AIPAC, with a day’s planning, gathered together well over 1600 Jews in Baltimore to protest the Iran deal. Every type and shape of Jew was there, truly unified, for the purpose of demanding a better deal.  Rabbi Wohlberg introduced the rally with his usual auditory brilliance. He noted that when Joseph's brothers decided to kill him, they threw him into a pit. Then the story continues, “They sat to eat bread.”

“How could they do that?” asked Rabbi Wohlberg, “Their brother is dying in a pit and they sat down to eat bread? He concluded, “This was actually their greatest sin. And that,” he declared, “is equivalent to not taking action and speaking up against the deal.”

This gathering was out of Fear, a confrontation of yet another threat to the existence of us as a people. Looking around the packed house, I wondered if there were a way we could unite together out of Love, fueled by the joy we have in simply being who we are as Jews.

I returned home to continue to work on what my days are taken up with: co-chairing together with Liora Hill the Baltimore Shabbat Project. (Go to baltimoreshabbatproject.org to learn about it and sign up for the communal events.)  As I was working, it dawned on me that I was actually working on the very answer to my question! The Baltimore Shabbat Project is about Jewish unity through Love.

It is already happening. Thanks to the work of Nisa Felps, the Project Manager, and over 100 volunteers now involved on our different committees, the response so far across our entire community has been nothing but absolutely positive. And we’ve just begun to reach out! I believe the reason for everyone saying Yes! is because our mission to unify our Jewish community is driven by the values of respecting, dignifying and honoring each other – all expressions of Love. In addition to the planned community events, there are some astounding happenings during Shabbos that have been conceived by both clergy and lay leaders.  Including a Shabbos meal shared by Suburban Orthodox and Baltimore Hebrew (Reform), another shared by all three shuls housed at Ner Tamid, services and teachings being shared by Beth Israel (Conservative) and Temple Emanuel (Reform), and the list goes on! There will be special Friday night Onegs, guest speakers, and hundreds of lay-led meals transcending denominations all over town. Our entire community is coming together enhancing our observance and celebration of Shabbos.

At our core we are one. When we get down to our very existence, when we hit bottom, at the core of Fear, we find ourselves on the solid bedrock of our unity. When a Jew in Auschwitz fell during a forced march, his friends didn’t ask in which shul he davened before risking their own lives to pick him up. They did it because their brother, their own flesh, had fallen, and it’s instinctive to save one’s own life. As bitter as our suffering through the hands of our enemies is, if we survive it, we cannot deny the sweet taste of unity and togetherness we experienced through it.   

The tragedy is that we lose sight of this intrinsic unity as soon as things get a little better.  G-d warns us of this, as it pertains even to our relationship with Him. When He promises us the land flowing with milk and honey, He warns, “You will eat and be satisfied. Beware, because you are predisposed to forget the Lord Who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”  It is the human condition. However, if we read carefully, G-d only warns us. It is not ordained that we will forget. And that means we are capable of being mindful.  Mindful that our all our blessings come from G-d. We are also capable of remembering that we are One People with One Heart. What we need now, maybe more than ever, is to take positive action to create unity. 

So, what is a positive, clearly Jewish action that we can we take as a community to create unity?

One answer is that we are able as a community at large to celebrate, honor and enhance Shabbat. 

The mission of The Baltimore Shabbat Project is about taking actions which will unite us.  Each person, each family, each community is being given the challenge to sign up to be a part of the project. Our goal is to have a majority of our 100,000 strong community join in.

For some, it will mean participation in the communal events. For others, it will mean participating in special Synagogue meals/programs. Others are hosting their own meals and inviting guests from the entire spectrum of the community.

Obviously, because this is a community wide project and at its heart, a unity project, it’s a great opportunity for all Jews in the community to reach outside of our normal comfort zone and invite guests for a Shabbos meal.  Sometimes, there are even people in our own Kehila and neighborhoods that we really don’t know and have never sat down to a Shabbos meal together. 

There is something intrinsically worthwhile to the fact that a Shabbos meal is a Jewish meal, but like all life, the soul which invigorates it, determines it. The soul of the Shabbos meal is the conversation had. If the conversation is about the mundane, then the life it breathes into the meal will be mundane. If, however, the soul of the conversation is meaningful, about being Jewish, about G-d, Torah, our values, beliefs and the way of life that distinguishes us, then such a conversation will invigorate a holy life.  

Our communal commitment to enhance our Shmiras and Kavod Shabbos can also take many forms.  For last year’s Shabbos Project, Rabbi Avigdor Goldberger of Minneapolis came up with a brilliant idea. He took Rav Simcha Bunim Cohen’s book, The Shabbos Kitchen, and divided it into 50 parts to be learned each week by the families of his Kehilla over the year. He has graciously given us the materials and we will gladly share it with any Kehilla interested in doing this over the next year.  Furthermore, we will help any Kehilla divide and arrange a calendar for any other sefer about Shabbos they would like to learn over the next year. For example, I recently completed Shabbos Malchasa by Rav Shimon Pincus ZT”L and I can say my Shabbos has been transformed.

Imagine, for a moment, the majority of our entire community, uniting out of Love to celebrate, honor, and enhance Shabbos, and how that would transform our community.

Please go now to www.BaltimoreShabbatProject.org and sign up, and get your family and friends involved, your Kehila and schools.

We can do it!

With respect, dignity and honor we can build a unified community.