RAPPING with RIM

April, 2008

Shir Tikvah — Where People Really Like to Pray!

by Robin Cohen

What is more important: study or prayer? This question had been troubling me for several weeks after Rabbi Rim raised it in our Adult B’nai Mitzvah class. Rim had spoken that evening about the students from Lithuania whom he studied with, and their serious devotion to Torah study. For these students, study was more important than prayer because they felt that you must fully understand what you are praying about. I imagined young pale bearded men, bent for days over ancient texts and commentary, puzzling out the answers to the great and small mysteries of the Holy Book. Who pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him into slavery? What are the minute details of Sabbath observance? Which of the rabbis truly knows the correct order and amount of candles to light on Hanukkah?

Rim studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in the late sixties and early seventies, where the traditional patriarchal rules and methods of study dominated. The ability to hone ones skills to hold a string of possible ideas in your mind and be able to carefully chart a logical argument was prized. The quest for pure knowledge through the study of Torah was held above all things. The Torah is the mind of God and to show the proper respect for this, you must be exceedingly exacting in your studies. And you had to be a man — the study of Torah at JTS was not open to women.

Outside of the sheltered world of study at the Seminary, the Vietnam War raged and young men and women were fighting for new freedoms at home. A chorus of strong women’s voices mingled with the determined and angry voices of the black community, which was mixed with cries for peace and justice in this country and abroad. Rim heard the noise and also felt the desire in his heart for something more, which led him to join The New York Havurah, where people were engaged in the work of building a new type of Jewish community.

Rim grew closer to the ideas of the Havurah and further from JTS. While appreciating the knowledge he gathered there, it seemed less and less relevant to his real, everyday world. Everything was open to discovery in this new community — Rim told me that at the Havurah “all that was assumed was no longer to be assumed.” At the Havurah, women had the same role in prayer as men but at the Seminary, Rim’s choice for the person to introduce him as he gave his senior sermon was denied simply because he had the nerve to ask for a woman.

Rim had a keen interest from the end of his days at the Seminary forward on how to live as a Jew every day. Rim talked about the spirit at Shir Tikvah and how the enthusiasm of song and prayer in our community is a joy to him. So then, prayer is very important but is it more important than study? My rabbi did not answer that question directly (perhaps he hoped that this student would listen more and then come to her own conclusions). Instead he shared some ways to study Torah that could make it more approachable and intimate with living a Jewish life.

“You can never be complete and study everything,” said Rim, suggesting that one might approach study from two fronts. One is to select areas that are interesting to you — how to celebrate holidays, laws and traditions, poetry and images. There is a wealth of resources for how to follow the trail of ideas in the Bible and the commentaries. One terrific one that we have been using in the B’nai Mitzvah group is myjewishlearning.com, and there are many others online and great books right in the Temple Library. The second idea is to just read the stories. Wrap yourself in the images and the thoughts in those stories — how do they relate to your life, how do they differ? What makes you feel good or angry, or sad, or amazed, or curious after reading them?

We spoke further about the Havurah experience, how Rim went on to build and grow with other communities, such as the Rashi School, and how these experiences shaped the type of rabbi he is today. I could not resist asking him one more time before I left if he would tell me which was more important — prayer or study — and he responded, “neither!” I was surprised for a moment but then he explained that if he had only come from the JTS world, he would have chosen learning as most important and although prayer is wonderful to him, the true treasure is service and people. As I drove home I thought how in only a short time this Temple has become a second home to me, and all of the learning and prayer and joy is tucked within the shelter of a community of caring. I knew he was right.

—Robin Cohen