Choice

Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

August 30-31, 2019 / 30 Av 5779

Shabbat Re’eh/Rosh Hodesh Elul

Torah: Deuteronomy 11:26 - 16:17

Maftir: Numbers 28:9 - 28:15 | Shabbat Rosh Chodesh

Haftarah: Isaiah 66:1 - 66:24 | Shabbat Rosh Chodesh

“Choice”

Dear Friends,

In this week’s Torah portion Moses lays it out clearly to the Children of Israel.  They have a choice to make.  They can choose to follow God’s law and receive God’s blessing or they can disregard the law and be cursed.  It’s that easy.

Ruth Brin captured the essence of the choice in her poem about this portion:

The Choice

Deuteronomy 11:26

See this day I set before you blessing and curse;

Are we free as the birds?

Yes, and more free,

for birds fly by the charts of instinct

and make no choice in the pattern of their existence.

Are we free as the angels?

Yes, and more free,

for angels, if they exist, live beyond evil,

and face no agonizing choices.

Sometimes we seem like little children,

round-eyed before a holiday table, permitted

for once to reach for the sweetest cake.

But we are neither children nor winged creatures;

we are human beings. Freedom to choose is our definition,

and ability to choose well is our portion of divinity.

Gratefully we thank You

Who are the source of our freedom.

Earnestly we pray to You

when we pace the dark corridors of decision.

Let us make each choice with wisdom.

Let us choose blessing and peace.

         - by Ruth Brin

Zay a Mentsch – Be a Good Person.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

Not by Bread Alone

Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

August 23-24, 2019 / 23 Av 5779

Shabbat Ekev

Torah: Deuteronomy 7:12 - 11:25 / Haftarah: Isaiah 49:14 - 51:3

“Not by Bread Alone”

Dear Friends,

As the Children of Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land, Moses warned them not to become arrogant.  After all the trials and difficulties that they overcame in the desert, life in the Land of Israel would surely bring comfort and abundance – a recipe for pride and self importance. It would be essential that the Israelites remember that their survival and success came from God’s blessings.  Thus, this week’s text teaches “man does not live by bread alone.”

Likutei Torah offers this lesson: “Human beings do not live from physical bread… but only by God’s power, which went forth at the time of creation and which caused bread to come into existence.  It is from this spiritual essence that human beings live because it is the food that provides nourishment for the soul. (A Torah Commentary for Our Times: Volume 3. Harvey Fields, page 120)

Take time for mindfulness and awareness of the blessings and abundance that are showered upon us each and every day.

Zay a mentsch – be a good person.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

Who Can Retell?

Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

August 16, 2019 / 16 Av 5779

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

“Who Can Retell?”

Dear Friends,

We Reconstructionists love Jewish history.  Through the study of our people’s past we see how Jewish civilization has evolved over the millennia.  We see how each generation has encountered and interacted with its neighbors and even added its own creativity in order to make Judaism alive and meaningful for its day.  That is the very essence of our movement philosophy.  Each generation ‘reconstructs’ Judaism – and that is a good thing.

This week’s Torah portion commands us to retell the story of the Exodus from Egyptian slavery.  This is what we do each time we celebrate the Passover seder. We recall and retell the story of the Exodus.

And there are many, many other events in Jewish history that should be retold as well.  We should retell the Biblical period from Abraham right up through Joshua and first kings of Israel.  We should retell the Rabbinic period, when Judaism confronted Greece and Rome and developed the Talmud.  We should retell the Medieval period, when our ancestors traveled and settled throughout the world.  We should retell the Modern period, when Judaism encountered the Enlightenment.  We should retell the Contemporary period from World War I to the present.

By telling our story, we are reminded of our history and we strengthen our sense of Jewish identity and solidarity.  Am Yisrael Chai – the People of Israel lives.

Zay a mentsch – be a good person.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow