At the end of January, I had knee surgery. It was my fifth surgery. Five surgeries? Yes. My first surgery occurred when I was 19. Since then, my knees have failed me at regular intervals.

I have been reflecting on different aspects of hope. Last week, I shared with you the connection between unprocessed trauma, and how it can make us feel unready to hope. Students of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict see that play out.

Have you ever found yourself refusing to hope? Maybe after a big break up or the loss of a job? Perhaps after the death of a loved one?

For most of us, this is a busy day as we finish our shopping and preparations for Pesach. As with last year, our celebrations will most likely be adjusted for this year of pandemic. There’s a way in which we can embrace those changes as a normal part of Jewish history and personal experience.

A quick Google search brings up dozens of books entitled “The Calling.” Do all these authors lack sufficient imagination to come up with a creative name for their books? Do they simply recycle a hackneyed title? Probably not.

Over the past two weeks, in sermons and here, I have reflected on the pandemic. Topics have included Jewish ethical thinking around vaccinations, and the meaning of this year of shut down. Next week, we will mark a year of being shut down with a ritual gathering. Simultaneously, on Passover we will welcome back small groups of congregants via a sign-up process for services for the first time since the world closed.

This past Shabbat, I shared some Jewish perspectives on vaccine cheating, and addressed why doing so is not a victimless crime. Numerous people reached out to me if I could make those remarks available. What follows is a truncated version of that sermon.