I am giving a D'var Torah at Camp Livingston on Saturday and here is what I have written for the occasion. Knowing my speaking style any resemblance to what I will actually say is probably coincidental.
Boker Tov and Shabbat Shalom. Thank you for letting me be here today with
you all on this (lovely) Shabbat. It is
always a joy to get out of the city to celebrate and it is a reminder to me that
our Biblical ancestors encountered God not in cities but in the quiet of
mountains and deserts. That is why I feel nature gives added holiness
any moment. It is one of many things I love about Jewish camping and visiting
camps, which I don’t do nearly enough.
Jewish camps saturate our youth with a sense of wonder about Judaism not
found in even the best Religious School settings. Jewish camping takes you out of your element
and helps you discover new things about yourself, your faith, and your people. I am glad you all are taking advantage of
this wonderful opportunity.
I want to thank Stacy Beyer for sharing the bemah with me this morning. Stacy adds holiness as well to our services
with her music and passion. Music makes
our words more memorable and lifts them up.
To use a music metaphor today’s portion has some of Judaism’s greatest
hits. We will talk about that in a minute but first let’s go back several weeks
in our Torah to a time when our people were still in Mitzraim (Egypt). Imagine standing at the foot of Ya’akov’s (Jacob’s) deathbed with his grandchildren
around him. This is a pivotal point in
our history. You see Ya’akov (also known as Israel) had taken his family into a
foreign land with strange gods and practices.
As he lay dying he felt the spirit of God that had been with the people since
the time of Abraham and Sarah leaving him.
He grew worried that the people will forget their God and the God of
their ancestors and be seduced by the gods of their new home. The grandchildren noticed his discomfort and
in a moment of understanding said to him, “Listen Israel, Adonai is our God,
Adonai is One”. To which Ya’akov replied in relief, “Blessed be
the name and the glory of God’s reign forever”. Sound familiar? What is it?
The Sh’ma… a foundational statement
of our people—A statement we recite several times a day. It is our calling card, our own little
signature. Many Jewish people, who never
went to camp, Day or Synagogue schools, or even services, know the Sh’ma.
It is recognized and unites Jews across languages, cultures and continents. And it is a piece of the Torah that everyone
here can chant and it is in today’s portion, along with another wonderful
section you all know.
In our story, Ya’akov
knew the people were entering a new time in their history and he would no
longer be there with them in today’s portion, Moshe faces
the same challenge. We open with Moshe pleading with God to let him take the people into the land of
Israel and God emphatically telling him “no” with certain finality. He must die
before the people cross. So what does Moshe do? He begins
a farewell address that is a repetition of much of the story of the trek
through the wilderness. The English name of this book from the Greek is
Deuteronomy, which can mean the second telling.
Moshe repeats much of what the people had already learned, like those
test review classes you are all so fond of at school. He knows and tells the people that at times
the Jewish people will in fact succumb to idol worshiping when they encounter
other peoples. But through it all God
will help them return to the right path.
This story of failure and recovery is linked to the fact that the
people, despite what they will encounter, will remember their God and God will
remember them. That is the reason for
the repetition and today we read again the 10 Commandments given at Sinai. So the two foundational documents of Judaism
are all wrapped here as Moshe sees his time is nearly over.
Now when modern Americans think of foundational
documents of our country, what comes to mind? The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The Sh’ma
and the 10 commandments, and by extension the entire Torah, are our
Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
The American Declaration was statement of ideals, giving up old ways of
thinking that included a monarchy who ruled without much say from those
ruled. It was radical. Just a few weeks ago we celebrated it with
its own holiday. The Constitution, created
a parameter for our new-found freedom.
As we were no longer governed by the will of a single king we had to
define the rights and responsibility of the people and the government. The Sh’ma
and Torah operate the same
way.
The Sh’ma
was a radical statement for its time. It
declared there were not many gods, tangible gods, different gods for
everything. It was the statement of one God, universal
and complete. It was a statement of
breaking away from the status quo as the Declaration of Independence was a
statement of breaking away from the old ways of Europe. Starting with the 10 commandments we created
a Constitution for living rules that define justice and compassion for each
other, for the stranger and for virtually everything. It teaches us how to live as a community and how
to live with others. Those timeless
rules guide us today; we follow along a path that was first struck in those
last days in the wilderness. We do not
have Moshe but we have words that have
kept the Jewish people for millennia.
But like the Constitution, the Torah does not only belong
to the people who developed it or those who received it at Sinai. It belongs to us and to you. Much has changed since the time of Moshe in Judaism and like much has
changed in our country since the 18th century. The Torah is the gift you receive as a
member of our people and you accept when you become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, you
become an owner, adding your own voice to the meaning. It is not something to bow to as much as it
is something to learn from, argue with and find meaning in. Each generation adds something special to our
understanding and we take what we get from the past and prepare it for when we
give it to the future.
We are told that most of those people who left Egypt
as slaves died in the wilderness. Those who
entered Eretz Yisrael were a new
generation, full of the energy and hope to develop their new land free of the direct
memory of slavery in Egypt and equipped with the Torah to help create a lasting
civilization that endures today.
It endures in you, young Jews who come together at
places like this to understand the meaning of Judaism for you—Jews with
unprecedented freedom in the world, some freedoms not even experienced by your
own parents. Young Jews find themselves
in every aspect of your communal life: there
are Jewish captains of football teams, and cheerleading squads, Jewish
valedictorians and presidents of Key Clubs and National Honor Societies. The choices you have are vast and some may
draw you away from Jewish life and synagogue.
No longer must you rely only on
Jewish organizations for social activities as it was for so many in the past. In each generation our place in the world
changes, today we have the Land of Israel, western democracies embrace
diversity of religion and culture and the world is smaller than ever before
because of travel and the technology that defines your generation.
Today, as we stand together on this Shabbat, you are
like the people in the wilderness, poised to enter the new land and you are
here learning about what came before you to help you find your path. How will you define Judaism for the coming
age? I don’t know, but what I believe,
as Ya’akov, as Moshe, and as our parents did when in the past is that you will
always remember the words that define us.
“Sh’ma Yisrael, Adonai, Elohenu, Adonai Echad” and I have
confidence that “Baruch Shem Kavod
Malkuto L’olam Va’ed” will echo far into the future. Shabbat Shalom
No comments:
Post a Comment