Here is an excerpt from Rabbi Steve Booth's Rosh Hashanah sermon from this year. Download the complete sermon.
A couple summers ago, I was sailing a large rented sailboat on Lake Dillon with Rabbi Soloway from Boulder. I was thrilled to discover he was as experienced and skilled a sailor as I, as he grew up ocean racing in England. It was just the two of us, a somewhat blustery late spring day, but we were doing fine. As the wind slowly built up however, I was steering, and I said: “Marc, I know its a pain, but if we reefed the main down a bit, it would be easier to steer and we’d have more control.” He agreed, and we did it.
As he finished with the sail and looked back to me from the deck, as we both started to nod that yes, this was better, ....BOOM! -- ....we heard something pop.... and with a sick feeling, looked up, and watched in slow motion as the mast broke, and the sails and all the rigging simply blew off the boat! We were dead in the water, dragging our sails and rigging. (Sound at all like anyone’s life this year?)
Good thing we were two rabbis... better yet... good thing we were two experienced sailors. Marc quickly started to haul in the sails and rigging, while I tried to start the outboard motor. Interestingly, neither of us was getting anywhere. So silently, as a team, we switched positions. As I was hauling in the rigging, I noticed that the wind was slowly blowing us towards a rocky shore. Not good. I thought, “you know... this stuff makes a good anchor,” and I dropped everything back in the water.
The short version of the story is that Marc got the engine started and I hauled in the cold, wet rigging. We kept our heads, worked as a team, and to the shock of the folks at the Dillion Marina, on our own we brought the boat, sails, and all the rigging back safely to dock. We did this by not fighting the changes, but by adjusting to them. We worked together and stayed on course.
Rabbi Stephen Booth-Nadav leads B'nai Havurah in Denver, Colorado.
