This past Shabbat, Kesher Israel welcomed close to 100 Kesher alumni, from Kesherites who had lived downtown as long ago as the 1950s and 1960s to some who were returning after only a few years. Kesher Israel is a unique institution: a shul and community in every sense of the word, but also much more than that—a home at the crossroads that welcomes thousands of visitors annually and a home in the heart to which thousands of alumni remain connected.

People arrive in Washington with ambitions, with causes, with internships and congressional IDs, and many eventually move on, but within the walls of Kesher the fray of Washington stops. The titles don’t follow us through the door. The undergraduate sitting beside the senator, the first-year intern sharing a Shabbos table with a family that has been davening in this sanctuary for generations, all of it dissolves into a common purpose. A shared Shabbos. A room full of people who, whatever else they may be to the world outside, are simply members of the same family here.

In this parsha, Shelach, we see the power of place. The Jewish people’s rejection of the land was a tragedy in this week’s parsha because spiritually, not only what we do but also where we are matters. This was expressed beautifully by the many Kesherites who visited Kesher this past Shabbat. Let me quote just a few lines about the community from some of the Divrei Torah this past Shabbat:

“L’havdil, just like Matan Torah was the formative experience of creating a Jewish people, for many of us coming to Kesher in our youth was our formative experience in creating community. Much like the encampment at Har Sinai, many of us were only here for a relatively brief period of time…Many of us came here single, without friends. We found a community that was unique. Many of us met our spouses and got involved in a community that not only shaped our identities and the rest of our lives—both by creating families and making lifelong friends—but [also one] where everyone mattered and everyone worked together, regardless of age, regardless of our station in life and regardless of our belief systems within the Jewish faith. That is not always reproduced in other communities and should not be taken for granted…We encamped in this community, k’ish echad b’lev echad, like one person with one heart. And we have been blessed to keep that community and keep that in our heart.” —Saul Newman, Kesher alumnus (1989–1992)

“As an institution and a community that helps foster Torah study and observance of mitzvot, Kesher has outperformed many other synagogues…Kesher welcomed us where we were and provided us with inspiration, learning, and community, making it possible for our commitment to Torah and mitzvot to flourish and carrying us forward in our relationships with others, our careers, the establishment of families, and our contributions to and membership in other minyanim and synagogues in the DC area and beyond.” —M. Lindsay Kaplan, Kesher member since 1992

We should all be proud to be part of this storied shul. As a model for Modern Orthodoxy, Kesher has been an essential part of so many Jewish lives but I believe it has even more potential to actualize in helping the Jewish People have a positive impact on our country, our people and our world. Together may we go me‘chayil el chayil, from strength to strength.