
To Feel with our Brethren
We feel “as if,’”we were once slaves and now “as if” we might truly become free.
We feel “as if,’”we were once slaves and now “as if” we might truly become free.
Passover is a historical and spiritual moment in the Jewish calendar. But it is only the beginning, for ultimately, it is about taking us on a journey through the desert towards Shavuot, standing at Mt. Sinai where we become a people.
Hineini, “We are fully present,” honoring important and pivotal women in the formation of our history, role models of values and action, inspirational human beings who helped to shape the narrative of our past, transforming their darkness and redeeming their exile.
When so many feel disillusioned and powerless, we relive the Exodus. We are reminded that when we fall down it is in order to rise up, stronger and more resilient.
Every Jew is an inheritor of the miraculous experience at Sinai and the law-based tradition promoting respect and compassion, receiving a tradition that honors the importance of what we do and teaches how we must do it.
Good and evil is now a daily dose of reality. Displacement and loss are beyond imagination, while care and donations feed those desperate for a touchstone of life.
When the darkness is so omnipresent, trust and hope is exactly what we all need.
This Yom Kippur, only a few days after Oct 7, 2023, we know will be memorialized throughout the world, shared by so many.
The shofar, the most significant symbol and vehicle for the Holy Days, represents a multiplicity of interpretations and depth of meaning in our tradition.
As a Jew and an American I finally feel the confluence of our values coming into convergence.