2000 people rise and leave the room. Maurice Cohen says to himself,"I do not know this language but what have I got to lose if I stay? I'll give it a try."

Bill Gates asks all the candidates who have never had experience of team management of more than 100 people to leave. 2000 people exit the room. Maurice Cohen says to himself,"I have never managed anybody but myself but what have I got to lose if I stay?" So he stays.

Then Bill Gates asks all the candidates who do not have degrees from Ivy League schools to leave. 500 people get up and leave the room. Maurice Cohen says to himself,"I left school at 15 but what have I got to lose if I stay?" So he stays in the room.

Lastly, Bill Gates asks all of the candidates who do not speak Croatian to leave. 498 people exit the room. Maurice Cohen says to himself,"I do not speak Croatian but have I got anything to lose?" So he stays in the room.

He finds himself alone with one other candidate -- everyone else has gone.

Bill Gates joins them and says,"Apparently you are the only two candidates who speak Croatian, so I'd now like to hear you both have a little conversation in that language."

Calmly Maurice turns to the other candidate and says to him:"Shema Israel." The other candidate answers,"Adonai elohaynu adonai echad..."

This joke works because everyone knows Shema Yisrael, and almost everyone knows that the response to Shema Yisrael is"Adonai elohaynu adonai echad..."

Without a doubt, knowing what Shema Yisrael means and what it proclaims, is essential to any practice of Judaism.

Shema Yisrael is so essential and so important, that even our children learn it at the earliest age. Any skilled rabbi or cantor knows, when there is a lull in the service, all he or she needs to do, is quickly turn the page to Shema Yisrael, start to chant those words, and voices will resound throughout the sanctuary.

Much of this sermon will be my attempt to convince all of us how important it is to go beyond Shema Yisrael. Shema Yisrael is essential, but it's not enough for the adult, sophisticated, learning, striving Jew.

We start at Shema Yisrael, and without it, we can't go any further, but by itself, it might not take us far enough, as individuals, and certainly not as a people.

Let me share with you the true incident that really prompts this sermon. Let me tell you about a very brief conversation that took place, almost a year and a half ago, right here in Annapolis, right near the shul.

During our search for a home in the Annapolis area we encountered many different people along the way. One day Sharon and I met a woman and in the course of the conversation I disclosed that I was moving to Annapolis to become the new rabbi at Congregation Kol Shalom.

In reaction this woman responded. I'm Jewish too. And both Sharon and I then invited her to consider joining the shul.

Then all she said was, "Oh, no, I don't need to do that. My children are grown."

From her perspective, I imagine that her words were innocent enough, but from my perspective, they were startling, although I should have known better!

I didn't pursue the conversation after that. The context of our meeting was not a prospective member service.

Yet, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her, and feel sorry for Judaism.

I felt sorry for her because obviously, she never allowed, or perhaps was never given the opportunity to allow, her Judaism to move beyond childhood levels. I felt sorry for her if she thought the synagogue would only be meaningful to children, or to adults who had children to shlep to shul.

I felt sorry for Judaism, because at least synaoguge Judaism was not benefitting from this woman's talents and possible contributions.

Here was another unaffiliated Jew who was very eager to share her identification with the Jewish people,

and very reticent to share her life as an adult with what still has to be considered the most essential institution of American Judaism,

the shul, the synagogue.

I believe she was saying that what happens in shul" that's good for kids, that's kid stuff" that's not something that appeals to me, as an adult with kids who are grown and out of the house.

Now I know, that for me, and for many of you, her response is not accurate. But for her, perception is reality, and that perception is the reality for far too many Jews in our community and throughout our nation.

We have a very wonderful religious school and Sue Westenburger is a very talented, committed Education Director. I like the spirit in the school and I'm proud to be associated with it.

Our children are receiving a very fine basic Jewish education and they are experiencing the cycle of the Jewish year, here at our synagogue. The synagogue is to be commended for subsidizing much of the cost of our religious school. That is what we should do with our money, first and foremost, educate our children.

But you know, our children are not stupid. As a matter of fact, they're all geniuses, each and every one. Just ask their mothers and fathers, or better yet, ask their grandparents.

And they know what they see and what happens to adult Jewish involvement, after they are no longer enrolled in Hebrew school.

