High Holy Day Q&A with Rabbi Fischel and Cantor Bortnick

Curious what inspires clergy, how Jewish traditions evolve, or what the future of Judaism might look like? Earlier this month, leading into the High Holy Days, Rabbi Eliana Fischel and Cantor Susan Bortnick shared personal stories, thoughtful perspectives, and a few lighthearted moments in place of a Shabbat sermon. Watch the full conversation and follow along with the transcript below.

Q: What inspired you to become a rabbi?

Rabbi Fischel: When I went through college and my studies, I had no idea what I wanted to be. I studied dance, and psychology, and community action, and public policy. And by the time I graduated, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. I found myself back at a sleepaway camp that I had gone to forever: URJ Eisner Camp, a reform Jewish sleepaway camp. That was really the place I felt most me. My supervisor that year was a rabbinical student, and she started taking me through her process of becoming a rabbi. And I realized that it was how I could do everything I wanted to do. At the time, I had studied psychology because I liked people. It turns out that a lot of the time, you’re [working] with like, data and numbers. I didn’t want to do that. Then, for my public policy and community action, I realized that every activist event I went to — every rally I went to — clergy were there. I thought it was just because they were good people. For the most part, they are. But actually, it’s because that’s part of our job — to know what our moral compass is telling us to do, and then to get our people activated and ready to go, and champion that cause. And I realized that I got to do all of that with Jewish text and ritual as the “Play-Doh” to do it with, and that just felt really fun to me.

Q: What is it called when we throw the bread into the water on Rosh HaShanah?

Rabbi Fischel: I love this ritual. This ritual is called Tashlikh, which literally means to “send away,” and it actually comes from in the Torah, where we would put our sins on a goat and let the goat out into the wilderness, and be like ‘Goat, don’t come back with my sins.’ But instead of that, [today] we take some bread and we go to a stream. It has to be a stream with movement — like a body of water with movement. And we take some bread, and think about what we want to rid ourselves of this year. Maybe some of the ‘missed the mark’ moments that we’ve had this year, and we throw them into the stream. There’s a few songs that we sing if you want to during it, or you can just think about that. There’s no actual laws about what blessing. You just think about it, and do it. We don’t have a Washington Hebrew Tashlikh anymore. We used to. Not that many people came.

Cantor Susan Bortnick: Well, and there’s a whole [National] Park Service thing.

Rabbi Fischel: Yeah, there’s a whole Park Service thing with the stream outside where we’re not allowed to throw bread.

Cantor Susan Bortnick: You can’t do it anymore.

Rabbi Fischel: So if anyone has an in with the Park Service, let us know.

Cantor Bortnick: But you don’t need us for it.

Rabbi Fischel: You don’t. There’s really wonderful places. Actually, one year, my family went — you know the candy cane playground? Anyone with young kids knows it. There’s a stream right there that has a perfect bridge. It’s like a perfect Tashlikh  bridge. So I would recommend the candy cane playground.

Cantor Bortnick: Yeah. Or the Potomac.

Q: What are you reflecting on for the coming year?

Rabbi Fischel: So that’s like, really broad. What are you reflecting on in the coming year, Cantor?

Cantor Bortnick: Whoa. Way to turn on the tables! So I am hoping that our society can relearn how to be civil to each other, treat each other with dignity and respect. And that if the people we look up to — or are supposed to look up to — don’t provide that example, then we need to do it.

Rabbi Fischel: I will double down on that. And also, a recommitment to finding joy and gratitude. I want to be able to be happy at the end of the day. I want you to be able to be happy at the end of the day, even when it feels like there’s so much chaos.

Q: As a new member of the tribe, I am struggling to understand the concept of “chosen people.” Can you please illuminate this concept?

Rabbi Fischel: So I grew up in a Reconstructionist community, so I did not grow up Reform. And in a Reconstructionist community, we don’t believe in “chosenness” as a concept. Reconstructionist Jews feel that — actually, the words I heard growing up were pretty harsh — like, it’s ethnocentric and it is even racist and things like that. And I can see how we can get there. Sometimes I feel that way, too. And I think some of the teachings that I have really loved, that have helped turn this around, is what are we chosen for? Right? If you think about your own life and what you might be chosen for, I do believe I was chosen to be a rabbi. I do. I don’t think that makes me better than anyone else in the room who is not one. It’s just that I was chosen for that specifically. And that was a little bit of something out there, and a lot of me. Right? So it’s a lot of what we’re chosen to do and the responsibilities that are upon us, because we’re actually choosing it. Right? Like, we’re the ones who are actively choosing Judaism. And when I say choosing Judaism, they said like a new member of the tribe, they chose Judaism. But actually, each one of you chose Judaism this evening. Right? And we are actively choosing Judaism every single day that we are practicing living our values, wearing our Magen David, keeping kosher. Whatever it is that you do to live out your Judaism, you’re actively choosing that every day. And I think that’s what it means to be the chosen people.

Q: How do you handle it when someone shares with you an opinion or viewpoint that you do not agree with, and they want your opinion or your advice?

Rabbi Fischel: So most people, most of the time, when they are coming to a clergy person and saying, ‘I want to talk to you about this, this, this, and this,’ what they’re really saying is ‘I am really hurting, and I want you to hear why.’ Almost always. If someone comes to me saying, like, ‘Do you have a book about grief?’ I could give them a book about grief, but they really want to talk to me about their grief. And that’s the same for what’s going on in our world. And I am so grateful that we have such a diverse community with diverse views and diverse political views. I don’t think I hide mine very well, nor do I try to, to be honest. That wouldn’t be authentic to me. And I would hope that you feel like you’re actually taking that as an example — that that means you can be authentic with me. I want to know what’s hurting you. I want to know what feels painful for you. I also want to know what gives you joy and happiness. But really, I don’t actually find it difficult when I hear something I disagree with within these walls, and within this community. I value our community more than that view. And I want to be able to be there for our congregation, and to model a little bit of that civility that we want to see in the world. I might fight back — not fight back, but I might share how the view hurts me. And I would hope that that would be taken with the same amount of respect.

Q: What do you think Jewish culture will look like in 50 years?

Rabbi Fischel: So I actually am very hopeful about the future of Judaism. I am absolutely hopeful about the future of Judaism. I do think — and I’m a very proud Reform Jew — I think in 50 years, we’re going to have Liberal Judaism and Orthodox Judaism, and that’s going to be it. And that doesn’t seem sad to me. That seems like, okay, that’s probably where we’re headed. And, I see a Judaism — and maybe this is just idealistic — I see a Judaism that is creative, and meaningful, and diverse — and ideally does not judge one Jew for the other for the way in which they practice or act in this world. Where people are discovering new ways, where that person who has just joined our tribe is able to speak their voice and say like, ‘Hey, you guys have always done it this way. But I think I have a really great way to do it.’ That’s what I’m seeing in our congregation, and what I’m really hopeful for for the future of Judaism.

Q: If you weren’t clergy, what would you be?

Rabbi Fischel: When I first came up with the idea [to go to rabbinical school], I did what hopefully all future rabbinical students do. I went to my rabbi, and sat in his office, and he asked me that question. He was like, ‘If this doesn’t work out, what would you do?’ And I sat there, and I was really stumped, and I was like, ‘I don’t know. I think I’m putting all my eggs in this basket. Like, I think I’m doing it.’ And he was like, ‘Right answer.’ So yeah, I think that’s the right answer. And… I might open a challah bakery.

Cantor Bortnick: Oh. And I would come there every day.

Rabbi Fischel: So actually I would not do anything else, but if I had to, I’d open a challah bakery.