For the long history of Torah Weekend, TempleEmanuelhas joined with Beth El Congregation and recently the Jewish Community Center to host a Scholar in Residence. Typically the Scholar has been someone who fulfills the old quip that “An expert is someone who has been invited from at least fifty miles away to give his opinion.” Occasionally, we have tapped the Jewish intellectual resources indigenous to Pittsburghsuch as Dr. Ron Brauner, Rabbi Danny Schiff and Dr. Devorah Weisberg whose husband Neil Scheindlin was then the Rabbi of Beth El Congregation. Dr. Weisberg is now on the faculty of the Los Angeles campus of HebrewUnionCollege– Jewish Institute of Religion, the Reform seminary.

          Rabbi Alex Greenbaum, Rabbi Locketz and I recently sat down to plan this year’s Torah Weekend. Several factors influenced our discussion. First and foremost from TempleEmanuel’s perspective was the state of the Rabbi William Sajowitz Endowment Fund. In the past year-plus, the Fund has been subject to the vicissitudes of all such funds. Last Spring, we even considered forgoing the annual Sajowitz Endowment Fund Scholar in Residence Weekend, the hallmark program of the Fund. We did follow through on the Weekend, to our delight and satisfaction, once again tapping local resources with our new AJL Community Scholar, Rabbi Scott Aaron serving as our Scholar in Residence for the Weekend this past December. But the Sajowitz Endowment Fund also underwritesTemple’s participation in our annual Torah Weekend, along with a host of other worthwhile endeavors. Not so long ago, we would plead with Templeconstituencies to apply to the SEF for funding. That time has passed. Rabbi Greenbaum acknowledged that Beth El has similar fiscal concerns. So when the three Rabbis met, I proposed something new for us, but tried and true for Rabbi Greenbaum.

          When Rabbi Greenbaum was in Augusta,Georgia, he and his Reform colleague in town would exchange pulpits for their annual Torah Weekend. So when I proposed that Rabbi Greenbaum speak here at Templeat our Friday night service, I would speak at Beth El at their Shabbat morning service and Rabbi Locketz would do a program at theJCCSaturday evening, Rabbi Greenbaum offered his enthusiastic endorsement. Of course, Rabbi Locketz did too.

So here is our theme: “The View From Across Town: What We Can Learn From Each Other.” At our Shabbat Evening Service, Rabbi Greenbaum will speak on “A Conservative Take on Reform.” At Beth El’s Shabbat Morning Service, I will speak on “A Reform Take on Conservative.” Saturday evening at the Jewish Community Center, Rabbi Locketz will lead an interactive program, “Our Take on Our Jewish Selves.”

          This will be my first opportunity to hear Rabbi Greenbaum deliver a sermon, but I have heard him teach many times, and I admire his energy, his wit and his grasp of Jewish knowledge. I am delighted to turn the

TempleEmanuelpulpit over to him. This will be my thirtieth Torah Week-end at Beth El, and over the years I have made many friends there, so I will be honored to preach from their pulpit. And Rabbi Locketz, we all know, is a fine teacher, especially adept at stimulating thought and facilitating discussion.

          I hope you will join us. I certainly will do my best to make this Torah Weekend as edifying and uplifting as every Torah Weekend has been, and I know that Rabbis Greenbaum and Locketz have offered their “amen” to my prayer.