Voices of WRJ: Parashat B'midbar

by Marci Delson On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, the Eternal One spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of Meeting, saying: “Take a census of the whole Israelite company (Numbers 1:1-2)..." I was a young mother of two when my husband and I decided we needed to join a temple in Columbus, OH. My family had been life-long, two-generation members of Isaac M. Wise Temple in Cincinnati, OH, so I knew nothing about how to find a temple. It was before Google, Bing, and Yahoo were around for searching on the net. So what did we do? We asked friends who were already members and did some temple shopping. After visiting two temples, we decided to take our friends advice and join the “big” one, as that’s all I knew in Cincinnati. I wanted to be a part of a Jewish community, wanted to count in the census of Jews. In the seven years between marriage and joining, our religious experience as a family existed by going to Cincinnati and being with my family, which was again, what I was used to all my life. I realized that my passion for social action, being active, and volunteering was not being fulfilled totally at the local school so I took a deep breath, looked at the temple bulletin and saw an event called “The Library Luncheon” sponsored by Temple Israel Sisterhood. I thought, "I love books and love to eat," so off I went. Little did I know I was moving from “of the wilderness” to the Promised Land! It did feel a little like the Israelites who wandered in the desert for 40 years until they were able to march into Canaan. I went to that luncheon, not knowing a soul, and for the next 25 or so years later I came to understand what sisterhood and WRJ could do for a newbie in a congregation. I found my life enriched with a purpose, an outlet for my love of social action, a spirituality I never knew existed, best friends till this day, and as I entered the arena of being on the WRJ Board of Directors, deepening friendships of women I would never had encountered had I not walked into that beautiful library all those years ago! B’midbar talks about the transitioning from tribes to a national body, about who stands in our ranks, and who counts. Where we were only slaves in Egypt, and now a unified nation (p. 791, The Torah: A Women’s Commentary). We do not find the names of the females among the nations; only the men and their sons were listed. Women of Reform Judaism has been working for more than100 years now to re-write that history. WRJ studies the issues of the day, passes resolutions at our Assemblies, and works on Capital Hill with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the U.N., and countless other international organizations to support women’s issues, children’s issues, and human issues. WRJ, through the YES Fund, supports clergy, Jewish and communal education, and initial and on-going support of temple youth through NFTY and Reform Jewish Camping so that our children can learn about Judaism, leadership, and life-long friendships. Every minute we as women have the opportunity to add our names to the census. It is our responsibility as Women of Reform Judaism to help the women of our congregation to come out of the wilderness, to count, to be numbered, to join us and to fulfill their unknown dreams of being committed Reform Jewish women with a purpose. Marci Delson is a WRJ Board of Directors member, WRJ Central District YES Fund/WUPJ (World Union for Progressive Judaism) Chair, Women of Temple Israel Board member, and Secretary at Temple Israel in Columbus, OH. She is also a RN working for a Medicare Advantage company who has been married for 34 years to Larry,  is the mother of Adam Delson and Rabbi Lisa Delson, mother-in-law to Brent Pliskow, and Grammi to Micah Pliskow.