Message From The Rabbi

Rabbi Spike Anderson

In Judaism, what do you think is a higher ‘spiritual’ activity: Worship or Study?

The answer, according to our Sages, is that they are equal.

Think about that. 

It seems somewhat counterintuitive. 

Study of religious text is spiritually equal to prayer?

Most of us understand how prayer services (think Shabbat) deepen our spiritual connection to soul and self.  After all, the entire experience is designed to be both contemplative and inspirational.  

Whether or not we make worship a priority is another story…

But why would our Rabbis deem Torah study a prime spiritual pursuit, and avenue?

Traditionally, Torah is seen as coming directly from the Divine, or at least Divinely infused with existential meaning.  Think of Torah as a spiritual umbilical tube from God to us.  So by studying it, and wrestling with it, and engaging with it, we ‘tap into’ something that feeds what our souls crave.

Scholars call Torah the ‘urtext,’ meaning that it is the prime text from which the rest of Judaism, and Jewish literature, unfolds.  So by studying Torah, we also end up studying Judaism, Jewish history, Jewish ethics, contemporary socio-political Jewish-infused politics, and Jewish wisdom on how to get the most out of life.  That seems more than worthwhile…

Here at Temple Emanu-El, we have made this easy for you.  Literally every Saturday morning, from 9:00am-10:00am, your rabbis lead our Chevrah Torah Study class (Jewish fellowship for study).  Picture 30-40 adults gathered around a large table, studying a religious text (always with translation), and then discussing with one another how the text affects who they are as a people, who they aspire to be, and how we can change our world for the better.

Wow.

If you are reading this, please know that you are invited.  We have congregants who have been coming regularly for 40 years, and folks who come when they can, and people who try it for the first time. 

What an amazing way to spend a Shabbat morning, with really smart people, spiritually engaging with their Judaism through Torah study.  And you are done by 10:00am. 

You owe it to yourself to try this.

Won’t you join us?