Dear TBZ community:
This week was the first without a Jewish holiday as well as the start of the month of
Heshvan
.
Heshvan
is also known as
Mar-Heshvan
- the “bitter “month of
Heshvan
. It is called
mar
(bitter) because it is a month where “nothing is going on.'' At TBZ this doesn’t really ring true, as we don't ever have a month where “nothing is going on.''
Our calendar is full of programming for all ages and interests - from Aging in Community to our Wonder Minyan to the celebration of several B’nei Mitzvah of TBZ children who have grown-up in our community. I hope you will join us in many of these events and wonderful celebrations.
Tonight, we are having our first monthly community dinner. Last year’s dinners were such a success that we decided to have one every month!! These dinners are an opportunity to gather community of all ages to
daven
, eat, sing, and even dance as we enter Shabbat together. Registration is closed for today's dinner, but save the date for our next one on December 6. (Check
here
for all upcoming dinners).
This week we read
Parshat Noah
(
Genesis 6:9-11:32
). The story of the flood is well known. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. God spoke to him and said that because the earth is filled with wrongdoing and corruption and robbery God is going to destroy it. God asked Noah to make an ark of wood with enclosures for animals and gather food for all aboard.
Throughout the whole story we see Noah’s obedience. He awaits God’s instructions and follows them. Noah, in the words of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, is the paradigm of biblical obedience. He does as he is commanded. When the flood ends, Noah once again waits for instructions from God to leave the ark.
כיון שנחו המים, היה נח צריך לצאת מן התבה
אלא אמר נח ברשות [הקב"ה] נכנסתי
שנאמר בא אתה וגו' (שם שם א), ועכשיו אצא שלא ברשות
,א"ל הקב"ה רשות אתה מבקש
הרי לך רשות
שנאמר) [ממה שקרינו בענין] צא מן התבה)
Once the waters had abated, Noah should have left the ark.
However, Noah said to himself,
“I entered with God’s permission, as it says, ‘Go into the ark’ (7:1).
Shall I now leave without permission?
The Holy One, said to him:
‘Is it permission, then, that you are seeking?
Very well, then, here is permission,’ as it is said
[Then God said to Noah,] ‘Come out of the ark.'”
The
midrash
describes Noah as a person who follows the rules, who doesn't dare to go beyond them and who waits to be told what to do. I read the
midrash
and hear a sense of criticism, even from God to Noah, as if God is saying: "Do you
really
need permission to go out?”.
He says:
:אמר ר' יהודה בר אילעאי
אילו הייתי שם
.הייתי שובר את התבה ויוצא לי משם
If I had been there
I would have broken down the ark and taken myself out.
Perhaps sometimes there is a need to be daring and audacious and sometimes we can’t wait for instructions. Perhaps what Rabbi Ilai is saying is that
when it comes to rebuilding a shattered world, you do not wait for permission.
What a profound statement!
This rings true to me and specifically, now, in the times we are living. I invite you to think about this teaching and how it relates to your life - to the choices you make, to the ways you respond to the world and its realities.
In 1963, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel sent a
famous telegram
to President Kennedy just prior to their meeting to discuss civil rights. In it, Heschel calls for action, not more talk, to bring substantive change to America. In this telegram he writes:
“The hour calls for high moral grandeur and spiritual audacity”
For me, these words of Rabbi Heschel resonate with the words of Rabbi Yehudah Bar Ilai. Both teach us that at times, the hour calls for standing up, for nor waiting, for taking risks, for being brave.
May this Shabbat bring blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we hear the voice of Rabbi Ilai and Rabbi Heschel to know not to wait when the hour calls us.
May we have a joyful Shabbat!
Shabbat Shalom,
