Tonight, we have been blessed to be permitted to share in a very special moment in the life of our friend and fellow congregant, Trudy Moses.  Knowing Trudy, how appropriate it is for her and her family to choose to come to the Temple to mark this life milestone, this 90^th birthday.  For in Trudy’s life, not just the Temple, but Judaism and the Jewish people have played a very important role.  She has served on the boards of both the Temple and the Quad Cities Jewish Federation.  Indeed, unlike some, her involvement in things Jewish has not be a passing fancy or a phase of her life.  It has been a consistent commitment.  At this time, here at the Temple, she serves on the Ritual Committee and hosts the Sisterhood Book Group, while out in the greater Jewish community she is still deeply involved in Hadassah and serves on the Yom Hashoah Committee.

Yes, Trudy’s resume´ of Jewish activities is a long one; a lifelong one.  But of all the things Jewish that Trudy has done, I believe that she had her greatest impact through her religious school teaching.  There are adults in our community, and throughout the country, some of whom who are here tonight, who had her as a religious school teacher.  In fact, they still speak of having her as a teacher.  And one can assume, since so many of them are still Jews, and committed and involved Jews themselves, that Trudy’s efforts contributed in some part to the molding of the Jews that they are today.

It is not surprising that Trudy was such an effective teacher, for Trudy loves learning, and in particular, Trudy loves Jewish learning.  She was never one of those teachers who teaches but does not study.  On the contrary, Trudy has always pursued Jewish study.  In so doing, as a religious school teacher, she was not just a teacher for her students.  She was a role model; a role model of a Jewish student.  As a teacher, she demanded of her students nothing less than she demanded of herself; that they actively pursue growing their Jewish knowledge.

Trudy no longer teaches in our religious school, but she still studies.  She studies in our adult education classes and she studies on her own.  At the age of 90, one can safely proclaim that Trudy Moses is a lifelong Jewish learner.  And even though she is no longer teaching in our school, she still serves the rest of us students of Judaism as a role model.  For if Trudy, at the age of 90, still feels that she has not yet reached that point where she has learned all there is to learn about Judaism, then how much the more so is that true for the rest of us.  Trudy, in her lifelong pursuit of Jewish knowledge, stands as a living testimony to the need of all Jews - especially all adult Jews - to continue that very same pursuit.

Somewhere along the line, many Jews have mistakenly acquired the notion that Jewish education is something primarily for children.  And even when it comes to children, it is something that they pursue with far less ardor than they pursue their secular studies.  It is an education that terminates either at 13, with Bar or Bat Mitzvah, or an 15, with Confirmation.  How absurd that notion is!  Would we ever permit our children to end their secular education after the 7^th grade, which is the grade of most Bar and Bat Mitzvah students, or to drop out of high school at the end of their sophomore year?  Of course not!  Why?  Because we know that it would destroy their lives.  We know that at the age of 13 or the age of 15 they have not acquired nearly enough knowledge to conduct themselves effectively and successfully in this world.  We know that when we encounter a grade school or a high school drop out, that person, more often than not, has very little life insight and wisdom to offer us because their understanding of the universe is limited, and maybe even a bit twisted, because of their lack of education.

Why then would we think that it would be otherwise when it comes to Jewish education?  Why would we believe that one can learn everything that they need to know about Judaism by the time they are 13 or 15?  Because, like the grade school or high school drop out, our perception of Judaism is also a limited, and perhaps a bit twisted, due to our own lack of adequate education.

Those individuals, like Trudy, who pursue Jewish studies as adults, come to understand and appreciate that Judaism is far from the pediatric religion too many Jews inaccurately perceive it to be.  Those adult Jews come to understand and appreciate that Judaism is a sophisticated faith, far more so than children can ever begin to comprehend.  Those Jews come to understand and appreciate that Judaism is chuck full of wisdom and insights into the very nature of our lives and our being; that Judaism offers us magnificent tools with which we can build fuller, richer, more meaningful lives.

