Fellowship, and the Shabbat Hosting Lab where students can eat and learn with other students and staff. Shabbat dinner and other activities are great ways to start getting involved.
Another way to approach this is to do something that might seem counter intuitive. When we ourselves feel like outsiders, sometimes extending a warm welcome to others can serve as a meaningful starting point to helping us feel welcome ourselves. About a year ago I began working as the rabbinic intern here, and there was a day, early on, when the family of a prospective student showed up in the building, curious to know more about what we had to offer. I was volun-told to give this family a tour, and I worried because I didn’t feel like I knew enough to be showing them around or talking about our work. This was at a time when I was just getting a grip on my own job responsibilities, I didn’t know how I could explain all that Drexel Hillel had to offer. But you know what, once I was talking with that family I realized that it wasn’t about knowing exactly how many students we serve annually, or what year our building was built, what mattered was bringing these people into our space, showing them kindness, and letting them know that I care about our students. I realized later on that it’s the kind of welcoming I needed when I was starting undergrad. And being in that role to welcome and show this family around helped me feel more connected to the community than anything I’d experienced up to that.
Yom Kippur provides a unique opportunity for us to engage in deep self-reflection. It prompts us to examine our thoughts, words, and deeds over the past year, considering where we may have strayed from our values and commitments. This is a time of returning to who we are and to the highest form of our values. Yom Kippur is not only an individual journey but a communal one, and as we engage with this holy day we strengthen the bonds of our community. We can come to recognize that our actions impact not only ourselves but also the larger society.
In the Babylonian Talmud it says that “all Jews are responsible for one another” and if one of us stumbles, we all stumble. We’ve all stumbled this past year in how we show up for each other, in one way or another. Fortunately, we have this time, right now, tonight and tomorrow, to recommit ourselves to helping each other, and ourselves, know that we belong. Belonging in Judaism is not a passive state but an active commitment to ourselves and our communities.
May we be blessed in the coming year to go from place to place and know that we belong!
G’mar chatima tova!