Shabbat Va’etchanan
Shabbat
Nachamu (Shabbat of Consolation) –The Shabbat after Tish'a B'Av
Torah:
Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11 / Haftarah: Isaiah 40:1 - 40:26
“Rise in Honor”
Dear Friends,
In this week’s Torah portion Moses recalls the
wandering of the Jews through the wilderness.
He recites the Ten Commandments and reminds us of the central role in
Jewish life. The fifth commandment: “You
will honor your father and your mother” speaks to me this week. Notice how the text does not say to ‘love’
but rather ‘honor’ them - an important distinction. The parents who raised us
and guided us to maturity must be accorded honor and respect.
I believe that we can measure the character of a
society by studying how it honors and cares for its elders. If that’s true,
then our American society is clearly failing in a big way. For many Americans, parents are old, yet
their children love only what’s ‘new & improved.’ Parents can be slow, but their children want
fast, faster, fastest. Parents can be a
responsibility and an obligation, but their children just want freedom. Parents can represent our past, but their
children want to reinvent themselves and leave the past behind. Parents live over there, while their children
live anywhere but there. Unfortunately,
so many people leave parents behind in an almost adolescent quest for fun,
stimulation, self-expression and the open road.
It just isn’t right.
The Torah says in Leviticus, “Lifnei seivah takum -
You shall rise before your elders.”
That’s what it says, that in the presence of those older and wiser, we
must stand in respect. Unfortunately,
instead of rising, too many let parents sit in utter abandonment.
Our Torah portion is telling us that as committed
and knowledgeable Jews, we know better and can do better for our own parents
and for elders all around us. Take some
time this Shabbat to respect and honor those upon whose shoulders we stand -
our parents. If you have no parents,
then borrow some. I am sure there are
elders in your life somewhere who have shared with you something of great value
at some point in your life. Visit them;
call them. Tell them what they mean to
you.
You shall surely rise in their presence.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow
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