Two Minute Torah Podcast

Shmot 5773 by Rabbi Elyse Winick

Shalom and welcome to KOACH's Two Minute Torah, a project of the Department of College Outreach of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. This is Rabbi Elyse Winick, Director of KOACH/College Outreach.

Cats have nine lives. Thus far, KOACH appears to have at least four. In the winter of 2011, in line with United Synagogue's Strategic Plan, KOACH was scheduled for dramatic reduction, if not closure. In June of 2012, word once again spread that the Department of College Outreach was at risk of being shuttered. Each of these times, students, alumni and fellow travelers spoke out with passion and intensity about our Movement's obligation to the college aged population. As part of the June agreement to keep the program alive, KOACH was called upon to raise 100K to cover budgetary expenses from January through June 2013. The money was to be raised by December 31. I am so pleased to tell you that we reached the goal, reached it well before the deadline, and have surpassed the minimum amount needed. We can still use your help if you haven't given, but we're now able to focus on the heart of the matter, delivering high quality resources to college students across North America. Thank you, once again, for helping us to get there.

The book of Shmot is the portal to the Exodus story, the vast and far ranging narrative which will carry us out of Egypt and into our desert wanderings. But before it jumps into telling that story, this week's parashah makes one essential stop. It lists the names of the forebears who got us there, whose lives tell the story of how we ended up in Egypt in the first place, even though they are long gone before the actual story of the book of Shmot begins.

The past is a critical building block of the future. To reflect on the giant shoulders which have carried you to this moment is to honor them, for sure, but it's also to seek meaning and understanding about the journey. You can't figure out where you going unless you know where you've been.

For KOACH, our December 31 deadline is replete with meaning. This secular new year is filled with potential. We launch forward into a new future, one in which KOACH will have to grow and change in order to go forward. Within a few weeks we'll have a new look, as we launch a website which will play host to parts of that journey. And we acknowledge the incredible gift of leadership given to us by Rich Moline, who leaves us now for new adventures with the National Ramah Commission. Our future, while bright, is unknown. We can feel confident about the direction in which we're traveling, though, because it sits upon a solid foundation, more than twenty years of creativity, spiritual nourishment and transformative programming, all made possible through Rich's dedication to us and to the Conservative Movement. We pray that we'll learn well enough from the past that it won't take us 40 years to reach the promised land and we wish Rich the very best as he embarks on this new endeavor.

For us, may 2013 find us going from strength to strength and may our journey forward, together, be a sacred one.