This choreographed performance at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games blew me away. 128 performers seated in wheelchairs moving in harmony. It is poetry in motion! -- Jake L., Las Vegas, NV

Maybe it's because my family has no talent whatsoever, but I feel awe when I get to be a little part of one of those amazing flash mobs at weddings. One person starts dancing, and it turns out that everyone is in on the secret and starts doing dance moves in sync with each other. The collective motion, the rhythm, the energy just makes me go, "Wow!" -- Rebecca V., Piscataway, NJ

I help facilitate a Mussar Book Study Small Group in the Neighborhood. We have roughly 15 people studying together, which includes sharing personal experiences working on our soul traits with a goal of awareness, refinement and growth. There is shared trust, honesty, openness and willingness in the room and we elevate one another by showing up for each other notwithstanding our human imperfection. Our common desire to show up in life as our best selves binds us. I feel collective effervescence from the group and am awed by the deep connections that have been fostered among near strangers who do this work together as a virtual community. -- Alison L., Atlanta, GA

For the past 10 months, my wife and I have been traveling the World. 41 countries, 93 cities and then 3 months of U.S. travel in 11 states.  Our ancestors left Egypt for the Promised Land, traveled for 40 years making 42 stops along the way, each time setting up a Mishkan. At each stop, they met strangers, ran into challenges, learned lessons, prayed, and became a stronger People. One lesson was that we were always destined to travel, whether it was by choice or force.  We learned how to build Community whereever we went. In addition to both Passover Haggadag and the story of Jonah read every High Holiday, many of our Torah portions speak of our Journey (Masei, Terumah, Bamidbar, Vayigah, R’eih and my favorite Lech Lecha). The Collective Effervescence that appears each time is magical. 

The Jewish Community is the brought together in the Mishkan, whether it is the beautiful building at 652 Lexington Avenue, or the ZOOM Screen that many of us visit multiple times per week. In the past 10 months our Mishkan was everything from a 165 sq’ cabin, friend’s homes, a beautiful hotel room, a motel occupied by transients, and the library on our ship. 

The moments of Awe that we experienced in our Mishkan while traveling Around the World (ATW), inspired many others to join in. First Friday night of the ATW, a handful of Jews met in the Library of our small, beautiful ship. We lit candles, experienced Services together, I gave a drash, we drank wine, ate Challah and sang songs … and then we went to Shabbat dinner. Before we knew it, the group grew and weekly we found magic in this room, surrounded by hundreds of incredible books about the World. We celebrated holidays together here, I even attended Church and Bible Study, gave  two “homilies” and our non-Jewish friends subsequently came to our Friday Mishkan in the Library.  

When we got too big and a Cruise Director, meaning well, determined we should move to the “showroom”, a much bigger venue, there were some “outspoken” regular attendees of our Mishkan, that represented us and spoke out and against us moving. We had built this very special place, a place where we felt connected to each other and God, where we came as indivduals and left as one connected group, a collective effervescence that maybe could not be recreated in a different, bigger venue. Maybe it was the energy we found when we entered that same intimate library set up for us each week, maybe it was the warmth of the familiar seating, maybe it was the place on the ship where we were once again “one” while the view outside the vast window showed us as a group we had moved to another part of the world. The magic of this place could not be recreated elsewhere, collective effervescence. -- Bruce W., California