Paying it Forward

July 20, 2012 / 2 Av 5772

Shabbat Matot-Massei

Torah: Numbers 30:2 - 36:13 / Haftarah: Jeremiah 2:4 - 28; 3:4

“Paying it Forward”

Dear Friends,

With the reading of this week’s Torah portion, we come to the end of the fourth book of the Torah, the book of Numbers.  Even through there is one more Torah book to go, Deuteronomy, at this point the Children of Israel have arrived on the threshold of the Promised Land.  They are camped on the Jordan River across from Jericho ready to make plans to cross over.  The generation of the Exodus has died during the forty years of desert wandering. Moses will die as well.  Soon, a new generation, born in freedom will reestablish the Israelite presence in the Holy Land.

What about all those who courageously left Egypt behind, but died in the wilderness?  What about their hopes and visions for a new life of freedom?  What does Judaism say about their not reaching the Promised Land?

Tha Talmud tells a story about a certain man named Honi.  Once Honi saw an old man planting a carob tree.  He asked the man how long it would take for the tree to bear fruit.  He replied that it would take about seventy years!  Honi than asked if the man thought that he would live long enough to eat fruit from the tree.  The man pointed to a number of mature fruit-bearing trees nearby and replied, “Just as my fathers planted for me before I was born, so do I plant for those who will come after me.”

We stand on the shoulders of our ancestors who ‘planted’ for us – those who kept Judaism alive in the Middle Ages, those who courageously left family, friends and ancient lands behind for America, and those who worked tirelessly so that we could have a better life.  We are indebted to teachers and mentors who prepared us to succeed.  Even though they did not live to experience the lives of freedom, abundance and privilege that we lead, their legacy and presence is still with us.  They live on through us.  Their hopes and dreams have been realized in us.

Judaism teaches that along with receiving so much from previous generations comes paying it forward to the future.  Like Moses, the generation of the Exodus and the man in Honi’s story, it is our sacred obligation to support and enable future generations to realize our dreams and aspirations in them.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow