WORDS OF TORAH - March 27, 2020 - Rabbi Larry Karol
Shabbat Shalom. I hope everyone is well and safe. Our hearts go out to those whose health has been challenged, and to the family members of those who have died in recent weeks.
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If we were to put our life experiences together, and tell the stories about those experiences, we might find episodes that bear some resemblance to what is happening now.
Our collective memories begin in the 1920s. Think about the major challenges which the people in our country and around the world have faced over the last century. And consider the recent history of the worldwide Jewish community, facing prejudice, discrimination, extermination, wars, and concerns about how we can survive and thrive.
The Torah portion for this week, VAYIKRA, begins the book of Leviticus, which outlines the particulars of sacrifices (of designated animals and grain) offered in the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and, later, in the Temple in Jerusalem.
The ancient Israelites knew that the word for sacrifice/offering in Hebrew, KORBAN, meant “to draw close,” that is, close to the Eternal One.
One of the major recurring triumphs of Jewish history is the ability to adapt to new circumstances. When the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in the year 70, the rabbis had already developed a way for Judaism to preserve continuity without a central place to bring sacrifices and to be in the presence in God.
The rabbis realized that the prayers they had been reciting in synagogues, even while the Temple stood, could be their salvation, and that those meditations also brought them close to their Creator, no matter where they lived.
When Jews moved to new communities over the last two millenia, or were forced to relocate, they took their customs, practices and melodies with them and created synagogues in their new towns of residence. In those places, they found ways to hold their communities together and and to recognize God’s presence with them.
We value being in each other’s presence, hearing our voices united in song and prayer, study, sharing ideas, and creating a communal identity.
We are still doing that even now, amid our current challenges, because we, like the Jews before us, are finding ways to adapt. Telephone calls have been with us for a long time. Emails emerged more recently, as did texting. Now, services streamed on Facebook (which still enable us to draw close to God as a community) and meetings and study sessions on Zoom are the fruits of our willingness to learn and adapt.
We have inherited an incredible tradition of creating bridges to each other, even in difficult times, with God as our inspiration and as a source of strength and ingenuity.
In these unusual times, may we continue to stay together and inspire one another.
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