A Rabbi Can’t Mend a Broken Heart…by Robert M. Katzman
Robert M. Katzman’s Amazing Story: www.differentslants.com/?p=355
© May 1, 2011
Introduction to: A Rabbi Can’t Mend A Broken Heart
This new poem was inspired by, and written expressly for Rabbi Debra Nesselson.
Watching her blossom over the last year from being a relatively quiet figure heard from the bimah only occasionally, to becoming the voice and face of B’nai Torah Congregation to the world, has fascinated me. She is her own fairy-tale.
Today, Friday June 10, 2011 Debra Nesselson becomes a Rabbi for the rest of her life.
Her choosing to leave behind a career as a lawyer after spending seven years to become that, to spending another eight years transforming herself into a Rabbi so she could understand the law in a far more fundamental way, means Debra has spent fifteen years to get to where she is today.
More than a quarter of her entire life.
How many people would ever consider doing such a thing? Very few. Maybe we didn’t know what we had in our new Rabbi before today, but we certainly do now.
Here’s my poem to celebrate her new role in this important Jewish institution. If anyone deserves a poem to contemplate their lives, it’s Debra Nesselson.
(First Note (2011):Because of convoluted and mysterious Temple politics, Rabbi Nesselson left our temple two months later. Not all things make sense, but what I wrote about rabbis remains what I believe. I still respect and care about Debra Nesselson.
(Second Note (2014): After a continuing tumultuous period of Temple politics over philosophy, and a merry-go-round of different rabbis, the sixty-year-old temple closed almost exactly three years after I first posted this poem. A tragedy. This note was amended on September 24th, 2014, just before the beginning of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, 5775. I remain friends with and infinitely respect Rabbi Nesselson.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Rabbi
Doesn’t have all the answers
But
With a thousand other
Contentious Rabbis
Arguments
Ricocheting thru the Centuries
and
Ringing in her Ears
She probably has more
Good Choices
To pick from
Than you do
***
A Rabbi is no Magician
But
She can take ordinary things:
An elevated stage
A prayer shawl
Some rolled parchment
A laying on of her hands
Some very ancient incantations
And somehow create
Distinct and Immortal Moments
For Ordinary People
***
Einstein
Might have said
The Formulae for
A good Rabbi
A compassionate Rabbi
A perceptive Rabbi
Would be:
R=Teacher, squared
***
A Rabbi can’t mend a broken heart
But
She can hold it
Shelter it
Let time slow down
So a Person
A Family
Can steady themselves
And then
Give it back to them
Ready to go on
***
A committed Rabbi
A gifted Rabbi
Makes us feel
The gentle waters
Rocking Moses’ cradle
As he
Floats to his
Unimaginable Destiny
But can also
Skillfully Inflict us
Today
The Free Descendants
With
The shimmering African Heat
The sharp grit of Desert Sands
and the
Deeply Cutting Fury of the Lash
On the backs of
The Hebrew Slaves
Of Egypt
***
A Rabbi of Distinction
Can invoke
The Lightning, the Rumble
And the
Mystery of Sinai
To Help us
Comprehend the
Unique Mystique
And
Eternal Burden
Of being
“Chosen”
***
Chosen:
Not an honor
But
A Responsibility
***
A Rabbi
Who listens
Considers
Weighs Risk and Benefit
Embodies Resolve
And moves
Ordinary People
To make a United Stand
When the Times demand it
***
Such a Rabbi
Can take Bricks
And
Glass and Stone and Wood
And create
***
A Community of Jews
A Temple of Learning
And just possibly
Add
Her own Voice
To the Centuries
***
May we here today, be so Blessed
********************************
The author can be hired to read his work by your group or organization. Don’t worry, it won’t corrupt him. Too late for that. Poetry and stories sound different when read by them who write them.
Contact? robertmkatzman@gmail.com or (262) 752-3333
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