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difference where we can.”
According to Brennan, this
means looking inward. It also
means looking around in your
physical space.

“Focus on people,” he said.

Once you do that, you
will realize that your sphere
of influence is bigger than
you thought, he said. You
can impact family members,
friends, even acquaintances.

“If everybody does that, the
amount of positivity is immea-
surable,” Brennan said.

Rabbi Eric Yanoff leads Adath
Israel, a Conservative congrega-
tion on the Main Line. This year,
when he speaks to members,
Yanoff is going to explain the
theory of Stanford University
sociologist Mark Granovetter,
whose work examines the layers
of relationships that form our
communities. Rabbi Eric Yanoff of Adath Israel in Merion Station
Photo by Michelle Camperson Photography
Our strongest connections
are with family members,
friends and co-workers,
according to the professor. Our
intermediate relationships are
with those we serve, those who
serve us and our wider social
network in general; that can
be our barbers, baristas and
fellow synagogue congregants,
among others.

You are invited to
R Remembrance
Re e emem mbran
meme embr
mbr anc
an c ce e Day
M mor
Me m meme or ial i iorior al Service
Se rvi
Serv rv i ceicei
Memorial InInI In Mem
Memo Memory
o ryrryr y of o f All
A llllll l Loved
L o ve
vedd Ones
On Sunday, September 12th
at 12 Noon
Rabbi Isaac Leizerowski
Family, Friends and Public Welcome
Celebrating each life like no other.

ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL PARK
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215-673-7500 10
SEPTEMBER 2, 2021
And our weakest connections
are the random interactions
beyond the intermediate layer,
like when we yell at people in
traffic. During COVID, with all
of its social restrictions, the
weakest layer faded, Yanoff
said. But so did the interme-
diate layer, and that’s a problem
we now need to correct.

Yanoff said those middle
connections make up the fabric
of society. Without them, we
tend to huddle with our own
people and become clannish.

“We’ve lost something,”
Yanoff said. “The ties that
connect us to a larger society.”
Rabbi Nathan Weiner leads
Congregation Beth Tikvah,
a Conservative synagogue in
Marlton, New Jersey. Weiner
agrees with both Brennan and
Yanoff: We should start with
our closest relationships and
build out to those vital inter-
mediate ties.

In his Rosh Hashanah
sermon, Weiner will empha-
size how the pandemic, even as
it kept us apart, taught us how
to come together again.

Beth Tikvah members went
grocery shopping for each
other. They picked up prescrip-
tions for each other. They used
technology to maintain and
deepen their community.

In addition to virtual
services, Weiner runs a
weekly study group on Zoom
with 20 people. One member
takes another to the doctor.

A different participant was
JEWISH EXPONENT
Rabbi Nathan Weiner of Congregation Beth Tikvah in Marlton,
New Jersey 
Photo by Sharon Savitz
a shut-in before the group
started. “They have come to love one
another,” he said. “The connec-
tions are real.”
The rabbi’s speech will
remind congregants that
the digital space can deepen
community. But it also will
remind them that technology
can’t replace community.

Joy, warmth and meaning
come from real connections
with people around you. As the
rabbi put it, real joy does not
emerge from a Facebook like.

It comes from your neighbor
helping you up after you’ve
fallen. “People have rediscovered
that,” he said. “It’s almost like
we’ve hit the reset button.”
The pandemic, though, is
not yet over, and it continues to
lay bare the American conflict
between individual liberty and
communal good. And, too
often, according to Weiner,
individual liberty is winning.

That’s why Weiner will use
his Yom Kippur sermon to
remind congregants to priori-
tize the communal good.

Individual freedom is
essential for achieving that
good, according to the rabbi.

But with freedom comes a
social obligation to live the
mitzvot, to do justice, love in
kindness and walk humbly
with God.

“If we don’t have a common
sense of obligation to one
another, the system falls apart,”
Weiner said. “Society crumbles.”
Reconstructionist Rabbi
Alanna Sklover of Or Hadash
in Fort Washington is planning
to delve into 5782 being a
Shmita, or sabbatical, year.

That’s when Jews are supposed
to let the land lay fallow to
prepare it for future harvests.

The Shmita year is about
stepping back and reflecting on
lessons, according to the rabbi.

Then, we apply those lessons
in year one of the new agricul-
tural cycle.

So it’s a Shmita year in a
communal sense, too, Sklover
said. “We get this opportunity to
start with a fresh field,” she
said. l
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