I have an idea for a TV show. The show is called 9:04 AM. Each week a minister, a priest and a rabbi meet to play golf. The young rabbi is Josh Cohen, the son of the previous rabbi in town, Eliot Cohen. The minister is Rev Ellen Casper. The Priest will be Father Jim. So every Thursday, Father Jim, young Rabbi Cohen and Rev Casper gather for their round of golf. The staff around the course refers to them as “The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost” but never to their faces.
Each week one of the three begins to tell a story. Or a fourth golfer joins the group and tells a story. I imagine each episode beginning with the group approaching the first tee, then the action turns to the story. You never actually see them play golf. The episode concludes with the group walking off the 18th green. Saying to each other, “See you next week at 9:04.”
I always have new ideas. Some of my ideas are less practical. Some of ideas are more practical. But I never run out of ideas. I have new ideas for me, new ideas for the congregation and new ideas for the world.
Some of my new ideas have actually led to real world projects. A few years ago I raised the idea of solar energy. Many of us worked together. We now have 142 Solar panels on the roof of our building.
In June of 2008 I sent an email to a presidential campaign, suggesting the formation of a rabbis group to support that candidate. In that election campaign we gathered 500 rabbis to support our candidate. In the 2012 election our group of rabbis supporting our candidate exceeded our target number of 613. Scholars reported that in the history of the United States no one had ever done such a thing. There was no Rabbis for Roosevelt or Rabbis for Reagan. We were the first.
New ideas keep me fresh. New projects provide challenge. New ideas and new projects give me a reason to get out of bed in the morning. I understand the need for stability. But, if everything remains the same from year to year we move beyond stability to routine. Following the same routine drains the spice out of life.
The Hasidic master Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav had a beautiful way of living his life. Nothing was ever routine. Everything was exhilarating and exciting. How could he do that? Simple – every new day was a new beginning for him. Even more so, if he ever felt a setback, he’d declare a new beginning in the middle of the day and start all over.
We should follow Rabbi Nachman’s example and let everyday be a new beginning. This New Year should be marked by new ideas. We should not do the same thing every year that robs of our lives of texture and spice.
Joshua Foer in his book, ‘Moonwalking with Einstein,” explains how we fall into routine. He describes three stages in acquiring a new skill:
1. The Cognitive Stage of intellectualizing the task and discovering new strategies to accomplish it more proficiently.
2. The Associative Stage, during which we concentrate less. We make fewer errors become more efficient.
3. The Autonomous Stage. In which we lose conscious control over what we are doing. We just “do” without thinking.
When we learned to drive as teenagers. We moved through these three stages. At first it was all new. We really paid attention to exactly how to maneuver the car. Now we just drive. We do not need to think about how to make a left turn. We just do it without reflection. Our level of driving no longer improves. But we do not need it to improve. We get safely from place to place.
There may be areas in which we want to improve, but have not gotten any better. Foer uses the example of his father’s golf game. He could have been writing about my golf game. His father has played for decades. His father continues to play but does not get better. His father is in the Autonomous Stage.
Foer explains that to improve, you have to force yourself back into the Cognitive Stage of discovering new strategies to accomplish their goals more proficiently.
Which golfers work with coaches on an ongoing basis? Recreational golfers like me? No. Who has coaches? The pros. The best golfers in the world have coaches. These professional golfers do not play golf in the Autonomous Stage. They remain in the Cognitive Stage. They want to improve. They consciously practice the aspect of their game that needs work.
We should not allow our lives to slip into the Autonomous Stage of acting without thinking. Leading our lives, we should stay in Cognitive Stage, discovering new strategies to accomplish our goals more proficiently. If we want to improve, we need to consciously focus on the aspect of our lives that needs work. We should be searching for new opportunities and be open to new ideas.
I have a friend who always has new ideas. Jerry Kaye has been the Camp Director at Olin-Sang-Ruby-Union-Institute since 1970. One might imagine that after 43 years, Jerry just does what he has always done. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Jerry never just puts our camp on cruise control. He keeps coming up with new programs or discovers new twists for old programs.
This summer Jerry announced that the camp has received a significant grant for an environmental project to be called "To Till and To Tend.” OSRUI will create a Jewish Land Ethic based on Jewish texts and hands on work. The project will include the creation of a greenhouse at camp and a "community garden" in which congregational groups will work during spring retreats and campers will work in the summer.
Sometimes circumstances generate new ideas. As we all know Rosh Hashanah is “early” this year. Or perhaps Labor Day was late. All the Jewish holidays fall earlier than ever. Hanukkah is as early in November as it gets. And Thanksgiving is as late in November as it gets. Hanukkah will overlap with Thanksgiving for the first time since 1889. My thought? Latke stuffing!!!
Our connections team led by Merle Erlich has created a wide variety of new groups and activities for members of the congregation.
The newest project is the Environment Team. Last week with the leadership of Mary Slack, eight of us sat in the Spenadels’ dining room to begin this exciting new project. We will look at ways to help our members know more about our solar panels through visuals displays in the building, including a model of our building with the panels and a periscope through which children could look and see the solar panels on the roof. We will create a solar stronger presence on our website and learning projects for our children.
We will be looking at other environmental concerns here at the synagogue including an energy audit and making improvements to qualify our facility for environmental certification.
We will be exploring ways promote solar energy in other houses of worship through a reinvigorated Fourth Day Initiative. We will help our members examine environmental issues in their own lives.
The direction of our Environmental Group will be determined by the interests of its members. Come and joins us. Speak to me or to our leader Mary Slack or see us at the Committee Rush on September 29.
Some people see barriers to new ideas. People point to their age, to frustrating personal history and difficult circumstances
People say I am too old. Age should not be a barrier to new projects. I know a guy who published his first book at 63.
People say nothing I do ever works out. Feeling down or defeated should not be a barrier to new ideas. No group of human beings has had a more consistent record of disappointment than the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs are not moping around. They are rebuilding the team, and remodeling their home.
People say I can’t do anything new my situation is too difficult. The odds against me are too great for me to succeed. Difficult circumstances should not be barrier. Last January in Odessa on the JUF Rabbis mission, we met an amazing couple. The Lubavitch Rabbi Avraham Wolff and his wife. When the Wolffs arrived in Odessa, they saw that Odessa had many Jewish orphans, regular orphans and social orphans as the result of alcoholism. The couple arrived in Odessa with virtually nothing. They saw the need. They raised the money. They developed the contacts locally with Jews and the non-Jewish power structure. They had a vision. They built a beautiful orphanage. The impressive building includes classrooms, dormitories, play areas, even generators because of the frequent power outages. Everything is new, no hand me downs. They now offer college classes. Chabad is not normally my favorite group, but I was deeply moved by the example of Rabbi Avraham Wolff and his wife. They did not let difficult circumstances prevent them from bringing their ideas to reality.
In 1897 Theodor Herzl convened the First World Zionist Congress in Basel Switzerland. Who gave Theodor Herzl the authority to convene the first World Zionist Congress? Theodor Herzl! Theodor Herzl famously said, “Im Tirtzu Ein Zu Aggadah. If you will it, it is no dream.” But first you need to dream.
What are your dreams? What are your new ideas? What are your new ideas for your lives? What are your new ideas for this congregation? What are your new ideas for the world?
Over lunch today, talk about new ideas, new ideas for your lives, new ideas for the congregation, new ideas for the world. I would love to hear from you about your new ideas.
A Jewish fellow from Minnesota once wrote that a person “not busy being born is busy dying.” As the New Year begins, let us all get be busy being born.
