Rabbi Nate DeGroot’s Remarks at “The Great “Save-In”

Rabbi Nate's remarks at The Great "Save-In," telling the story about his journey to becoming Director, articulating The Shalom Center's shared vision for the next chapter, and expressing his well wishes and appreciation for Arthur, as he passed the lulav to Nate and became our Prophetic Envoy, a title he has already embodied so meaningfully for many decades.

Text of Nate’s remarks:

An email came across my inbox probably around this time in 2021. A job description for a six month, temporary national organizer, to work alongside Rabbi Arthur Waskow to mobilize a Passover fossil fuel finance campaign.

Arthur, at that point, I think had just turned 88. And I figured I might never have an opportunity like this again, to work closely with Reb Arthur. So I applied and I was very grateful that he wanted to hire me.

I live in Detroit. Arthur lives in Philadelphia. We had only Zoom calls for a couple months in the early stages of organizing what we called Exodus Alliance.

And less than two months in, Arthur asked me to join a Zoom call with him one morning. And he started the call in Yiddish, which I don't understand. He translated it for me, which was helpful. And in English, he said, “Humans plan and God laughs. But humans still plan, and my plan”, he said, “is to continue to be director of the Shalom Center until I turn 91.”

He said, “I want to celebrate my shmitah bar mitzvah birthday (seven times 13).” And he said, “And I want to know what the **** happens in the 2024 presidential election. And then,” he said, “I would like you to succeed me as Director of The Shalom Center.”

[Crowd: “Wow!”]

That was my reaction.

I was deeply humbled. Incredibly honored. Very excited. And I also felt like it was a completely nonsensical request. Because Arthur and The Shalom Center have been synonymous since its founding. So what does The Shalom Center even mean after Arthur passes the torch?

That question is the question that I would begin to pursue with Arthur, with our Board, with community members, for the next couple years. Asking the question of: “What is the Shalom Center after Arthur has passed on his inheritance to the next chapter?”

—

In this iteration of The Shalom Center, rooted in Arthur's legacy and sprouting forth from it, we are reimagining Jewish holidays as portals for public prophetic action. And through actifests, we are building a national movement of sacred justice rooted in the Jewish calendar cycle.

It's, of course, a vulnerable position that I'm in, I feel. The Shalom Center has forever been intertwined with Reb Arthur and with his ideas. Now we are offering new ideas - ancient and new ideas. And they're not just my ideas. They're our ideas collectively.

The vision that we are pursuing will require all of us in all of the different ways that we can show up. Because the task is so great it will require our collective prophecy.

—

When Arthur describes why and how the Freedom Seder has made such an impact in the decades since he wrote the haggadah and helped organize the seder, he borrows a metaphor from chemistry - some of you might have heard him speak about this before - where a single seed crystal dropped into a supersaturated solution crystallizes the whole solution.

That's our work at The Shalom Center. To discern the seed crystal for any given moment, for the super saturated solution of society, wherever we might greet it.

What's the seed crystal we need now that will crystallize and crack open portals into greater wholeness?

And then, how can we celebrate and observe our holidays as an embodiment of that wholeness?

Which is exactly what we are trying to do tonight: Hoshanah Rabbah, The Great “Save-In.” The cosmic crossroads.

—

So, speaking of which, I want to extend such deep gratitude and appreciation to the team who is helping to make this actifest happen tonight. To Simi, our Ritualist. To Dot, our badkhn and Bandleader. To Adam Kerbel, our Production Manager. Tikkun Olam Productions, who is live streaming this right now. And to all of you for being here, to everyone else, sound and band and tech and Masjidullah and everyone who helped make this possible.

In organizing this actifest, I felt so deeply what it means to create these kinds of portals together.

And I know we're running late, if that's a thing. But buckle up because the fun's about to begin.

—

Over a decade ago, Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg, who I'm not sure if she's in the room right now…

Rabbi Sheila, I'm not sure if you know this - I think I wrote it to you in an email once. But over a decade ago, I was in a room full of clergy. I think it might have been related to AJWS. I actually don't remember the exact context. But you told us that as clergy in the years to come, it would be our task to be both hospice caretakers of the world that was, and midwives of the world to be.

And I've held that image, that metaphor, very tight, very dear to my heart in the years since. It's really been a kind of defining metaphor for me, a defining charge. And as you said it, what I heard - how I translated it in my mind - was like a musical crossfade, where the volume of one song is fading out, as the volume of a new song is being turned up. And we were living in the dissonance of the crossfade.

