My latest, greatest, favorite writer is Avishai Margalit, an Israeli philosopher whose work The Ethics of Memory is in many ways a discourse on the rabbinic principle, "All Israel is responsible for one another." Margalit coins the expression "thick relations" to capture this sense of caring, the feeling of connection we have for people even when it defies rational explanation. A good example of this, in Robert Putnam's classic, Bowling Alone, is the connection expressed by a kidney donor to a recipient he knows only through a bowling league.

Another Margalit book I read this summer, The Decent Society, refines and expands Sidney Morgenbesser's comment that a decent society is one that does not humiliate its people.

As always, I view works such as these through my prism of Temple Micah, which I think of as a kind of laboratory for the possible in the American Jewish experience. We seek to be reflective on what it means to be American Jews and to deepen the experience of what being Jewish is all about for those who enter our community. I therefore think about humiliation in the context of those who come to pray with us who are not Jewish, or who are Jewish but for whatever reason have been alienated from the synagogue experience. How can we not only be inviting for them, but, even more important, provide a prayer experience that touches their soul?

For Margalit and Morgenbesser, any experience that makes a person feel inadequate is humiliating. I want to think about that in terms of the experience of American Jewish life and what people encounter when they enter a synagogue.

But I want more than that. Not to humiliate is a minimal, baseline goal. I dream of the greater ambition: by simply being a member of the Micah community, you really are connected to a community and feel that you are connected to a community. I dream that we feel drawn by that thick relation that Margalit writes of--that we feel motivated to do for each other what our own Hineni group so wants for us all. Hineni organizes meals for the homebound and those recovering from illnesses, connects our generations and helps us toward other good deeds. It is our own version of what Margalit writes about.

The challenge, of course, is how to make this organic and natural. This is all simply a continuation last month's column on synagogue membership--the term I so object to. The mental image I long for people to associate with being a "member" of Micah is more akin to Frank Capra's, Bedford Falls in It's a Wonderful Life, a town where people know and support and care for each other. Micah should feel to each of us like an extension of home, a supportive and comfortable place.

Even this is not enough. My dream is that the community of Temple Micah also be a carrier and creator of an inspiring message about God, faith, humanity and the Jewish People. To be part of our community should be to know in a visceral way that we are all created in God's image. I dream that the experience of walking into Micah will be an experience unlike any other-- that somehow we know when we are at Micah that there is such a thing as the sacred, that our good deeds count for something and that being Jewish matters because of the wisdom, passion and ethical vision we offer to the world.

I am very excited about our upcoming Micah year. With Machon Micah, we are trying something new. We started before Rosh Hashanah, with a new model for Selichot that included learning opportunities for our entire community. I pray that you all come to participate in our new approach for Jewish experience and learning. Tal Perelman has come to us from our sister congregation in Haifa, Or Hadash, as our very own Micah shaliach. He will make Israel come alive in our midst and draw us closer to our ancient and modern homeland. We also welcome to our community Danny Moss, a recent graduate of Oberlin College who is our first Machon Micah Fellow. He will assist Deborah Srabstein in developing all aspects of our new, bold, educational adventure.

Finally, Rabbi Esther Lederman joins us as an extraordinary partner in our endeavors. I could not be more delighted to welcome my new colleague to Micah. Temple Micah, we are in for an amazing 5770.

From my house to yours, a healthy, sweet new year in a world of peace.