By Rabbi Mark J. Bisman
Note: This blog post was featured as part of our #HeshbonHodesh: Nisan monthly newsletter.
From the perspective of retirement (for 7+ years)
Freedom from the financial need to work to support self & family & to save for retirement.
Freedom from communal responsibility: as a דאתראAמרא; for an institution’s survival; for tracking the well-being of congregants; choosing weekly what angle to take on the parshah in a D’var Torah; an external work schedule and staff meetings; publicly “doing Jewish” — being a dugma in my role as a rabbi; being in Scottsdale for Yamim Noraim.
Freedom to: be present for spouse, children, & grandchildren; be with family for Yamim Noraim; walk unhurriedly when your 1 1/2 year-old granddaughter (now 5) wants to look at the ants and insects on her way to the playground; read novels (literature major) as well as non-fiction; read a scholarly book on Shabbat without extracting something teachable; enjoy a JTS holiday webinar without using it for a D’var Torah; taking turns with my spouse reading a Zornberg Torah commentary for as short or long a time as we desire.
Freedom to: particularly during this pandemic, attend RA webinars and JTS learning sessions; serve as a (volunteer) member of the RA Va’ad HaKavod and as a (remunerated) RA Placement Coach:
Freedom to meet, get to know, and recognize the faces of more RA colleagues than I have ever known; make use of my listening skills honed while earning an MSW degree and while serving as a pulpit rabbi for 39 years; remind “colleagues in search” that every rabbi who is interviewed by a search committee is presumed to be qualified—that lay leaders search for a good fit for their congregation or for their particular setting.
Read the Other Blog Posts in This Series:
Rabbi Sandra Kochmann: Freeing Ourselves from the "Always" and the "Never"
Rabbi Eliav Bock: Connecting with the Divine in the Outdoors
Rabbi Mario Rojzman: The Ancient Jewish Vaccine Against Loneliness
Rabbi Ervin Birnbaum: The Story of the Exodus Ship
Rabbi Danielle Upbin: צא ולמד - Our Body as Teacher: A Spiritual Journey Through the Hebrew Letters
Rabbi Mark J. Bisman (JTS, 1973) is Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Or Tzion, Scottsdale, AZ.