Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn’t you like to get away?
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.
Where Everybody Knows Your Name
By Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo
The above lyrics – the opening song from the TV show Cheers – could just as easily open the second book of Torah. Shemot (names) is both the name of the Book and the name of this week’s opening parsha. The book begins by declaring the names of Jacob’s sons – the founders of the Egyptian Jewish community.
People then, and now, want to be where others know them, welcome them, and care about them. We want to know those who travel with us as we wander this journey called life. More importantly, we want to know that those we travel with welcome and value our presence.
At the start of this Book of Torah the family of Israel were so oppressed by their day to day existence that they could not see beyond it. The regimentation of work, sleep, work again left them in isolation even if they labored side by side with a neighbor.
It is only when they shared their troubles and their vision; when they cried aloud together to G-d and then risked the security of the known to take steps together towards freedom that they began to form a community, sharing worries, fears, and excitement.
Today, for very different reasons, a similar situation exists. Technology connects us to those far away and yet paradoxically can leave us isolated from connection to those in the same room. The same technology that was envisioned to make our lives easier has also created a demand for instant response. We feel compelled to be connected and live with constant FOMO (fear of missing out).
Our Inboxes still fill with paper, our virtual inboxes fill with e-mail, AND our Facebook feed fills with news, thoughtful articles and cat videos.
Do I digress – perhaps? Then again, perhaps not. If the technology we have today had existed when Cheers was developed, would Norm, Cliff and their buddies have gone to hang out at the bar together each evening or would they have gone home to their computers, tablets, and OnDemand TV? Even if they went to the bar, would they have truly connected or pulled out their phones to check messages and snap “selfies” for a status update? Would they have really shared their troubles and known each other’s’ names?
Most of us belong to G+ Circles and Facebook groups. We are part of listservs and have Facebook friends a-plenty. I for one, value them all. They connect me to colleagues and friends near and far. They allow me to reach out and touch when I can’t be there in person. I learn, I teach, and I connect in ways that would not have been possible a decade ago.
Yet, they are not a replacement for real-time, real place community. In the midst of our 24/7 world, we need places where we are valued and where we value others. We need places where power and position are not what matters, rather people care whether we are there “just because.”
Communities, like families, have times of struggle. Values clash and resource allocation is questioned. Yet, in the end, a community is a group of people who only want the best for each of its members. It is a group that is there to give as well as get; to celebrate successes and mourn losses; to lift others who are struggling even as they struggle themselves.
May each one of us, like our ancestors, find and work to sustain a community where everybody knows your name and is always glad you came.
Prior to her position with the Grinspoon Foundation, Iris served as a synagogue educator in Syracuse NY, the Central New York PJ Library Program Coordinator and as a national consultant for PJ Library.
Iris holds a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood, Elementary, and Special Education, a master’s degree in Special Education and Reading, and Advanced Certification in School Leadership and Administration. Her experience as a secular educator and educational leader in congregational and community settings spans over 20 years. She is also a lay leader in Jewish organizations on the local and national levels. Iris served as the President of CAJE – the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education, which was the largest member organization for Jewish educators in the country.
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