Dancing in the Rain

Do you see what I see? A couple of years ago I spent quite a while photographing raindrops bouncing off the windowsill by my desk. This pic is a bit grainy, I know, but I am convinced that the mass of drops in the middle looks like a person in a skirt twirling around. It looks to me like they are dancing. 

With all good wishes for a joyous Shabbat.

 

Parshat Naso & the Census of the Merarites

Photo: Ariel J Friedlander

Struck by a thought this morning as L & I looked at the Torah portion. Earlier, with our chavurah, we'd looked at the juicy section containing the Priestly Benediction (Numbers 6:22-27). We had a lovely discussion about the meaning of blessings - who gives them, what is being given, and what they represent. Afterwards, L & I went back to the beginning of the portion and read:

29. As for the Merarites, you shall record them by the clans of their ancestral house; 

30. you shall record them from the age of thirty years up to the age of fifty, all who are subject to service in the performance of the duties for the Tent of Meeting. 

31. These are their porterage tasks in connection with their various duties for the Tent of Meeting: the planks, the bars, the posts, and the sockets of the Tabernacle;

32. the posts around the enclosure and their sockets, pegs, and cords - all these furnishings and their service:  you shall list by name the objects that are their porterage tasks. (Num. 4)

I said that I'd always had a problem with pieces like this - what possible connection did I have with a list of priestly duties for the Tabernacle? There are no more priests. There is no more Temple. What meaning could there be for someone like me in a sentence discussing who carries planks or posts or  pegs? In the desert?

Then I said, well, I suppose I can understand a system where everyone has a particular role in the community - something specific and personal, but that also is part of the community ethos. In this text it is expressed through a description of priestly duties. Maybe I can extrapolate from that the concept that this is still part of our lives and community today, i.e., we all have a task to perform. The difference is only that the task is not so clearly delineated. I just need to figure out what my task is.

And BOOM! Something I almost threw away turns out to be relevant after all. Ok, off to my room to see if there are any pegs I've not noticed :-) 

Shabbat shalom.

Parshat Ki Tissa

Since we cannot meet in person at the moment for Shabbat and Festival services, or study together, we thought that even if there is physical distance, there does not have to be spiritual distance (as noted by several of my colleagues this week) and so I wrote a brief comment on the weekly Torah portion, Ki Tissa in the book of Exodus. We posted the Italian version already - here is the English just in case. 

Via San Giacomo today. The banner reads "andrà bene", it will get better.

Parashat Ki Tissa

Greetings from Modena! As we enter Shabbat, here is a thought that came to me while looking at the Torah portion.

“When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make us a god who shall go before us, for that man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.” (Exodus 32:1)

This week, while Moses is up high on the mountain, receiving instructions from God for the life of the community, the people lose hope. Moses has been gone a very long time, and the Children of Israel fear for their future. They cannot wait for him any longer, and decide to make their own god, a god that they can see and touch. This Golden Calf does nothing for them, except get them into trouble.  When Moses does come back down the mountain, and sees what they have done, he smashes the two tablets of stone into pieces. He melts their calf of gold, and makes them drink it. Then, God sends a plague upon the people as punishment for what they had done. Ultimately, they are forgiven, and God offers to replace the tablets of the Law that Moses had broken.

I absolutely do not believe that a pandemic such as Covid19 is in any way a punishment from God for anything any human beings may have done. I don’t think that is the way things work. I cannot give you a reason for why this virus began. But, rather than wasting time looking back and trying to place the blame somewhere, I prefer to think about what we can do now. I think the Children of Israel definitely needed to do something. The problem was that they made a bad choice. We too are waiting. We are also anxious, and  frustrated. So what can we do? What choices will we make?

Later in our portion, God comes down in a cloud, and stands together with Moses saying:  “Adonai! Adonai! A God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness.” (Exodus 34:6). These words tell us all we need to know.

Our tradition teaches that human beings are made in the image of God. Like God, let us be compassionate and gracious. Let us be slow to anger, and abounding in kindness. If we go to the supermarket, and must wait 47 minutes before it is our turn to enter, let us not show our frustration in how we behave with the other customers and the people at the checkout counters. If we are staying home, let us reach out to others by internet and telephone. Do you know an older person, or someone who lives alone? Give them a call and ask how they are doing. Above all let us try to be patient, and follow the instructions that are designed for the life of our communities, of our country.

We are together. We are Or ‘Ammim.

Shabbat shalom

Rav Ariel, LiOr & Sara the Cat

(if you'd like to see the Italian of this, click here. Thanks to LiOr for all her help!)

Breathe in, Breathe out

Shabbat shalom!

Inspired by my friend, Rabbi David Mitchell (see his Thought for the Week here), I thought I would have a go at saying something instead of just writing it. It is under 4 minutes, but still too large a file to upload directly to Blogger, so here it is via YouTube:

Shabbat Shalom

Sometimes a cheeky smile from a friendly face can make your day. Thanks to the bus driver yesterday whose grin helped me let go of the rude things the angry old woman was shouting at me! #smileplease #thankyou #gazza #letitgo #shabbatshalom