Case in point: Just the other day in our Saturday morning Talmud class, one of the class members was responsible for leading the discussion on a section of Talmud dealing with blessings.  This person, who is highly intelligent, and in their own way, spiritual, but not Jewishly spiritual - in fact someone who has stated that they do not see much spirituality in Judaism - prepared for their presentation by doing some independent research on the role of blessings in Judaism.  This person’s presentation was one of those "Aha" moments.  As this person talked about all the different types of blessings, this person found them self able to travel beyond the rote ritual of uttering the formulas to a place of appreciation and gratitude for all that we receive; to a place of personal perspective, understanding how dependent our lives are upon others, and especially upon God; to a place of personal perspective, understanding that the offering of blessings brings us to an attitude of gratitude, and that assuming that attitude of gratitude truly enriches our lives.  It fills us with joy and pleasure from all that we have.  Understanding that the offering of blessings, if they come from the heart, is a gift, and not a burden, bestowed upon us by our Judaism.

What great benefit this individual derived from their study, they could never have acquired at the age of 13 or 15.  Teenagers simply are not ready for that type of life perspective.  They need more years under their belts.  They need more experiences under their belts.  And perhaps, they need more suffering under their belts.  And as it was with this lesson on blessings, so it is with so much of what Judaism has to offer.  It can only be appreciated in its fullness by the adult mind, heart, and soul.  And when the adult heart, mind, and soul encounter the teachings of our faith tradition, it is a wondrous experience; one that can be truly life altering.

No one understood this better than the ancient rabbis.  They set study as the crown of the Jewish experience.  In the traditional morning worship service, quoting Tractate Shabbat of the Babylonian Talmud it states, "These are the obligations without measure, whose reward, too, is without measure; To honor father and mother; to perform acts of love and kindness; to attend the house of study daily; to welcome the stranger; to visit the sick; to rejoice with bride and groom; to console the bereaved; to pray with sincerity; to make peace where there is strife.  And the study of Torah is equal to them all."¹  Why is the study of Torah the greatest mitzvah, equal to all the other mitzvot combined?  Because, if we study Torah with an open heart and a keen and searching mind, it will not only lead to the performance of the other mitzvot, but even more importantly, it will lead to an understanding, an appreciation, a love of the mitzvot.  Through such study, we grow not just our minds and our skills, but our hearts and our souls.  Through such study, our eyes are opened to viewing our universe in a new, and finer light; to seeing God’s very real Presence in our lives and everywhere in the world which surrounds us.

Study draws us closer to God, and as we draw closer to God we find our true place in the universe.  No less a figure than Hillel, the father of modern Judaism, said, "An ignorant person cannot be pious."²  This statement was not born of some sort of intellectual elitism, for to know the story of Hillel is to know that if there was one thing he was not, it was an elitist.  He was a man whose heart was open to all people.  But this statement did come from his heart; the heart of a man who dedicated his life to study and who experienced, first hand, how he grew as human being, spiritually, emotionally, ethically, lovingly because of that study.

Whenever people enter my study for the first time, two things usually catch their eye: the mess of papers on my desk and the stacks upon stacks of books on my shelves.  Often, while they are amused by the desk, they are awestruck by the books.  If I had a nickel for every time I have been asked, "Have you read all these books?"....  I used to struggle with that question.  It made me uncomfortable, so I would say, "Well not really all of them.  Some are reference books.  Others I use as resources..."  But the simple answer is "no," and the more accurate answer is "not yet, but if I am lucky..." but the most honest answer would be, "even if I do read them all, there will still be many other books waiting to be read.  In more than a lifetime, the task will remain incomplete."

"In more than a lifetime..."  So it is with each and every one of us.  As Jews, there is more than a lifetime’s worth of learning - valuable learning - out there, calling to us.  Heeding that call, pursuing that knowledge, far from being a burden, is a blessing.  It used to be a practice of our people that when a child started their Jewish studies, the teacher would place honey on the first page of their first text, and have the child lick it off, in hopes that the child would find the Jewish study as sweet to their heart, their soul, their mind, as the honey.  That taste, not only lingers, but for us as adults, can grow.

Trudy Moses, at the age of 90, remains an ardent student of Judaism, hungry for all she can learn and all she has yet to learn.  May that love of Torah capture our hearts, as it has captured hers.  May we, when, God willing, we reach that venerable age, find ourselves to be equally eager students.

AMEN

¹  BABYLONIAN TALMUD, Tractate SHABBAT 127a.

²  Hillel, PIRKE AVOT 2.5.