As Jews we live in cyclical time. We read the Torah every Shabbat in the course of a year and instead of starting a new book when the next year rolls around, we make a big deal of ending the last chapter of the Torah and then immediately beginning again. So here we are, beginning anew with Genesis/Beresheit. 

We have the 6 days of creation and the 7^th day of rest, Shabbat. We learn that human beings were created towards the end of the 6^th day - therefore EVERYTHING was created before we were. It is true that Adam, and therefore all of humankind, were given the charge to be stewards over the earth and all that lives, breathes, grows upon it. (We can discuss at a later time whether or not we are doing a good job at that.) But what a lesson, what a realization that even the smallest of creepy crawly insects and garden weeds were here on the earth before we were. It should make us think, keep us humble – but as we are human, we are not always the best at doing what we know is right.  

Take Adam and Eve for example. The first humans. They are on the earth for maybe a New York minute before they break the only rule given to them and eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  They had reason for doing so – Eve listened to the “still, small voice” that we talk about on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur: “The great Shofar is sounded and a still, small voice is heard.” But what is that still, small voice? God? Our conscience? The voice of the universe? Or… the snake in the Garden of Eden?  A voice that is pleasant and sounds reasonable but really isn’t. 

The Sages of Old might call it our Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination. However, that doesn’t work well because sometimes the still, small voice actually gives good advice if we are smart enough to listen to it. It’s when the advice leads us onto the path that we should not travel that we get into trouble. As did Eve when she listened to the snake and ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. As did Adam when he allowed himself to be persuaded to also eat of the fruit.

The kicker is what they did after God confronted them about their actions. They didn’t accept responsibility but passed the blame. Eve blamed the snake and Adam blamed Eve (the snake remained silent). Neither stood up and said, “Hey God, I listened to the wrong voice and did something I shouldn’t have. I apologize and I’ll do better next time.”

What is our lesson in all of this? We need to pay attention to the still, small voices within and around us. We need to make good choices, or at least the best ones that we can. Finally, we need to own up to our errors because the consequences of our actions can have ramifications on more than just ourselves. 

Take a few minutes and read the text of this week's Torah portion, Genesis 1-6:8.  Genesis is a book of amazingly interesting stories that just happen to have lessons, both positive and negative, within them. 

A final note: A year ago this Sunday, October 27, 2018 an event occurred which, for many American Jews, changed their – our- thinking about what it means to be Jewish in America. 

Eleven people were shot and killed because they were Jewish at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. It is our responsibility to remember them, not only because of who they were but because their deaths changed the way we American Jews see ourselves. This link takes you to an article containing some prayers that were written on Hanukah last year, just after the end of Shloshim (the first 30 days of mourning) ended. Please take a moment to read them, to perhaps add your own to them and then, as my colleague Alden Solovy writes, “May these prayers be heard in the highest heavens, for the Jews of Pittsburgh, for the Jewish community worldwide, and for all the nations of the earth.”   https://www.ritualwell.org/blog/12-one-line-prayers-pittsburgh-jews

Shabbat Shalom, 

Rabbah Arlene

YK Sermon: God Friended Me - a talk of kindness and community

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GOD FRIENDED ME  ~  YOM KIPPUR 5780

            There is a television show that I’ve become quite interested in over the past two years. It is called God Friended Me – one of those shows with the feel good at the end of each episode type of vibe with a lesson within.

            In God Friended Me, the main character Miles, receives a Facebook friend suggestion from “God.” Prime Video describes the show as one where: “Questions of faith, existence and science are explored in this humorous, uplifting drama about an outspoken atheist whose life is turned upside down when he is “friended” by God on Facebook. Unwittingly, he becomes an agent of change in the lives and destinies of others around him.” The episodes highlight the best and sometimes, but not often, the worst of human nature. There is a theme of the challenge to live an authentic life with kindness and caring to family, friends and strangers that interests and soothes me …  and brings me back week after week.

            The show speaks to me, because this past spring, God friended me.

Many of you are aware that back in May my husband, daughter and I were in a very serious accident while we were on our way to say our final good-byes to my mother in Rhode Island. We were on I-95N in Connecticut when a truck hit us, causing us to spin out, cross 3 lanes of highway and hit the Jersey Wall head on. We then bounced off and ended up perpendicular across the left two lanes of highway. It is truly a miracle that we are alive.

            So how did God friend me or rather us? First off, we made it across the highway w/o being hit again. Then, as were we sitting there in the aftermath of the crash – the 3 of us in various states of injury and shock – two truckers decided to block off the lanes we were in so no one could hit us (there had been at least one near miss that I’m aware of). Then they got out of their trucks and came over to help us and stayed with us until the EMTs arrived. Truly the kindness of strangers. Even more so because truckers are only paid when they are moving and delivering their cargo on time. These two men lost parnassa, or wages, in order to help my family.

