From Rabbi Dahlia Bernstein Thursday, May 14, 2020
Dear CBO Families,
While so much has changed in the world, the aspects that have remained the same seem comforting. Although we cannot read from the Torah in public, we have not put the Torah reading on hold. In fact, this Shabbat we are concluding the Book of Leviticus in time to start Bamidbar next week. The soul of each book is so different from one another and represent for me a shift in mindset that reflects what is going on around us in real life.
We are going from non-stop legislation in Leviticus to narrative, archives, and some more legislation in Numbers. It picks up right where we left off after leaving Egypt (Mitzrayim). The Torah punctuates their journey with law. It gives structure to life and following and adjacent to law is the way individuals live. The people of the Torah are just like you and me. They uphold the law and they fall short. They agree or disagree with the law. They argue with each other about who should be in charge and they push the boundaries as each of us has done as we have negotiated our reality according to what has been imposed on us.
The Torah would be incomplete without the narrative of individuals and the group as a whole. It goes beyond law and goes into stories of struggle and inspiration, of transforming loss and adjusting to new realities. I wonder, when this period of the Pandemic is characterized in the future, how will it be described as a whole? How will this chapter be written? Furthermore, and more personally, how would someone tell the story of our lives and how we have lived? What values, anecdotes, and struggles would they capture?
Hindsight is 2020 and we cannot predict the future, but we can look into our lives and ask ourselves how we want to move forward from this moment on. We can use this transition from Law to Narrative to help us reflect on our own story and what we want the next chapter to look like.
May you be safe, may you be strong, may you be peaceful, may you be at ease with your decisions and your life story.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Bernstein
As a reminder, Rabbi Bernstein and Cantor Kowitz are available to speak with you about anything that is on your mind.
Mazel Tov to Helene and Anthony Pino in honor of Jennifer becoming a Bat Mitzvah.
Mazel Tov to Ethan Bloch. He will be attending Adelphi University this fall.
Mazel Tov to Max Mogel for starting a new position at Sparta Systems and we also would like to wish him a Happy Birthday.
Mazel to Brooke Seligson for working on the Young Families Shabbat program. This was a special mitzvah project in order to bring awareness and support to the Sunrise Association. Our young families created beautiful butterflies, the Sunrise symbol and they raised $180 for their mitzvah project.
Please let us know if you have any celebrations, including anniversaries, birthdays, college acceptances, honor society, etc. that we can announce in our weekly blast.
Affiliated with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism