Perhaps more dangerous than the novel coronavirus itself is that there are those who believe they are invincible or somehow impervious to the spread of the virus. Believing you’re invincible isn’t heroic or courageous in any way; it’s a curse, and the Torah makes that quite clear in this week's parshah.
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Tomorrow night marks Leil Selichot. In the Sephardic tradition, special penitential prayers are recited throughout the month of Elul as preparation for the Days of Awe. While Ashkenazic, or European Jews, also use the month of Elul to focus on our High Holiday work of repair, return, and atonement, the penitential prayers of Selichot are limited to the Saturday night the week before Rosh Hashanah, Leil Selichot.
What’s been difficult these last 18 months is realizing how much we depend on human contact as a coping mechanism. We don't realize we’re depleting our human contact reserves without the ability to refill them as often as we used to. This week, the Torah has an interesting and almost macabre teaching about how we give of ourselves physically and emotionally.
Ribbono Shel Olam, You whose eye is on all living creatures, We turn our eyes to You. Sometimes Your world has so much pain, We lose our way in the devastation. Our hearts and minds blur beneath the weight.
When I was a teenager preparing for my bat mitzvah, I decided to learn how to lay tefillin. Saying “yes” to tefillin wasn’t like saying yes to dessert or yes to a new pair of shoes, it was actually pushing me to fulfill a promise for my adult Jewish life. This week's Torah portion reminds us that the promises we make are meant to be kept.
Last week’s Oasis Songs was dedicated to the ancient Jewish custom of expanding community by setting up an eiruv, a Jewish boundary that extends the distance one can travel on Shabbat. Let’s continue reflecting on this custom.
