We are all legos. Each of us unique in design, filled with color and infinite potential. One lego is cool. Two legos makes a combination. More and more legos, and you have a collection. A community.
Like a lego community, our congregation is a collection of individual parts, strong members that are all valuable, especially when working together. And the bond that forms when congregants collaborate (or lego parts are stuck together)? Truly inspiring.
Lego sets and Judaism both come with instructions, a prescribed order of operation with the intention of building something. But the magic of legos and congregational life is not simply in the following of instructions – it is using those guidelines to create something new, something different, something unique to your collection: your community.
On Mitzvah Day each year, Temple Beth El becomes Legoland. A collection of individuals comes together to work groups on impactful projects in our community. Months of planning culminates in a day that makes us proud, and makes our world better.
But what if we could keep playing? What if, instead of cleaning up and looking forward to next year’s big event, we could continue to build together? What if we realized that just because we have a massive lego party once a year doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan a series of smaller playdates as often as we can.
Being more active in our community through Tikkun Olam, greater attendance at services or participating in one of our incredible groups helps make us a stronger congregation. It makes us better Jews. It makes us Lego Masters.
It is really easy to lose sight of one lego part (though easy to find when walking around bare foot). Put legos together, though, and they’re more noticeable. More than that, two legos stuck together forms a bond that is often too hard to break. The same can be said about our congregants. Together we are stronger, better, more fun (and less likely to be stepped on.)
We are all lego parts. Full of life, full of fun, full of opportunity. We are intended to be with others.
And when we follow our instructions, yet also create our own universe through collaboration, then we find success. And, to quote the Lego Movie, “Everything is Awesome.”
Andy Siegel is a proud congregant at Temple Beth El, where he is a JewTuBE advisor, Shabbat Supper Club member and part of the most recent class of the Farber Leadership Development Program. His hobbies include spending time with family, playing with toys, and making analogies.
