Friday, August 23, 2019

Ekev: Singing our Own Individual Songs



When I am not working as the Rabbi of Fauquier Jewish Congregation (FJC),  I spend the majority of my time as a Chaplain who specializes in pastoral care with the elderly and their families.  I am privileged to spend my time around our elders who graciously share with me their life stories – their sorrows and joys;  their hopes, dreams, fears and regrets; their wisdom and yes, even their pettiness. From each encounter I come away enriched, having learned something about how to live, or not live, a life. All valuable lessons freely shared. These are their life stories. These are their legacies.

In this week’s parsha, Eikev, we find the verse, “man does not live on bread alone, but that man may live on anything that God decrees.” (8:3) This verse speaks out strongly to me, loudly affirming that we all have souls as well as bodies.  And if we neglect these souls, our spiritual sides, these sparks of life and uniqueness within each of us, then we do so at our own peril. For it is not only bread – food and other material things that nourish and keep us alive – it is our inner selves that sustain us even when we get to the point when the outer world and all its trappings no longer seem as important. We cannot control where our bodies will take us. As individuals, we cannot control the economic condition of the world or the ecological state of the planet. We can, however, control our inner lives, our faith and our spirituality.


I’d like to share a beautiful piece of poetry by Rabindranath Tagore, the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.
            “I have spent many days stringing and unstringing my instrument 
             while the song I came to sing remains unsung.”

Most of us spend our lives rushing and doing and planning – stringing and unstringing our instruments. It is only when we take the time and listen to the words of Torah, when we remember that there is a power greater than ourselves out there, when we admit that we cannot control everything, that we will remember to take time to sing our own individual songs and truly live our lives. Then we will reach the Promised Land.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbah Arlene


Friday, August 16, 2019

It's OK to yell at the Awesome One!



This week’s Torah portion, Va’etchanan (Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11) begins with the following words - I beseeched G‑d at that time (Deut 3:23). The use of the word “beseeched/va’etchanan” intrigued the sages of old. They took this word at face value as one example of how to interact with God and expanded upon it. 

A midrashic commentary on this verse expands our understanding of prayer:
“Prayer is called by [thirteen] names: cry, howl, groan, stricture, song, prostration, encounter, judgment, entreatystandingappeal and beseeching. 

[These synonyms for prayer are derived from: Exodus 2:23–24, Jeremiah 7:16Psalms 18:6Deuteronomy 9:25Psalms 106:30,  Deuteronomy 3:23Genesis 25:21Psalms 106:30 and Exodus 32:11.]”  
Source: Midrash Rabbah and Sifri - two collections of midrashim on the Torah

Thus, there are many ways to communicate with God. We are not bound by the words of the prayer book nor are we bound by time or place.  We are not bound to politeness or even political correctness. God created us in her image and knows what is in our hearts and souls. A relationship such as ours with our Creator is strong enough to take our hurt, disappointment, fervor and yes, even or especially our anger.

Next time you feel … something, and want to communicate it to God – go for it! The V’Ahavta prayer says that we love God with all our hearts, souls and our “allness” (m’o’decha). Take advantage of this ancient relationship and integrate it into your lives. Pray, sing, chant, scream, beseech, dance, meditate, drum… God, and the universe, will hear you and we all will be better for it.  This Shabbat is Shabbat Nachamu. 

Shabbat Nachamu ("Sabbath of comfort/ing) takes its name from the haftarah from Isaiah in the Book of Isaiah 40:1-26 that speaks of "comforting" the Jewish people for their suffering. It the first of seven haftarahs of consolation leading up to the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. (wikipedia)

 
Today is also Tu B'Av, a day of love in our tradition - think a Jewish Valentine's Day w/o the saint. Tu stands for 15 in Hebrew, Av is the Hebrew month that we are in. Learn more about it at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_B'Av

So Happy Tu B’Av, may your day be filled with baseless and endless love to counteract the baseless hatred that we mourned last week on Tisha B'Av.

Shabbat Shalom