Shabbat Blast

We are in the 2nd to last parasha of Genesis (Bereishit), which means all the fun drama of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is about to morph into slavery and redemption. I find myself looking forward to Shemot with all of its plagues and dramatic pleas for freedom, like I used to look forward to Autumn with the change of leaves, the apple cider, and crisp breeze. I’m mourning the loss of Bereishit this week, the way I mourned the sun, the sand, the effortless ability to leave the house without a coat, around August 15th.

The Torah reading is a lot like the seasons. They help us mark time so that we do not float through life with no anchors. We as New Yorkers feel the effects of seasons very deeply (although the weather this week has been unreal) and perhaps this makes us sensitive to the change in books of the Torah as well.

I think back to previous summers, the summers that I worked at Camp Ramah in Nyack, the summer I worked as a Hospice Chaplain, the summer I staffed Birthright and marvel at how time moves and we change. The seasons, as well as the Torah are the same year after year, but we are different. Our experience transforms everything that we touch.  

We learn in Pirkei Avot (5:22), “Ben (son of) Bag Bag said: Turn the Torah over and over for everything is in it. Look into it, grow old and worn over it, and never move away from it, for you will find no better portion than it." We are living and breathing therefore the Torah is as well. That is the magnificence of being a Jew, having this sacred book that is both static and very much alive at the same time.

My colleague, Rabbi Bialer wrote: “Sometimes I imagine that while I'm sleeping, a hidden sofer enters my house and adds paragraphs new names and new events to this wonderful book.”

It is as if the Torah is alive with new characters year after year. The Torah is mayim chayim, living water, and when we dive in and gaze down, we see our own reflected changes and growth.  May we continue this beautiful dance year after year and may we see ourselves and Torah anew in the book of Shemot that is arriving with the secular New Year on January 2nd.

We are in the process of saying goodbye to Bereishit this Shabbat morning. Come join us as Joseph reunites with his father in Egypt our people’s story of Exodus takes root.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Bernstein

1. December 25, 5:30 Service and Chinese Food Shabbat Dinner

2. January 22, 6:30 PM- Early Shabbat service and Tu B’shevat Seder

3. January 31, 11 AM- Adult Bat Mitzvah Info Session

4. Sherry Skolnik has a Yahrtzeit on Sunday evening and we will have minyan at 8:00 PM. Please let Stanley Hochhauser know if you can make minyan, via email smhcocpa@optonline.net or phone/text his cell 516-398-9161.