They were killed, and all they did was take pride in their identities – they were dancing, celebrating, socializing. In fact, what those 49 were doing in Orlando is not too dissimilar to what we do here – we gather together in celebration, we socialize, we pray. We are here to display our pride – our Jewish identity.
Earlier this week, on Monday morning, fifty Jews became B’nei Mitzvah.
As Natalie [Bat Mitzvah girl on bima] knows, any Bar or Bat Mitzvah is an extraordinary celebration of Jewish life, commitment and continuity. But this celebrationion was different.
It was different because these 13 men and 37 women were not able to celebrate a Bar or Bat Mitzvah when they were 13. When they were teenagers, some of them lived in concentration camps. Some were penniless and could not take time away from difficult laborious jobs to train and tutor. Others hid their Jewishness out of fear. All 50 of these adult B’nei Mitzvah are Holocaust survivors.
In Numbers chapter 12, Miriam harshly criticizes her brother Moses for marrying a Kushite woman. Following that, she is quickly punished. As the Torah tells us, Miriam became leprous, white as snow.
Almost immediately, Moses cries five words to God, El na r’fa na lah. – Please God, heal her. These 5 words are the only words uttered by Moses in this Torah portion. Each of these short words ends in a vowel, as if Moses is crying out, shouting to God with all of his strength. Saying the words, you can almost feel the deep longing of Moses’ words.
(sing) I wanna sing sing sing I wanna shout shout shout I wanna sing I wanna shout, praise the lord! Praising the Lord, giving thanks…
Now that we are free, the real work begins. … This Torah portion of P’kudei concludes the building of the Tabernacle. The Israelites left Egypt,…
51 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. led three marches between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. These marches were meant to highlight the social injustices against African-American citizens. Specifically, black Americans wanted to highlight the unconstitutional injustice of not being able to vote.
When I turned 14, I was excited to get my first job at Publix. I bagged groceries until just after my 18th birthday.
For the most part, I enjoyed interacting with people on the short walk to their cars. But around mid-December, I’d be filled with anxiety during my chats with customers. They’d ask about holiday plans, and then talk about their holiday plans. So far, so good. But then they’d say two words. And despite the dozens of interactions that ended with these two words, I never knew how I should respond.
I’m guessing that many of you are familiar with Ghandi’s exhortation to “be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
I don’t know if Ghandi was a Talmudic scholar, but it does not come as a surprise to me that a similar teaching is in our Jewish texts. Pirke Avot* (2:5) reads: “In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man.”
1) We shake the lulav and etrog in all directions when we enter the sukkah. As a Hebrew school student, I learned that this is because God is in all directions, and God’s blessings are everywhere. We can feel God’s blessing in every area of our lives. This is true, and a great lesson. But I like to think that another reason we shake the four species in every direction is to remind us that each of *us* can radiate blessing and goodness in every area of our lives. We don’t have to wait for God to give it to us. We can give it to the world.
Five Jews are sitting on a park bench.
“Oy,” says the first.
“Oy vey,” says the second.
“Oy vey iz mir,” says the third.
“Oy gevalt,” says the fourth.
The fifth says, “Can we just this once stop talking about the Iran deal?”