They begin to internalize what they see, and they say to themselves, "I don't need this anymore" because I am now grown."

They might be right.

Judaism has to appeal not only to children, but also to mature, sophisticated, challenged adults, who want to use Judaism to provide more meaning in their lives. Judaism has to be enriching, enlightening, mind and spirit expanding, oriented toward serious adults, otherwise it will become outgrown as we get older.

There is a wonderful midrash which addresses this point. Let me share it with you. It is based on a verse in Deuteronomy, chapter 8 verse 4. The context is when Moses reviews the history of the Israelites' travels in the wilderness for 40 years, just prior to their entering the Promised Land.

I'll start with Deutoronomy chapter 8 verse 3: Moses is speaking. "G-d subjected you to the hardship of hunger and then gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers have ever known, in order to teach you that man does not live on bread alone, but that man may live on anything that the Lord decrees." And now verse 4: "The clothes upon you did not wear out, nor did your feet swell these 40 years."

How could that be? How could the clothes that the Israelites wore for 40 years not wear out?

I know people, some of them very close to me, for whom clothes do not last four weeks, let alone 40 years. I rarely buy new clothes, but every 40 years, yes, my wardrobe needs to change.

So how could it be that the clothes the Israelites wore during the 40 years of the wilderness did not wear out.

Obviously, this was a challenging question to our sages as well, and so there is a non-literal, or midrashic, explanation, which is quoted in the Eitz Hayim Torah commentary we use on Shabbat:

"The clothes upon you did not wear out."

This is to mean that, "The faith you practiced every day never wore out nor did you outgrow it, while the faith you took out only on special occasion shrank and became too small for you.

Similarly, your children's religious outlook grew with them as they grew and matured."

In Judaism, we wear our faith, figuratively and literally. We wear tallitot, with the fringes representing the mitzvot" the commandments literally, on our backs, like the shirt on our back.

And we wear the tefillin, not so much on our sleeve, but under our sleeve, and on our arms, and between our eyes, to represent how we act, our commitment to act as Jews, to think as Jews, and near our heart, to represent the Jewish spirit.

I may have outgrown my bar mitzvah tallit. It literally no longer fits, and spiritually it no longer fits. But I have found new ones to take its place. What I wear now looks similar,

but it has grown in size and spirit along with me.

My friend, Larry Fishbein, publisher of the Washington Jewish Week, has written this sentence in formulating a message to accompany a tallit that is presented to a bar/bat mitzvah:

In your growth from being a child to becoming the fine young man you are today, you have outgrown many things in your life. However, this Tallit, that we give you today, can never be outgrown. It can only be grown in to.

You know what in my opinion is the most beautiful siddur?

The one that's all worn out.

The one whose pages have been tainted by the fingerprints placed upon it.

Sure, you can outgrow Judaism, but it also can grow along with you and help you grow along the way.

Bob Slaff - 86 years old - shared with me this past year one of the most treasured comments from all my rabbinic experience.

Bob now attends Shabbat morning services regularly. One day, at Shabbat lunch here at the shul, not too long ago, Bob and I were talking and he said to me, "You know, I really have learned to appreciate Shabbat over the last several months."

I don't know if he intended it as a compliment. I took it as such. But I also took it as a lesson that it's never too late to have your Judaism grow along with you. It's never too late for Judaism to be important and holy beyond what it provides to your children when they are small.

If you use your Judaism, it will grow with you.

The faith you practice every day will not wear out, nor will you outgrow it. However, the faith you take out only on special occasions will shrink and might become too small for you.

And of course, the concern today is that it might disappear altogether.

At least, that's the concern I and others have when it comes to what is today commonly referred to as "cultural Judaism."

Let me illustrate an example of cultural Judaism by referring to a 2003 interview with recently elected US senator Al Franken.

The question was, "How much does Judaism figure into your daily experience?"

Here is part of Al Franken's response" "We don't belong to a shul, and my kids have really been raised with no formal religious education, but they definitely consider themselves culturally Jewish.

My wife's not Jewish " every year, we have a Chanukah dinner, and she makes the best latkes and "the best brisket on the upper west side. But my kids definitely consider themselves Jewish, have very Jewish senses of humor, and went to a high school that was 2/3 Jewish."

