Skip to main content

Rabbi's Shabbat Message May 15 2020

Dear Friends,

How are you and your families today? I hold you all in my thoughts and prayers in these crazy and uncertain times.

In recent services and meetings I have shared a story of two ancient rabbis who self-secluded in a cave for twelve years. This story has a lot to teach us about the essence of Judaism as it was evolving nearly 2000 years ago, as well as cautioning us how we might prepare to emerge from our own isolation into a new and different world.  

The Talmud tells us that Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai spoke out against the Roman Government, so the Governor decreed he should be put to death. He and his son, Rabbi Elazar, hid in a cave and studied Torah with great fervor for twelve years until the Prophet Elijah (the same guy we open our doors to on Passover) appeared to tell them they could leave.  

When the two emerged and saw people sowing and plowing, Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai said: “These people abandon eternal life of Torah study and engage in this worldly actions for their own sustenance!” (The chutzpah!) Every place that Rabbi Shimon and his son Rabbi Elazar directed their eyes was immediately burned. A Divine Voice said to them: “Did you emerge from the cave in order to destroy My world? Return to your cave!”

And so, they lived in the cave for another twelve months to atone for their sin. A Divine Voice said to them: “Emerge from your cave.” This time, everywhere that Rabbi Elazar would look was burned, but then Rabbi Shimon would heal. Rabbi Shimon said: “My son, you and I suffice for the entire world, as the two of us are engaged in the proper study of Torah.”

The first time they emerged they seemed to think that everyone (at least the men) should be studying Torah all day long as they did, and not bother to even work to feed their families. Their judgement and anger caused them to see the world with eyes filled with a burning and destructive hate, so unlike the teachings of the Torah they revered.

And so, they were sent back to the cave to do teshuvah, to repent, to change their world view – which Rabbi Shimon did. His gaze became compassionate and healing. He understood that Torah is about how to live in the actual world and he taught his son that this is the proper way of study.

What are we as individuals and as a collective community learning in our metaphorical cave? How will what we are learning and experiencing shape our world views and actions? How will it shape our children’s and grandchildren's views and actions? Will we emerge with fearful, judgmental, narrow eyes, or with eyes that can embrace change, empathy, and the well-being of all? We don't know the answers to these questions, yet.

This Shabbat I encourage you to consider what can ground you in your cave, your safe place (or what can make your place safer), at least at this moment, on this Shabbat.  Breathe. Sing. Walk. Pray. Eat. Play. Seek connections. Cultivate compassion - for yourself, your loved ones, and all who are struggling.

May you and your families be blessed with health, safety and peace.

Shabbat shalom.

Rabbi Alison Adler



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yom Kippur Morning 2021 A Jewish Response to Loneliness

  Boker Tov, Good morning, Gut Yontif. Don’t you hate doing laundry? I do. But sometimes, when I’m tossing a heap of pillowcases and underpants into our clunky old GE washing machine, I feel a spasm of gratitude. How lucky I am to have a washing machine -- even an old *GE* washing machine -- to do the hard work of laundering for   me! When I think of how people (women, mostly) have had to do laundry with nothing but washboards and elbow grease, I feel tremendous pity for them -- rachmones, as we say in Yiddish.    But recently, I heard a story told by sociologist Brene Brown that made me reconsider. She spoke about a village where, by long tradition, the women would gather on the banks of a certain river and wash clothes together. Well, time went on in this village until a wonderful thing happened: All the women got washing machines in their homes! And then, something not so wonderful happened:   An epidemic of depression broke out among the women. [beat]   And no one could
Post a Comment
Read more

Kol Nidre Sermon 2021 - Just a Little Thing

  Yom Kippur Evening 2021-5782 Gut Yontif, So, how are you all feeling? On this holy evening we step out of our daily lives for reflection and prayer. According to tradition, if we are healthy, we neither eat nor drink, don’t do work of any sort and refrain from wearing leather. All of this is to help us focus on matters of the heart and soul - or as some teach, ideally to be more like the angels, who don’t need to eat, drink, wear shoes or work to stay alive. That’s why it is also traditional to wear white on Yom Kippur. Today, we shed our pretensions and look at ourselves as we really are.   So, let’s take a breath, let out a big sigh, and say: Hineini! Here I am, here I am, God. A year older, and a little more battered. Exhausted. Maybe depressed. Maybe melancholy. Can’t put my finger on it, but something is just off with me. My friends and colleagues talk about it too. It’s a feeling filling the world, and people are trying to name it: Psychologist Adam Grant shared the
Post a Comment
Read more

Radical Rejuvenation: Shmita and the Oneness of Being - Rosh Hashanah Sermon 2021

  Rosh Hashanah Shmita 2021-5782 “Barech aleinu, grant blessings upon us, our God, and upon this year and may its harvest be for the good.   Bestow a blessing upon the face of the earth and satisfy us with your goodness, and give blessing to this year, [as you have done] in all good years past." Isn't it beautiful? For centuries, our ancestors recited that blessing every day of their lives. They knew in their hearts, as we today can so easily forget, that humanity's survival depends entirely on the cycles of nature. When they asked for God's “blessing upon the face of the earth," what they meant was rain in its proper season -- for rain meant life. How lucky we are to live in an age of bounty such as our ancestors could never have dreamed! All you need is a phone and an index finger and, within two hours, a cornucopia of delights from all over the world appears on your stoops   -- contactless delivery guaranteed.   But this miraculous, nourishing miracle has
Post a Comment
Read more