Welcome
Hello and Welcome to my new Newsletter. A newsletter of a rabbi on a path of discovery and learning.
New Beginnings: A New Newsletter
You are receiving this newsletter because many of you have signed up on the mailing list from my previous newsletter or you signed up on my website and want to stay updated on things that are happening.
Some of you have been following my journey for a while and some of you may be new, so for the new folks, here is some professional and a little personal information about me:
My name is Rabbi Sandra Lawson (She/Her) I work as the Inaugural Director of Racial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Reconstructing Judaism. I work with senior staff, lay leaders, clergy, rabbinical students, and Reconstructionist communities to help Reconstructing Judaism realize its deeply held aspiration of moving toward being an anti-racist organization and movement. And one of the coolest parts of my job is that I serve as a mentor to rabbinical students.
I was ordained in 2018 at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. I have been featured in podcasts, essays, television, and radio and I am a well-sought-after speaker. In 2020, I was named to the Forward 50 and called the “truth-teller”.
Prior to joining Reconstructing Judaism, I served as the Associate Chaplain for Jewish Life and the Jewish Educator at Hillel at Elon University in North Carolina. I am also the founder and spiritual leader of an emerging Jewish community Kol Hapanim – All Faces – an inclusive, Jewish community that is relevant, accessible, and rooted in tradition, where all who come are welcomed and diversity is embraced.
I’m also an activist, a public speaker, and a musician. You can also find me on most social media sites as Rabbi Sandra. Sometimes called the Snapchat Rabbi and the TikTok Rabbi. Featured in the JTA as one of The 50 Jews everyone should follow on Twitter, named one of the Forward 50 2020. In 2022 the Center for American Progress said I was one of 22 Faith Leaders To Watch in 2022 and I am a current Schusterman Fellow For my latest musical adventures, follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube and you can find my music on every streaming service such as Spotify. These days you can also find me on Mastodon and Post.news
I was born in St. Louis, Mo., and grew up in a military family. I also served in the U.S. Army. After leaving the military, I started a personal training business and worked as the investigative researcher for the Anti-Defamation League’s Southeast Region, becoming the go-to person when law enforcement in the South needed information on hate groups in the south.
Currently, I live in North Carolina with my wife Susan and our three “fur babies”: Izzy, Bridget, and Simon. During my free time, you can find me at the gym, hiking, biking, or playing music on my porch or wherever I can.
Some Torah: God is in this Place and I Did Not Know it
At the beginning of this week's #Torah portion Vayetzei, Jacob camps for the night and rests his head on a stone. He dreams of a ladder planted in the earth stretching up to heaven, with angels ascending and descending constantly. I see the angels as a metaphor for how we pray. Our prayers start here on earth and then flow upward to God, and God's attention and love and blessing flow back to us.
In Jacob’s dream, God is standing next to him and God tells Jacob, "Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go...I will never leave you."
When Jacob awakes from his dream, he cries out,
אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ יְהוָ֔ה בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי
"Surely God is in this place, and I did not know it!"
We are often reminded of the awesomeness of God in the spectacular moments in our lives, such as at the birth of a child, college graduation, a recovery from an illness, and discovering resources we didn't know we had within you - these, and other rare moments we may find ourselves especially open to a connection with the Divine and in these moments we might echo Jacob and say, "Surely God is in this place, and I did not know it."
It's also possible to experience God's presence in the mundane everyday moments of our lives. And when we do, we can also exclaim, "God is in this place!
When Jacob awoke from his dream, the text describes him as shaken by the experience, and then he utters one of my favorite lines of Torah:
מַה־נּוֹרָ֖א הַמָּק֣וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה
How awesome is this place or as I like to translate, OMG This place is Amazing! Jacob realizes he is in God's House.
Too often, we think of our synagogues as God’s house and sometimes feel disappointed when we leave our shuls after service and don’t feel the presence of God. And sometimes prayer can feel like an appointment. Jacob's story reminds us that God is everywhere.
The burden is on us to recognize God’s presence and to remember that wherever we go in life, God is with us. Sometimes life gets in the way, and we do not realize that God is very much a part of our lives. This Torah portion is telling us that God is with us all the time. All we need to do is be present, be in the moment and be aware. And when we do that, we open our hearts and our minds to the presence of the Divine. And like Jacob, we may say: “God is in this place and I did not know it.”
Some Music
I Am Human (Oseh Shalom)
A prayer, a song about resilience
Hear song on Spotify
Thank you for reading. If there is something, you would like to see in future newsletters, let me know.
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