Shavua tov to all!!
I cannot even remember what day of ‘confinement’ this is but I think I’m into week 3 already. I do go out to the market once a week or so and I did visit with Sue at TAS last week very briefly and from a distance. But for the most part I’m sitting inside my apartment watching TV, preparing for services or writing papers or my special words to share with all of you. I have also received calls from community members who want or need to discuss something with me. Please know that I am always available to all of you would need or want to talk…my cell number is (818)388-5580 and my email is rrresnick@aol.com.
I think that I can speak for all of us and say that I never, ever would’ve imagined something like this happening to any city or state or country…but to effect so many people around the world at the same time?
NEVER!!
And yet, we can see on TV and in our own community how we respond in positive ways, using our new technology to bring us together in ways that we could never have imagined 5 or 10 years ago. This past Friday night we celebrated Shabbat with Cantor Mike’s beautiful singing and playing and over 40 people joined us in welcoming Shabbat into our homes. And on Shabbat morning we again had almost 30 people join us in song and prayer and discussion. On Sunday morning, Rabbi Avivah and I welcomed students into the Miller Introduction to Judaism class on Zoom and it was wonderful.
Hopefully, this experience will end in another month, hopefully. We will be able to look back and see how this time, while being very challenging on some levels, helped us to see the many things that we can be grateful for in our lives. People and places and experiences that we have grown so used to that we don’t always appreciate the important place in our lives that they fulfill….which brings me to this week’s Torah portion, Tzav.
I’ll admit that Leviticus, Va-Yikra, is not my favorite of the 5 books of the Torah. It is so detail specific about the sacrifices that are to made. Not just the ones that we read about for the holidays, but the two daily ones and all of the special ones that the priests had to make for their installation and on and on…any yet, much like the trying times we are going through, there are some very important “sacrifices” that are described that apply to this day.
For instance, in Chapter 7 verse 12 we are told, “If he offers it for thanksgiving (todah), he shall offer it together with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes with oil mixed in…” The Rabbis understood this to mean that any person who had survived a disaster would bring such a sacrifice. Having escaped a disaster produces one of the most profound emotional responses that we will ever know. And so, the Talmud lists those experiences for us…”when one had completed a dangerous journey, recovered from an illness, been released from confinement, or survived other dangers.” Do those sound familiar?
And so, just as the Rabbis had to re-model Judaism after the destruction of the 2nd Temple in the year 70 CE, from a religion of Temple, priest and sacrifice, to a religion of Synagogue, Rabbi and prayer, we now have a prayer that we say after we have safely made it through an illness or other difficult situations. It is the prayer of Gomel, thanksgiving. It is said by the person who has successfully returned from a trip or has made it through a trying time or illness. It is added after the person finishes the blessing after the Torah reading and it says, “Baruch ata adonay eloheynu melech ha-olam, ha-gomel l’chayavim tovot she-g’malani kol tov.” “Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who bestows good beyond our deserving, and who has dealt graciously with me.” But that is not the conclusion…this b’racha, blessing, is said in front of the entire community on Shabbat morning or whenever the Torah is read, and so the entire community responds with the words, “mi she-gamalcha kol tov, hu yigmalcha kol tov selah.” “May God who has bestowed every kindness upon you in the past, ever bestow kindness upon you in the future.” AMEN
I look forward to the Shabbat in the future when we can all come together and recite this beautiful b’racha, blessing, together. Until then, let’s be strong together and care for each other and be in touch with other and pray together on Zoom with each other and continue to say the empowering words, chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek…be strong, be strengthened and let us be strong TOGETHER!! Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Ralph