Cantors talk!  No, I don’t mean as opposed to “singing!” Colleagues and I stay in touch for various reasons:  to share music, to check in on each other, and sometimes, to share news of congregants who have visited one or the other of our congregations. Recently, a colleague shared something nice about us!  The Cantor recounted how a member of our congregation had lost a family member who was a member of my colleague’s congregation. My friend was told how appreciative our member had been at the time of bereavement, at gestures of outreach, particularly by members of Congregation Ner Tamid’s Sisterhood.

 

So I shepped nachas!  Then I realized how many times the comment had been just the opposite.  Too often, news comes to me of a member of our community who felt isolated at a particular time.

 

Some years ago, I sang a piece of music that was composed to the words of Rabbi Jack Reimer. In remembering these words, there is an imperative to constantly and regularly act on the ideals expressed:

 

“May the door to this synagogue be wide enough to receive all who hunger for love, all who are lonely for fellowship.

 

 May it welcome all who have cares to unburden, thanks to express, hopes to nurture.

 

May the door of this synagogue be narrow enough to shut out pettiness and pride, envy and enmity.

 

May its threshold be no stumbling block to young or straying feet.

 

May it be too high to admit complacency, selfishness and harshness.

 

May this synagogue be, for all who enter, the doorway to a richer and more meaningful life”

 

As I reviewed these most-important words, I came to realize that perhaps I had erred in my original comprehension.  Take the word “door.”  It is very easy to hand over responsibility to the “door.”  The “door” will welcome, the “door” will be wide, the “door” will not be a stumbling block.

But the “door” is not a person; the “door” is us! 

 

Let us, together in the months to come, stand at the door and be the door for all who walk in.

 

B’shir,

Cantor Samuel B. Radwine