The following is a reflection given on Rosh HaShanah by Hinenu member Jeremy Weiss, on the theme of makom.
What makes a space sacred? Joyous music and dance? The opportunity for quiet reflection and meditation? Monumental architecture, built for the glory of the Divine? It can be all of these, or none of these. Sacredness is marked by the intention to make meaning, to create beauty out of the chaos that surrounds us. Look to this very room; our bodies, holy vessels for the completion of mitzvot, are gathered in unison to glean the sweetness of Torah, that it might inspire sacred practices in our own lives.
I wish to share a story. I work as a city planner. Part of the professional responsibility of planners is the practice of place-making; of making meaning manifest in the physical assemblage of the places where we live. During the first weeks of my current job, a colleague was working on reviewing design submissions for a new park in West Baltimore, in a predominantly African-American community. The park was state of the art, with spaces for performances, splash pads, and cook-outs. It also featured an art installation…in the form of a giant slab of watermelon. Let that marinate for a moment; in a predominately Black community, a designer found it appropriate to include a giant slice of watermelon as an art installation. In the lifecycle of the project, no one considered the implications of its inclusion, of the racist history associated with watermelon and the Black community. It took multiple meetings and phone calls, and a few difficult conversations, but eventually the park design was redone, the watermelon was excluded, and an apology was issued. An act of teshuvah had taken place, not just in the apology from the designer for their oversight, but from my division, which honed in on the systemic oppression imbued in the original design. By excluding the art installation, we had taken steps to address systemic racism, and in doing so helped create a space with meaning, transforming something profane into something sacred.
While serving as a Jeremiah Fellow in 2015, I first heard the lines of Jeremiah urging the community to grow gardens and establish homes in the cities of our diaspora. “And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and to the LORD in its behalf”, writes the prophet, “for in its prosperity you shal prosper”. But what does that mean for our home in Baltimore? The city has scars that run deep; from the theft of land from indiginous peoples to the history of redlining that has disenfranchinsed communities for generations; from the violence that plagues our streets to the ongoing opiod crisis. In the face of colassal systemic injustices, how do we heal our city so that it may thrive as a sacred space? How do we make meaning?
As we turn our attention to teshuvah during this week, we must consider the systemic harm that has been done and continues to plague our city, and more importantly, heed the Divine call to continue the transformation of Baltimore into a sacred space. Shana Tova.