            God also friended us by showering us with kindness – the kindness of family, friends, complete strangers, people we’d only met on FB but never spoken to in person, parents of our children’s friends. A friend called the local Chabad. The Chabad Rebbetzin made us the most amazing Shabbat dinner while my daughter was in ICU and the rest of us, including Alex and Madeline, hung around in the ICU b/c we were afraid to go too far. This Rebbetzin not only made us enough food to last for days but also volunteered her husband, the Chabad Rebbe, to go out and do errands for me. Did I need make-up, she asked, or deodorant? You should consider us your family while you are here in the hospital. Whatever you need, just ask. Wonderful woman.

            We did not get to RI to say our final goodbyes to my mother. We did talk to her on the phone but we don’t really know what she did nor did not hear. The accident took place early Thursday morning – 3:30am. My mother died on Shabbat, around 12:15 am Saturday morning. I was to conduct the funeral but a friend, a rabbi in RI, received permission to officiate at the funeral even though none of us were members at her shul. She provided a caring and loving presence throughout. Another dear friend opened up her home to us after the funeral. And members of Temple Emanuel in Providence, RI were able to support me as I led evening services that first night of shiva and said Kaddish for my mother in the synagogue that we both grew up in.

            The support continued. A friend from Silver Spring drove up to stay with our daughter who was scheduled to have surgery as we went to the funeral. The new rabbi of our synagogue here in Rockville sent us food. Friends and colleagues from all over the world called, texted and face-timed us to see how we were and did we need anything. My rabbinic mentor and friend called me every day whether I needed to talk or not.  A rabbinical colleague I had never met had been away when the news came out about our accident. As soon as she got home she hopped in her car and drove a distance to the hospital in CT to see if we needed anything. She brought Chai for my daughter and she “rabbi’d” the Rabbah – something I dearly needed. The hospital staff went out of their way for us when they realized what we’d been through, that 2 of 3 family members were in their care. Even the man at the rental car agency “friended us” as he upgraded our rental car (at no extra cost) from a mid-size car to an SUV so that we would be safe on our drive home to MD.

            When we got home to MD the kindness continued with food, gifts, visits etc. It was brought home to us in a very real way what it means to be part of a community as people from all the various communities of which we are a part stepped in to care for us. Special thanks to Tikvat Israel Congregation, the Olney Kehila, Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School and so many others for providing all types of sustenance (including food) and my new congregation the Fauquier Jewish Congregation for the prayers and the tree planting in my Mother’s name. 

            After services at the synagogue in Providence I walked around the main sanctuary and read the many memorial plaques on the walls. There in that room were generations of my family - grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. I was surrounded and held by the memories and the souls of all the loved ones who went before me. It wasn’t my time to join them, Thank God, but it was my time to be comforted by their memories and to remember what they taught me about family and community. About living and loving. About caring for myself but also caring for others.

            God friended me and my family that last week in May. And I will never forget it. I will “friend” others in chesed, in kindness, in remembrance of the kindness that I received from friends and strangers alike. I will take my experiences and the teachings I received from my departed loved ones who surrounded me on the walls of the sanctuary, and I will friend others in turn.

              Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel put it this way, “When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.” Kind people, like those wonderful truckers who perhaps also saved our lives on the highway that night. While we were able to express our gratitude to them, we never learned their names in order to thank them properly. The best I will be able to do is hold those two men in my prayers and pay it forward. So that’s what I will do. I will pay forward the kindness shown to my family during our time of need by being there to help others when they need it.

            I’ve always believed that the way God manifests here on earth is through the actions of each and every person. Godliness manifests when we do a kind action, when we make a difference in someone’s life, when we remember that we were once strangers and therefore do our best to help the stranger, the immigrant, the poor, the sick. 

            All the people who supported us during this troubling time were shining examples of God’s influence in our lives. I could have felt totally bereft after the accident and my mother’s death – in truth, for a while I did. One thing that pulled me out was the realization that we are not alone, that God was with us through all the people who appeared for us. In that vein, the change I want to see coming out of this High Holy Day season is that each of us become the change we want to see in the world.     

   

            God Friended me. How are you going to friend someone? We are taught that the idea behind Yizkor is to pay the chesed, the kindness forward. We pledge to do mitzvot and gemilut chesed/acts of loving kindness in the names of those we loved and learned from.  How will you honor the memories and the life lessons of those who came before you?

            As we enter into this new year of 5780, I leave you with this task. Each morning, as you wake up, ask yourself - 

Who can I friend today?