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“To See Your Face,” Rabbi Zecher’s Shabbat Awakenings

Friday, November 19, 2021

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as as we draw near to Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast.

עַל־כֵּ֞ן רָאִ֣יתִי פָנֶ֗יךָ כִּרְאֹ֛ת פְּנֵ֥י אֱלֹהִ֖ים

…for to see your face is like seeing the face of God. (Genesis 33:10)

We have discovered through the trials and triumphs of the Covid era in which we still remain, that to see one another’s face has brought great joy — sacred joy.

We have lived through uncertainty, through quarantine, and through a world turned upside down by Covid. Within our synagogue community, our desire to live Judaism together through the expression of our mission of discovery, dynamic spirituality, and righteous impact sustained us and remained constant.

How we managed to achieve the constancy of our mission, however, did change because we could not physically be together. We turned to technology and the power of zoom. We learned that the rectangle shape that surrounded our upper torso and face could turn into building blocks of community. For celebration and for sadness, for learning and for praying, we utilized an important resource. In fact, when we began to offer Qabbalat Shabbat services online, we originally chose to just have the clergy in a webinar format. One of our members (thankfully) challenged that decision. He asked, why wouldn’t we want to see one another’s faces. We all agreed.

As we have considered how we will continue to move forward, we have had to decide where we have been disrupted and therefore, altered and transformed what we do. We have also contemplated what we regarded as interruptions and would return to the way it was before Covid. Both disruption and interruption have happened.

In one particularly important area, the disruption has been profound. Our community now experiences the life of the synagogue online and onsite. Both provide the opportunity to be present. Our former President, Marc Maxwell, described it as mixed presence. I love this term because it honors each person wherever they find themselves in prayer, in learning, in mourning, and in celebration.

עַל־כֵּ֞ן רָאִ֣יתִי פָנֶ֗יךָ כִּרְאֹ֛ת פְּנֵ֥י אֱלֹהִ֖ים

…for to see your face is like seeing the face of God. (Genesis 33:10)

In this week’s Torah portion, Jacob spoke these words to his brother, Esau, after many years apart separated by a tumultuous time earlier in their lives. They embrace and weep and recognize that the ability to capture the image of one another’s face is a divine expression.

Mixed Presence provides that opportunity to behold one another’s presence. Whether online or onsite, we can see and be seen. Words matter. With the language of “virtual” and “present”, the latter seems more real than the former. Even using hybrid connotes one or the other. Mixed Presence acknowledges those onsite and online equally.

But certainly not perfectly, or all, the time.

So we will continue to try because what matters is that we are present with one another wherever we find ourselves. What hasn’t changed is exactly what Jacob said to his brother Esau:

עַל־כֵּ֞ן רָאִ֣יתִי פָנֶ֗יךָ כִּרְאֹ֛ת פְּנֵ֥י אֱלֹהִ֖ים

…for to see your face is like seeing the face of God. (Genesis 33:10)

Shabbat Shalom!

Connect with me here. I look forward to corresponding with you and to hearing your thoughts.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Elaine Zecher