Cantor's Blog

Time.  The passage of time.  As I strolled the streets of London, I was struck by a series of red phone booths (sorry about the picture quality – I’ll keep my day job) often surrounded by throngs of people.  However, as quickly became apparent, the booths were not being used as I had assumed – people were merely posing alongside a relic of the past (ironically pictures taken by cell phones). There was, nonetheless, something endearing about encountering a phone booth, a place of connection from an earlier era (alas, poor Superman).

Simultaneously, I glanced about and virtually all had out their cell phones as they walked the streets. Using WAZE, I, too, strode the streets, cell phone in hand. The same incredible device has enabled me to make reservations, to pay bus and boat fares, to keep my ever present book-of-the-moment at hand (standing in lines is far less stressful with a book), and much more. The powerful technology sitting in the palm of my hand led me to reflect on the hardships of journeying the world before such an innovation.

For centuries, within Judaism, there has been a tug and pull between polar extremes, from the enlightened visions of Moses Mendelssohn who rejected much of traditional ritual (five of his six children converted to Christianity) to the fixed-in-time Moshe Sofer, who declared “all novelty is forbidden by Torah” (time stopped in the 17th century). I live as a proud Conservative Jew, part of a movement whose by-words have been “Tradition and Change.” A middle position challenges clear definition, is often hard to live in practice, and is certainly the most difficult to passionately sell. In reality, however, in Judaism and in our secular lives, both tradition and change are fundamental to survival.

Change is crucial and inevitable, opening our minds to new ways of thinking and often times deeply enhancing our quality of life. We learn resilience and flexibility in the face of innovations occurring at ever-exponentially-increasing rates. We can rest assured that today’s novelty will be short-lived and fleeting in the face of the reality that “the world of
"The Jetsons” is at hand (I want my flying car!) Fortunately, we have been truly blessed by God with an ability to adapt to and embrace our ever-transforming world.

Tradition stands as an equally important element of life, serving to ground us, to sustain our identities and enabling us to bond together as a community. There is a power and a warmth underlying the linking of our lives with the experiences of our parents, our grandparents, and the preceding generations. In a world of volatility and instability, tradition provides a scaffolding of wisdom, a solid foundation for which we all strive, and the indispensable sense of self and community essential for all social beings. Again, fortunately, we’ve been blessed with the divine gift of our ability to appreciate from whence we have come.

Time. The passage of time. Big Ben. Phone booths and cell phones! May God bless us with the wisdom to find balance within our lives as we adapt to life-enhancing dynamism while, simultaneously, embracing the healthy grounding offered by the ways of tradition.

Cantor Mark Levine