Sinai Update – Week of October 19-25, 2008

Parashat Bereshit (Genesis 1:1 - )

Reflections on the Torah Portion – Sandy Goldfless

And God saw that it was good.  So much happens in this long, first parsha of the Torah: the creation of all aspects of the universe, Adam and Eve, the Tree and the Serpent, the first sacrifice and the first homicide, and a lot more.   Indeed, even as a multifarious world develops and gets going in this first parsha, the roots of the first world catastrophe – the Flood – are also adumbrated:  in Gen 5:29 Noah is born.  He is named there with a play on words, already noted by the 12th cent. commentator, Rashbam, that looks both backward and forward in the text.  Gen 5:29 looks back to the “distress” that thus far has accompanied bringing forth food from the earth, as in Adam’s curse and also Cain’s (and, by the way, as in the very premise of the Flood story in Mesopotamian literature). The play on words looks forward in the text to God’s “distress” at the approaching undoing of creation, so recently begun:  “And God regretted that he had made man in the world; He was greatly distressed” (Gen 6:6).  

If we peek ahead to next week, we can perhaps feel consoled that new meaning will be given to creation through the “Covenant” that God will make with the world in the aftermath of the Flood, along with new solutions to some of the human dilemmas introduced in the first parsha.   But for now, our hope for the world as we begin the Torah must rest on the divine assertions that follow upon the episodes of creation in the very first chapter:   “… And God saw that it was good.”  Although it all too soon becomes not so good, we are taught to be confident that the world has within its essence a power for renewal and, ultimately, for advancing to higher stages of development. 

-- Sandy Goldfless, member of Temple Sinai.   This is another in a series of Divrei Torah and Jewish reflections to be offered periodically by members of Temple Sinai in our weekly Sinai Update e-mail.

Sinai Update –October 12-18, 2008
Week of Sukkot
Reflections on the Jewish Calendar – Rabbi Andy Vogel

After the intense days of prayer in the synagogue on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the joyful holiday of Sukkot (which began on Monday night) turns us in a different direction: outdoors.  Sukkot, the fall harvest holiday, asks us to “dwell in booths for seven days” (Lev. 23:42), to construct a temporary structure covered with cut branches from the fall growth, and come outside into the sukkah for all our meals; and if possible, even to sleep in the sukkah and eat our meals on our finest dishes!  One opinion in the Talmud goes so far as to require Jews to bring out fine sofas and other furniture from the house, and sit on them in the sukkah! 
     All this “outdoorsy” activity is required while the weather is beginning to turn cold – this is the case not just in New England, but also in Israel, where October brings the rainy season.  Jewish law states that one should enjoy sitting in the sukkah until the rain is so heavy as to ruin your soup!  The joy of Sukkot is mitigated joy; it continues the somber theme of the Days of Awe, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, reminding us that, like the warm weather, our lives are of limited duration; that human life and all we construct is fragile, like the sukkah; and, that even in hard times, it is a mitzvah to live in a state of joyful service of God, to celebrate life.  These ideas inspire us to strive for goodness and build a better world, and to do so joyfully.
     May you and your family have a very happy Sukkot!
-          Rabbi Andy Vogel

Sinai Update – October 5-11, 2008
Week of Yom Kippur
Parashat Ha’azinu (Deuteronomy 32:1-52)
Reflections on the Jewish Calendar – Rabbi Andy Vogel

On Wednesday evening, we begin Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.  It is a day when we reflect on the lives that we lead, the quality of our relationships with our families, our community, our world, and ourselves.  Through our fasting and repentance, as well as opening our hearts to be close with others, we hope to gain renewal and blessing for the year to come.  I pray that this Yom Kippur be a meaningful one to you and your dear ones, and that you will have an easy fast.  May you be written and sealed into the Book of Life on this Yom Kippur.
-                      Rabbi Andy Vogel