One of the universal truths I’ve learned from working in different organizational environments is that the people determine the mood and attitude of the office more than the work itself. Parshat Ki Teitzei suggests that when we go out into the world to join forces with others working for common goals, we must do it with purpose and lead those around us to a place of sacred partnership.
Click to view the September/October 2020 issue of Neveh Shalom’s Chronicle Please note that the file is large, thank you for your patience.
There’s an interesting commandment in this week’s Torah reading. In Deuteronomy 19:14, we are commanded not to move landmarks. “You shall not move your countryman’s landmarks, set up by previous generations, in the property that will be allotted to you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.”
The Torah demands that we maintain a vision of a bright future even in the darkness of the present. We are the custodians of the earth, but not the outright owners, and as such, we owe it to the future inhabitants to maintain and care for what we have today.
I have been away on a Writing Retreat in preparation for the High Holidays, and my Oasis Songs column will return next week. Before that, I did want to alert you to an opportunity for this coming Thursday, August 20th. As part of Neveh Shalom’s commitment to learning more about Portland’s African American community, deepening our knowledge of the forms of racism and taking steps to combat racism, I have been having numerous conversations with Black leaders and working on programming opportunities for us this coming year (after the High Holidays).
Whether it’s the beginning of a new nation or a parent teaching a child or a reminder to ourselves about our own friends, the company you keep is who you become, for better or worse. Each of us is the village, and the village is us. How does your village help you be the best version of yourself?
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz died today and was buried In Jerusalem. For those unfamiliar with his name, he was the last “gadol,” the last “great one.” It would be very difficult to overstate the importance of this scholar or his contributions to the Jewish world.
