Nitzavim-Vayeilech

By Debbie Lempert, WLCJ Convention Program Vice Chair, Leadership Institute Trainer, Consultant, and Hebrew Class Teacher

This week’s double Torah portion, Nitzavim-Vayeilech points out that we have free will to make our own choices. Of course, God prefers us to choose life over death and blessings over curses. 

Often my husband and I discuss the choices we have made in our individual lives. He regularly points to specific decisions that changed the course of his life. Looking back on my life, I don’t see as many. The decision to go out on the first date with my husband has led to 30 wonderful years of marriage. I had always planned on being a stay-at-home mom, which did alter my career path. But for most of my life, I saw a clear and straight path with few forks in the road.

Then came 2020. Like so many, when the world shut down, my life changed. Suddenly my two college-age children were back in my home. I was no longer teaching Sunday School. My daily busy schedule came to a halt. But my life took a sharp turn about this time. While Toby Holtzman and I had been doing a little bit of prep work on in-person tefillah services for the WLCJ 2020 Convention, we hadn’t started in-depth planning. Suddenly our focus was on helping to plan a short service for an online convention in Zoomberg. Next came an email about “Psalms,” a new program that Women’s League was instituting. Our women were going to gather on Zoom to learn a psalm, sing mi sheberakh to pray for those in need of healing, and say kaddish for those we were losing to COVID 19 and other illnesses.

Suddenly I was spending 30 minutes, six days a week with women from across North America and sometimes Israel. I knew a handful of the women online, but most were new to me. Little did I know that so many of us would become fast friends. When Toby and I were asked to become Tefillah co-chairs for “Psalms” which would later become Makom B’Yachad, I made a choice – I said YES! I got such joy from planning and executing special programs with Toby and others. My heart was full, while my in-person social calendar was empty.

This led to many other opportunities. Soon I joined a well-respected group of leaders as a Women’s League consultant. Next, I started teaching Hebrew fluency to some wonderful women. Most recently I was asked to co-lead the Leadership Institute, where I get to learn from the best teachers and spend in-depth time with women leaders. While I had been to a few WLCJ International Conventions and did a bit with Women’s League, during COVID I learned firsthand how our lay leaders and staff work together and connect with women around the world to provide vibrant programming.

I’m proud to say that I have friends and sisters across North America. I chose a volunteer life with WLCJ and I have truly gained so many blessings, including building leadership skills and new friendships. In this year to come, I hope you will choose to get further involved in Women’s League. Come make a new connection, learn something new and make a new friend.

Shabbat Shalom,
Debbie Lempert
WLCJ Convention Program Vice Chair, Leadership Institute Trainer, Consultant, and Hebrew Class Teacher
dlempert@wlcj.org