This is the second of a 3 part journal series previewing different aspects of this Friday night’s special Shabbat by the Sea — Family and Community Edition. The theme for this journal is: partnership

Dear Hevreh,

In one of my journal entries from nearly nine months ago, I used the story of creation in which God created a partner for Adam to show that, according to the wisdom of our tradition, “the only way for humanity to fully enjoy and take advantage of all the potential imbued in creation is when we have partners to work with us because it’s not fun to do things alone.” This is a teaching that we’ve applied to much of our programming at Beth Mordecai as we’ve partnered with national Jewish institutions, Middlesex County Jewish communities and organizations, the local Perth Amboy community, area businesses, and other Christian faith communities. Partnership is not just something we do but it’s becoming a part of who we are.

Partnership is not always easy though and at times it may seem like the best way to accomplish something is to get it done ourselves. After all, if partnership is going to work it requires a lot of coordination, a lot of communication. Yet, that’s the beauty of partnership — by forcing ourselves to engage in the necessary communication to work together with others, not only will we hopefully attract larger crowds and create more high profile events, we will learn a lot about our partners and, more importantly, a lot about ourselves. When we force ourselves to communicate with partners, we force ourselves to be clear on our goals, our intents, and our purposes, which can only help us to become a stronger and more nimble community. Perhaps God created partnership in order to create a better individual.

But there’s also one other element of partnership that makes it a worthwhile endeavor. When we have a true partner, we share in the angst, the anxiety, and the excitement of our creative endeavors together. And by going through that experience, we develop a bond that brings our different institutions/communities together, a bond that brings our different worlds closer together.

So join us this Friday night as we partner together with the Bayview Creamery, God’s Army Ministries, and the Raritan Bay Area YMCA for our special Shabbat by the Sea — Family and Community Edition.

Kol Tuv,

Rabbi Ari Saks

Category : Ari-archive
Tag : community God's Army Ministries partnership perth amboy rabbi rabbi's journal shabbat by the sea ymca