Farewell Drash 5781: Rabbinic Intern David Chapman

As of this week, your next rabbinic intern Benjy Forester has already started his tenure as SPS. You’re in for an enormous treat – Benjy is one of the most impressive rabbinical students at JTS, and I know with Benjy you will learn deep Torah and find new pathways to jewish engagement.  And I hope, whenever Benjy completes his time with SPS that you have another fabulous intern waiting in the wings.

But I want to remind you that its not like there’s been an unbroken decades long streak of rabbinic interns at SPS.  Yes, there have been interns – one of the many roles that Rabbi Ain takes very seriously is her responsibility as a mentor to a next generation of rabbis. But the job description that was circulated around JTS in January 2019 was for more than a typical rabbinic internship.  Most internships, the student comes maybe one Shabbat a month, perhaps does a little teaching in the religious school and maybe, maybe shadows on a lifecycle event or two.

The job description for this internship was for 20-25 hours / week, 2 shabbatot a month plus holidays, extensive responsibilities in all of the areas that Rabbi Ain herself serves in: prayer service leadership, divrei torah, adult and youth education, leading engagement efforts with 20/30s – including co-leading the YP high holiday services with your boss’s husband, no pressure there, program planning, purim spiels, pastoral and lifecycle duties. All of this while the community is saying farewell to a long serving cantor and searching for a new one.  Oh, and this wasn’t in the job description, but halfway through your internship there’s going to be a global pandemic that will turn all the work you’ve been doing upside down.

The seriousness of the internship was underscored by what must have been the most robust application process in the history of organized Judaism.  Sometime in that process, I learned that an internship of this scope and scale was a new endeavor for SPS.  I wondered, will they know what to do with me?  This is a community that is used to having one rabbi – one rabbi who they adore.  Will there be space for my voice here?

The answer has been a resounding yes.  So as I prepare to say “l’hitraot” to this community and “todah rabah” for the incredible opportunities I’ve had here, I want to celebrate all the ways that SPS has made space for me these past two years.  [tzimtzum etc.] Tzimtzum refers to God shrinking Godself to make room for the world to grow.  

First and foremost, I was given space to serve here because Rabbi Ain created it.  Rabbi Ain embodied the concept of tzimtzum. From my very first day, Rabbi Ain generously shared the spotlight with me. She gave me countless opportunities to teach, to lead, to offer care, to experiment, and to create. Some of these opportunities were ones that she probably would not have filled herself otherwise – I don’t think she’d have been directing the Purim shpiel had I not been here. But every time I gave a Shabbat sermon, or participated in a lifecycle event, it was because Rabbi Ain entrusted me with some of the rabbinic space that this community has entrusted to her.

I was also given space by SPS’s lay leadership. Sometimes that was physical space – I’m thinking of all the wonderful guest rooms I stayed in before we went virtual. You all get 5 stars on Yelp. But I also mean space in a different sense.  Before I came to rabbinical school, I served on the Board of Directors at CBST, where our rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum often said that our budget meetings were sacred work, because it is in the budget that a synagogue really decides if it is going to live its values. The robustness of this position is thanks in part to the space it was granted in the budget, among many other critical priorities. And this was even more true after the pandemic started. While many of my friends unfortunately saw their internships evaporate, SPS honored its full commitment to me. The SPS lay leadership made space for me in other ways too: including me in board meetings and committee work, celebrating my accomplishments, and giving me the kavod of feeling part of the clergy even though I was “just” an intern.  I still remember my first shabbat on the bima here, when Shari insisted that I walk ahead of her in the torah procession. It was a small gesture, but it spoke volumes to me about how I would be treated in this position.

I was given space to serve by SPS’s amazing staff. Each one of you has been patient and welcoming, you have taught me how to be a better educator, program planner, caregiver, and rabbi. I want to thank the current staff, Hunter, Alyssa, Lindsay, Abby, Sydnie, Julie, the facilities staff, Jorge, Isaac and Manny, the security professionals, a special thank you to Harriett for all your support and guidance over the last two years, and to Cantor Dov, from whom I’ve learned so much about what it means to serve a community.  I have also been given space by our cantor Malachi Kanfer. I’ve loved being your partner on the adult b’nai mitzvah and on so many other projects this year. From you I’ve learned how to start a new role in a community with grace, generosity, and ahava raba, great love. I’ll take your example with me to my next position in Florida and beyond.

As I wrote in my bulletin article, the expression in Pirke Avot Aseh L’kha Rav, make for yourself a rabbi implies that rabbis are made by the people who allow them to become one. Each member of this community has done me that honor.  You have allowed me to experiment, whether it was Shakespeare and Torah or davening Shabbat Musaf for the first time. You have not been shy about telling me when some of those experiments were … a little off. And for that I also thank you.  You have made space for my husband Jonathan and our son Elior.  Each of you made space for me to serve as your rabbinic intern. To the extent that I will be ready at all to take on the title of rabbi, God willing next May, it will be because you have allowed me to play the part here. Thank you for making this holy space for me in your Jewish journey and in your lives.

There is one other group that made space for me to serve as your rabbinic intern. I mentioned them just before – my family.  My son doesn’t have much say in the matter, but at least in theory my husband does. My decision to pursue this path has not always been easy for those I love the most. But let me say it loud and clear. There is no way I could have been the rabbinic intern at SPS these last two years without the love, encouragement, support, patience, and most importantly the sermon editing skills of Jonathan Chapman. I have been able to do this because you have made space for it. Thank you. And thank you to my parents Diane and Howard and Jonathan’s parents Mark and Madye, who have all supported me so much on this journey.

I want to close with a few more words about Rabbi Ain (chiastic etc). In January of 2019, an email went out to the rabbinical student body from our Associate Dean.  Meet Rabbi Rachel Ain of Sutton Place Synagogue tomorrow to talk about the 2019-2020 internship. Either the attachment with the job description didn’t come through or I missed the fine print, but Rabbi Ain was specifically looking for a rising 4th or 5th year rabbinical student.  In January 2019 I had completed exactly one semester of rabbinical school.  Nevertheless, Rabbi Ain responded to my email and we met that week in the JTS cafeteria.  In the few days leading up to the meeting, I’d told a couple people at JTS and beyond that I’d be meeting with her. The response was uniform across the board.  She’s amazing. She’s a powerhouse. She’s the future, etc etc.  So I was pretty intimidated when we sat down together.  And what I found was someone who indeed had gravitas and confidence to live up to those descriptors, but who was also warm and down-to-earth, someone I could laugh with as well as learn from. Someone who was thoughtful about what it meant to be a rabbi while also being a spouse, a parent, a sibling, a child … a teacher as well as a student. Someone who would challenge me while also cheerleading for me. Someone who was committed to our tradition but unafraid to think about it expansively. Rabbi Ain, you have truly been the consummate mentor for me these past two years, in every way. I can’t say it enough and I probably never will. Thank you for making this space for me. I am deeply grateful.

My prayer for you all is that you continue making space -- for new voices, for new ideas, and for new people -- even as you honor the traditions that have kept this community strong for so many years. It has been my great honor to serve as your rabbinic intern, and I wish you all hatzlacha, success, and brakhot, blessings.