Concrete.

You cannot appreciate the sheer enormity of the Pentagon until you try to walk around it. Unfortunately, Shabbat afternoon, it sat right in between me and my goal - the Jefferson memorial. So, at 6 PM, I set out to find a way to circumnavigate the Department of Defense (touche).

The walk took about an hour. I passed the Air Force Memorial, I illegally walked down a hill of grass. I j-walked across three highway onramps. But, in the end I made it. In time for Havdalah too!

Most frustrating about my walk however were the sidewalks. They start out of nowhere, and end just as abruptly. The designer of Arlington, Virginia's transportation network did not have the sidewalks in mind when he laid out the street grid. No, he was concerned with streets. Some of those streets have sidewalks. But none of the sidewalks connect with each other.

Walking around the Pentagon means moving between short swaths of sidewalk - all disconnected, unable to aid you in your larger goal of moving from one place to another.

Queue the transition.

Jewish living is about moving from one place to another. Jewish life is a network of sidewalks - Prayer, Torah and Israel - interconnected to move our people from a starting point to an ending. In our case, the ending - the Messianic era; the Kingdom of God - may never come. Though we must always strive and prepare.

This weekend I took the Slope's confirmation class down to the RAC's L'Taken Seminar in D.C. The work that the RAC does on Capitol Hill is nothing short of prophetic - they are the sole Jewish religious organization organized and with enough influence to actually sway congressional opinion on the issues we hold dearest to our soles: welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick... and the study of Torah leads to them all...

I, being the Jewish sociologist that I am, walked into the seminar more interested in observing the way that the weekend framed minute-to-minute Jewishness. They are great at the large goals, but what about the basic Jewishness? They've constructed a huge highway travelled by many, but did they build the sidewalks?

The sad reality was disappointing. My student turned to me during Shabbat shacharit and noted, "I feel like I'm in Church." Some rabbis leading their own groups there showed off their five-year learning of the ability to get people clapping.

But the students wanted more. And so did I.

After being confused for the incoming NFTY president by matter of the mere fact that we both stand for all of the Amidah, I conversation was ignited:

"We're the future," I was told. "They'll die off one day."

Harsh. But I get the point. Better start mixing the concrete.

Comments

[zach]

Bah! It sounds so cynical, but it's true. I wish you were there for a conversation that was had with Elaina Marshalek, Morgan Lord, David Alpert, and I about sociology, the human psychological condition, and their effects on the thought, practices, and beliefs of the Jews of today and yesterday.

By the way, I met this guy at L'Takein ,after you left, named Robbie. He's a Jewish Educator from Richmond, he's in his upper 50s, and shares our very same views. I'm trying to get him involved in the youth division. He's a great guy!

I very much enjoyed spending time with you this weekend!

[zach]

please post something new. i'm bored and at kutz. what a terrible combination. i say bored as in "bored at not having a rav singer post to respond to" bored. just had to clarify. i miss you. 2 days.

[Jesse]

Jesus, Zach.
Stop being so selfish.

Singer, post something new.