Torah Portion:	Lech Lecha
Synagogue:	Beit Aharon (Gandel Besen), Orthodox, modern
Walking time from home:	Less than 20 minutes
Reason for going:	Rabbi and people
Kiddush:	Cholent and cake

There are some shules I go to because they don’t have a rabbi – as was the case last week, but there are many others I go to specifically because of the rabbi. For me, the best rabbis are the ones who know Judaism and Jewish law, but more importantly, are also well versed in modern culture and know how to apply Jewish law. 

Rabbi Shamir Caplan and his family from the shule that is colloquially known as Gandel Besen, are exemplars of that. He is steeped in Jewish understanding, a man of the modern world and universally referred to across Melbourne as a nice guy, which I have always found to be true. In fact, I think because of this and the fact that he doesn’t blow his own trumpet too much, he is sometimes underrated. But also as a result, I always enjoy his sermons because he delivers them well and it is clear that he has given the subject some thought. But I also always learn something that I can apply to my modern life based on Torah and liturgy. Not every sermon gives you that. 

Apart from that, as I have done with this blog, Rabbi Caplan has taken on a new ritual that only started a few weeks ago after the end of the festival period. Each week now when he leads the service (either Shacharit or Musaf) and during one prayer where he can fit it, he sings the Hebrew words to the tune of a pop song related to the portion of the week. This week that song was ‘Leaving on a Jew Plane’, and though he readily admitted it may not have been the best song since Abraham clearly didn’t have any kind of plane, it was nonetheless relevant because the portion of the week begins with Abraham’s departure.

For me, Lech Lecha has always been my favourite portion because it is about independence and ‘going for yourself’ – finding your own path in the world. But Rabbi Caplan said that although the opening line is iconic, in many ways it is also incongruous since in the closing lines of last week’s portion, Abraham not only left his birthplace and his father’s house (as prescribed in this week’s portion), but actually did so with his father. So therefore what is the nuance of this week’s opening line?

The answer is that although one might physically be in a different place, sometimes mentally it takes a lot more time to adjust. For instance, there are plenty of immigrants who come to this country but for the first few years at least, all their actions, thoughts and mannerisms are still like they were in their original homeland. It takes them a while to settle in and even in their own mind, to become Australian. So too with Abraham. Though he physically left his birthplace, it took him some time to adjust and become his own person – the one we now refer to as the father of the Jewish people.

The lesson is that if it even takes Abraham time to adjust, then we should not begrudge ourselves if it takes us time to adjust and adapt too. And this applies not just to moving countries or homes, but even to new circumstances, like the virtual world many of us have inhabited as a result of the pandemic. These are the kinds of lessons that a rabbi who understands the world can teach us through the simple reading of a Torah portion. And these are the kinds of sermons that I always enjoy and is in part why I go to different shules: to hear different rabbis and different perspectives. Hopefully next week will be just as educational.