Still under construction

What if the dust and scaffolding in your life aren’t signs that something is broken, but rather signs that something is being built?

A few weeks ago in Tel Aviv, Dimitry paused in the middle of a construction zone — cranes overhead, sidewalks rerouted, the steady hum of change all around — and recorded a short reflection we’re sharing with you here. His message was simple: it’s good to be under construction.

Cities are under construction. The Jewish people are under construction. Each of us, always, is under construction.

There’s a temptation to wait until we feel “ready.” More knowledgeable. More certain. More put together. But community doesn’t ask us to arrive finished. It asks us to arrive as we are — mid-renovation, still forming, still learning. Tzibur Harlem itself has never been a polished product. It has always been about building: beam by beam, relationship by relationship, Shabbat by Shabbat. 

Community, at its best, is the scaffolding that holds us steady while we grow. It’s the place where we can try on new language, new practices, new parts of ourselves — and know we won’t collapse if they don’t fit perfectly the first time. It’s the steady hum of people showing up for one another while we’re all mid-renovation.