D'var Torah
Elul 5765-Tishrei
We
Read the Bible:
And It is Us
The Bible is the history of a family in search of a connection to God.
It is the story of older parents with younger children, blended
families, those who are divorced, physically and emotionally challenged,
the widow, orphan, special needs children, those with issues of
infertility, illness and disability, and sibling rivalry. The Bible
is personal biography and the signature of every individual is
sealed within it – when we read his or her story, we read
our own. In short, the accounts within the Bible are our stories
as much as theirs --- the Bible is biography and autobiography
--- our forebears’ attachments and quests are ours – as
individuals, families, as a congregation, a larger Jewish community
and the larger world in which we live.
And we are torn --- impelled
by the existential conflict – who
am I and what is my purpose here? The messages of the society in which
we are raised contradict one another. William Ernest Henly’s “Invictus” (1888)
with its now Timothy McVeigh overtones, “I am the master of my
fate, I am the captain of my soul,” impels us as does John Donne, “No
man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main; … any man’s death diminishes me, because
I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the
bell tolls; it tolls for thee (1624). American individualism conflicts
and contrasts with our Jewish tradition of community and collectivism – the
dialogue that comes from relationships, not the monologue that accompanies
autobiography.
A synagogue at its best recreates community and a larger sense of family.
And, as a family we know that while we may not always be in agreement,
and that we may be at odds with one another from time to time, we are
united by a basic social unit. The stories of the patriarchs and matriarchs
remind us of the complexity of human relationships and of the potential
for ascending great spiritual heights. The synagogue is the place where
we unite to share joys and sorrows with one another within our extended
family.
As within any family, there is the need for communication, respect, a
shared acceptance of the family structure, working together for shared
goals, and a recognition that our Greenburgh Hebrew Center family is
composed of older parents with younger children, blended families, those
who are divorced, physically and emotionally challenged, the widow, orphan,
special needs children, those with issues of infertility, illness and
disability, and sibling rivalry.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, A Letter in the Scroll (2000) A letter on its own
has no meaning, yet when the letters are joined to others they make a
word, words combine with others to make a sentence, sentences connect
to make a paragraph, and paragraphs join to make a story. That is how
the Baal Shem Tov understood life. Every Jew is a letter. Every Jewish
family is a word; every community a sentence, and the Jewish people at
any one time are a paragraph. The Jewish people are like a living Torah
scroll, and every individual Jew is a letter within it. If a single letter
is damaged or missing or incorrectly drawn, a Torah scroll is considered
invalid. So, too, in Judaism is every individual considered a crucial
part of the people, without whom the entire religion would suffer.
We at the Greenburgh Hebrew Center are a living Torah, joining together
to create a vibrant, dynamic, caring compassionate, celebratory community,
sharing our stories with one another within the exuberant diversity that
occurs within any large family – diverse, but united in the service
of God and of the Jewish people:
- Listening to another’s pain
- Anticipating another’s needs
- Providing shelter from life’s storms
- Clothing one another with the garments of kindness
- Welcoming others into our homes and celebrations
- Planning special moments
- Sharing rituals, creating an environment in which God is made welcome and praised
- Encouraging intimacy
- Feeding spiritual hungers
- Providing roots from which to grow and wings with which to fly
May the sweetness of the upcoming year flavor the year that soon will unfold before us.
Copyright © 2005, Barry A. Kenter