In two short paragraphs, Al Franken twice refers to his children considering themselves as either "Jewish," or "culturally Jewish."

How did that happen -- by eating Jewish foods, latkes & briskets, having very Jewish senses of humor and going to a high school with a predominantly Jewish population?

Remember, the question from the interviewer was,"how much does Judaism figure into your daily experience?"

In my opinion, Al Franken's response reflects virtually nothing about Judaism - Jewishness, yes, to a limited extent, but not Judaism.

In this way, Al Franken is not exceptional. Cultural Judaism, or as I would say Cultural Jewishness, is actually a trend.

The 2008 American Jewish Identification Survey, which is part of a broader survey of U.S. religious identification, demonstrates that non-religious or cultural Judaism is on the rise.

"Where just 20 percent of Jewish adults"about 1.2 million people" described themselves as non-religious, or cultural Jews 19 years ago" that total has now risen to about 35 percent or 1.88 million people.

Now that sounds like bad news, and in many ways it is, but it's not all bad. After all, many people might decide to disassociate from even the cultural aspects of Jewishness.

But rather, that is the part they prefer, which in turn teaches me that Jews do want to find meaningful connections in their lives as Jews.

If I read between the lines of Al Franken's response, it sounds to me that we can hear a desire to proclaim that his children clearly identify themselves as Jews. That's what it sounds like he wants to tell the interviewer. To me, it sounds like he's stretching.

And, to me also, it's not very much, because, it sounds like he hasn't given them very much"

no formal religious education,

and, no model of how an adult practices Judaism.

Unfortunately, from my perspective and I think for them, Judaism, the religion, doesn't provide a meaningful enough connection for too many people.

I know it can, if it's presented properly, sensitively, and in an inviting, non-demanding, welcoming, but challenging context to all of our congregants, from the very youngest to our senior citizens.

We are very seriously discussing and planning the opening of a synagogue pre-school.

That would be wonderful.

It would bring vitality, joy and happiness to the synagogue on a daily basis.

We will teach our youngest children how to learn to love Judaism, and they will. And it will be spectacular.

We also must make the synagogue a meaningful and holy place for Jewish adults or our children will abandon the synagogue when they mature and grow older.

If the synagogue in which they grew up didn't provide enduring attraction to their aging parents, they will come to expect nothing more from the shul to which they will perhaps send their own children.

Most synagogue programming, education and even services are centered on children. The theory is, if you can attract the children, parents have to bring them. We know that works, to a certain extent.

But synagogue programming, education and services can not neglect adults, especially those who are otherwise on the margins of our community. Having a preschool in such an environment will demonstrate to our very youngest children that the synagogue is the center of Judaism for all Jews, male and female, young and old.

I want all our children to see adults who come to shul not only because it is obligatory and that is very important -- but also because the service is spiritually moving and truly the highlight of the week.

We live in an age, an environment, a society where we are bombarded by appeals for our time, our money, and our commitment.

The notion that a synagogue will automatically have top priority in the life of an adult Jew disappeared generations ago.

Judaism must step up to the plate and provide meaning, significance and holiness in the lives of Jews, children and adults alike.

Let me conclude where I started --with the Shema.

V'hayu Hadevarim Ha-eleh -And these words which I command you this day

V'shinantem L'vanecha - you shall teach them to your children"

Where?

B'shivtecha b'vaytecha, u'v'lechtecha baderech"

when you sit at home or when you are on the way" meaning

when you are home, or away from home"

in other words, everywhere.

B'shuchb'cha uv'kumecha"

when you lie down and when you rise up,

when you end your day and when you begin your day,

in other words, all day, everyday, as much as possible.

Obviously, these words indicate that Judaism has to be modeled by adults to children. That is the way we teach them, from their earliest days throughout their whole lives.

It is our obligation to raise our children to be Jewish children and to give them every opportunity to allow them to grow into Jewish adults.

In my opinion, and in my now vast experience, it's never too late to make that happen.

If we continue to nurture and nourish the Judaism of our childhood, it will never become worn out, no matter how long we take to go through the wilderness.

We will never outgrow it, and there is always much more to learn" ask Bob Slaff.

Shana Tova U'Metuka" a good and sweet year.