Message From The Rabbi

Rabbi Spike Anderson

I am back from Sabbatical, back in the country, and back in the office (gladly!).

What a strange juxtaposition to personally feel a sense of wholeness and revitalization, even as the world around us is in utter turmoil.  

The last few weeks of my sabbatical I spent studying at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem with over 200 rabbis from around the world.  The learning was incredible, and heart-breaking, and at times mind-bending.

The stated question which provided the context for our study was: Who are the Jews post-October 7^th?

Inferred in that meta-question were others:  Who were we before October 7^th, and who might we Jews yet become?   How poignant.

The weeks in Jerusalem were attempts to parse out, together, a sense of vision for us as a people, for our tradition tells us: “Without vision, the People will perish.” (Proverbs 29:18)

Starting with Torah (our urtext), and moving through rabbinic tradition, we have a trove of knowledge that has accumulated from our past historical cross-roads.  Can we utilize the wisdom of our ancestors to get perspective and direction?  Are there answers to be found in the dialogue between the past and the present? 

My answer is yes.   But I am aware that this conviction, that we are going to get through these tough times, is as much a matter of faith as it is intellect.  My faith is in the Jewish people (here, and in Israel) as much as it is a faith in The Divine to provide answers.   I also believe that good people from all over the world can be reached, and mobilized, so that peace can come.  Judaism’s understanding of this type of peace is not a passive one, but one that takes real work by real people who make real decisions. 

In this past week’s torah portion, Moses begins his transfer of power to Joshua.  He prays to God that some of his ‘hod’, understood to be his ‘humble light’, be given to Joshua for the future generations, and the lives that they will live.

And so we pray:  “Source of breath for creatures…”[i]

May we benefit from the humble light of positive change so that we may find peace.  

May we each be strengthened to make decisions to usher in the reality that we know is possible, even if today it seems so far away. 

And may your sukkat shalom (canopy of peace) protect all the inhabitants of Zion and Jerusalem.

And to that we can all say… Amen.