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Rabbi Shlomo Porter shows a visitor two versions of the same clock he has in his office. Both clock faces are on a printed painting of a pious Jew poring over scholarly texts. One of the clocks, however, is soiled by the remnants of black soot from a fire. The other is bright, shiny and new.
One clock is stopped in time, the other is ticking away.
Remember this comparison.
For Rabbi Porter and the Etz Chaim Center for Jewish Studies, the fire that burned down the organization's Fords Lane building in Upper Park Heights in February 2002 might have actually replenished the energy of its director and the outreach group itself.
For more than 25 years the central address of Jewish outreach in this town, Etz Chaim had, by Rabbi Porter's own admission, stalled. It had failed to reinvent itself, choosing instead to keep going back to a model that worked so well in the 1980s and 1990s.
That model largely had an overworked Rabbi Porter taking on class after class, kashering untold numbers of homes. The model also stretched him thin to a degree. There was always another student's question he'd gladly answer, another personal hurt from another student he'd try to heal.
He and his organization were tiring.
Like the clock, everything in a certain way stopped after the fire. Truth be told, it was sputtering prior to the incident.
"I knew Etz Chaim needed a change," said Rabbi Porter. "It was stuck in a certain image and routine that had worked well for over 25 years. Also, I was stuck, and our potential was not being realized.
"Plus," he continued, "I wasn't happy. Etz Chaim needed a change."
Rabbi Porter said that the accidental electrical fire enabled him to look at Etz Chaim and start it over from scratch.
"I was sad after the fire for about two months," he said. "But then, I thought, `There's an opportunity.' The building burned, and I was burned out. I needed time.... I had been going for 21 years straight."
Rabbi Porter, 57, then took a sabbatical of sorts, turning the teaching to others, and instead worked almost solely on raising...