Standing At Sinai: A Preparation for Shavuot

Standing at Sinai: A Preparation for Shavuot 

Tradition teaches that we were ALL there at Sinai. Perhaps some of us had better positioning than others; but we all have an ownership in the experience of revelation at Sinai. Can you even begin to imagine it? Perhaps somewhere along your journey to Judaism you had such a revelatory moment or experience that propelled or inspired your path. The experience at Sinai is a communal one and yet one that will be done virtually once again. 

When Ruth famously said, “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God…”, she demonstrated her steadfast commitment to the Jewish people. How has this past year influenced our own commitments to the Jewish people? What have our bubbles looked like and whom have we included? Are there Jewish traditions that have carried us this past year? Are there traditions we aspire to adopt and/or adapt? Has God been present for you or has it been a game of Divine hide and seek? 

Together we will explore these questions and some traditional Jewish texts that invite us to renew our commitments to studying the texts of our heritage and the lessons we derive from them as we prepare to celebrate Shavuot, the festival commemorating the giving of the Torah.

 A native of Los Angeles, Rabbi Michele Lenke, D.Min was ordained   from the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in New     York. She spent much of career serving congregations in Massachusetts,   and while there, Rabbi Lenke ran the Boston Area Reform Rabbis   Beit Din for several years. Accompanying people along their Jewish   journeys has been among her greatest rabbinic joys. 

Rabbi Lenke is also Spiritual Director and earned her Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Counseling.  Most recently, she trained as a Chaplain at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and is currently serving as a Chaplain at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana. Serving as a Chaplain in the time of COVID-19 has been an affirmative way to serve the community in such a time of crisis.

Rabbi Lenke is a longtime mentor to rabbinic students and rabbis and is excited about the future of Judaism. She is a proud member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Women's Rabbinic Network, the Southern California Board of Rabbis, the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis, and The Sandra Caplan Community Bet Din, among others. Rabbi Lenke is passionate about her rabbinate and a firm believer that each of us is created in the image of the Holy One.