And for almost three years, Arthur, we've been working together planning for this moment, in the crossfade. And I've been thinking about this succession, this generational transition, as such.

But earlier today, just a handful of hours ago, I was talking with Adam Sher, a board member, a dear friend, and someone who has been absolutely instrumental in helping to birth this next chapter of The Shalom Center with me and with us. And he was reflecting that in this case, in this moment, it's not that one song is simply fading out, but rather the two songs are dancing together.

Because Arthur, you're not stepping back. You're stepping up. We are both stepping up. Me as Director and you as Prophetic Envoy, a role and a title that is absolutely befitting of you and your journey and where you are, and on the path of your life right now.

—

Arthur, you have been an envoy for many decades.

A prophetic envoy from the future, letting the rest of us know where the arc of justice is bending just up ahead by about 40 years. On anti-nuclearization, climate, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, Israel/Palestine, and so much more. You have been the tugboat that you are fond of referring to. Pulling us and our communities into the future you knew already must exist.

And that instinct, that work from you, will never stop. While you're holding this formal title, for however many years you have left. You will continue to be a prophetic envoy through your continued writing, your action, the Torah you share in the world, through your teaching. And when you pass, may it not be until 120 or maybe 130 - like the woman in the Himalayas [that Gloria Steinem referred to earlier, in your conversation with her], not only through your published works and archived materials, but through your spirit that lives on in so many of us, in profound, life-altering, course-defining ways, forever l’dorot / לדורות, you will be our prophetic envoy.

—

And it's within this context that I am proud and pleased to announce the launch of the Reb Arthur Waskow Legacy Fund.

You have told me, Arthur, Phyllis has told me, that your greatest wish is the continued thriving of The Shalom Center. And this fund, the Reb Arthur Waskow Legacy Fund, intends to ensure that reality.

In this campaign, we're focusing on the past, the present, and the future.

In the past, we will be archiving and organizing Arthur's writings, making sure that they are accessible to all, forever. And importantly, we are creating - producing - a documentary film - a biopic - about Arthur's life and impact. You can all wave to Oliver right there, who's filming for our biopic right now! Produced by Tikkun Olam Productions, the same folks who produced Israelism, and who are excited to be sharing Arthur's story, passing on Arthur's legacy with the world. So this Legacy Fund will help to fund and produce that film, which will be a treasure for generations to come.

In the present, this fund is going to allow us, empower us, to scale actifests. In this year, we have done two, one in the Bay Area in March for Ta’anit Esther and tonight here in Philadelphia for Hoshanah Rabbah. We are trying in the years to come to build a national movement of sacred justice rooted in the Jewish calendar, like I shared before, and to do that is going to require a major shift in how we operate and the scale and scope of people that we impact and bring into our orbit to be growing this together. This fund will support us in doing that.

And when it comes to the future, this is a fund that will allow us to invest in the prophetic leadership of the next generation. Through hiring people, through cohorts, through uplifting the Torah of the next generation, the people who are embodying the prophetic spirit, who have been inspired by the work of Arthur and so many of you and the generations who have come before us, to carry on that legacy, so I'm not alone holding the lulav. That we are holding it together.

In the weeks to come, we'll share a lot more about this. There will be opportunities to engage, to give, to offer blessings, to participate in ensuring Arthur's greatest wish, which is for The Shalom Center to continue to thrive in the years ahead.

—

Arthur, one of your favorite quotes that you have taught me and many others, comes from the prophet Malachi / מלאכי, who says that for us - this is your translation, roughly - who says that for us to reach a place of wholeness, and really to avoid apocalypse - the exploding sun - the hearts of the elders and the youth must turn towards each other.

Arthur, it's my incredible honor to have gotten to turn my heart towards you over these last almost three years. And deeply, deeply humbling that you have chosen to turn your heart towards me. To have received the lulav from you. And I'm so looking forward to remaining turned towards each other, heart to heart, in the years and lifetimes to come.

Cheers to you, Reb Arthur! To all of you who have joined us tonight in this holy space and in this holy Zoom space. To the Shalom Center. To the pursuit of wholeness.

Thank you [to everyone in the physical space]. Thank you [to everyone on Zoom]. Thank you [Arthur].

I love you [Arthur]. Thank you.