In the summer of 1992, I had just graduated High School. I was excited to start college as a music student at Florida State University (I transferred to UF after one year), but I was pretty nervous about living in the dorms. I knew about Camp Coleman because my cousin and some good friends went every summer, and I thought to myself that going there for a summer as a counselor would be a good experience before I transition to college.
There are some people that know the Torah memorized. These individuals know where each verse begins and ends, and are aware of each and every trope. But even these individuals read the Torah portion every week, even though they know it completely; chapter and verse so to speak …
Earlier this morning, I was a guest on a radio show earlier this morning with a colleague and we talked about exactly this, faith during these times. I’ll hopefully have a link to share with the congregation in the next few days, but one thing I want to share from our conversation is that that both of us noted that attendance, albeit over the internet, is up. We are all craving spiritual and social connection with one another.
What day is today?
I feel like that question has been asked more and more in these recent weeks. With kids staying home from school, and many adults working from home, it’s possible that there hasn’t been much to differentiate one day from another.
But Judaism teaches that our days are not the same. And tonight, I want to share two lessons from our Jewish calendar that reinforce this inspirational idea. It also so happens that both of them occur tonight and in the days ahead.
This passage from the early part of Exodus suggests that God does indeed hear prayer. And God does not only listen. God reacts. God mentors a young shepherd named Moses. God performs 10 acts of miracle and might in the land of Egypt, culminating in the splitting of the mighty waters of the Red Sea. God frees the Israelites.
But, God frees the Israelites only after God has heard their prayer.
And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, ‘Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.’ So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it.
It was time to stop.
A few weeks ago (in December), I was a participant in the Union for Reform Judaism’s Biennial Conference. During one of the sessions, the president…
This week’s Torah portion of Lech L’cha contains one of Judaism’s most well known stories. In fact, I would probably place God’s command to Abraham…
Our city of Athens is home to the tree that owns itself, but in a forest in New Zealand, there is a greater curiosity. There is a tree stump that has no leaves, no stems, and no greenery that is somehow still alive. It’s alive because the kauri trees that surround it rerouted its system of roots so that they could be hydraulically coupled with the stump, keeping it alive.
During my first year at the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College, we studied with Dr. David Aaron, a Bible scholar. During one class session, he talked about these two books of Ecclesiastes and Job, and shared a powerful memory.