| Dear Congregant,
This Shabbat we are putting Bereishit, the Book of Genesis, to bed for one year. It saddens me because I know after Exodus, the gorey details of Leviticus are around the corner. There is something deeper behind this reaction. Throughout my life, my relationship with our ancestors has changed. As I experienced the ups and downs of living, and stayed in relationship to Genesis, each story unearthed new understanding. When I felt betrayed, I finally understood how Isaac must have felt when Jacob and his wife tricked him. When I began working in our community, I wondered about Abraham’s strength in beginning a new venture. When life is unfair about how unfair life is, I look at how Dina, Jacob’s only named daughter, was treated by the men of schechem.
These people are our distant grandparents. As with any family, each of us will relate to them differently, and as we change, we will view them differently. The way we view our parents and grandparents changes as we grow. Paraphrasing a famous quote, my Grandpa Sidney would tell my father, “when you go to college, I’ll get smart.” As we experience life, our perception of generations before us changes. This book isn’t about people who got it all right. It’s about our family patriarchs and matriarchs who were bold enough to live, keep living, and fashion a people in relationship to God.
For those who seek to process the human experience, I would argue that studying Bereishit is one of the best ways to do so. We do not need to see our patriarchs and matriachs as perfect. We can look at this book, have reverence for our people’s magnificent story, and allow ourselves to wonder, prod, and question. Every year, those questions will change.
I have no idea what will happen to me or to any of us until the next time we read Bereishit. I do know that whatever happens our Torah will be there to holds us through life’s changes and will be there to listen, comfort, and enlighten.
Come study Torah with us. You will feel connected in a way you never thought was possible. Shabbat mornings: 9:00-9:45 AM.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Bernstein
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Affiliated with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism