“I Have to Be with My Congregation:" From the Temple to the Gym to the Temple

I recently started up with high intensity exercise classes, the kind of classes where a trainer shouts out what to do with the rower, treadmill, weights or straps bolted to the wall. When we are supposed to exercise harder, the trainer makes the music much louder (earplugs are available in the lobby beforehand). I'm, by far, the oldest person there and no one knows I'm a Rabbi.

The trainer is an aspiring actor and songwriter, and as he jolted up the volume on a Jennifer Lopez song, he shouted, " You all know I wrote that song," even though, of course, he didn't. So when he walked by me, and gently corrected the way I lifted the weights (yet again), I told him how impressed I was that, with so much success as a songwriter, he was with us at the gym. He smiled and said, "I have to be with my congregation," and as he ran off to correct someone else, I shouted out, above the music, that I knew what he meant. 

Many of us are saying these days, "I have to be with my congregation," I also "have to be with my congregation, as I, too, struggle with the spiritual impact of the war, current events, and as we continue to move out from under the shadow of Covid.

Other than walking from building to building, and going up and down the stairs, I don't get all that much exercise at the Temple. But that's not why I come here. I am here to be with you as we, together, fight to contribute to the growing good of our world, our people and to our communal and individual selves. Each day, we, as a congregation, carry on, and it is my privilege to partner with you. 

With my best wishes,

Rabbi Dennis Ross