School. I've sat here, in my house, wondering every day about school. Will it open? Will it be safe? Should it? How will I function with little children at home again? How can I face them getting sick?

This isn't just me. There is a tremendous amount of anxiety and fear among parents today. Not just here in Blue Bell, but around the country. The current situation, with kids at home all the time, is totally untenable, for parents, children, and more. At the same time, the idea of sending kids to school feels untenable as well - for parents, children, and more.

As Samuel Beckett wrote: "I can't go on. I'll go on."

Beckett was expressing the way that we are thrown into a world not of our choosing, and it is nonetheless our task to make authentic, good lives in it. This is part of what is called "existentialism," the philosophical movement that makes most sense to me. We can't choose our world, our situation, or even our choices, but we can choose our manner of being - how we relate to that world, understand it, and treat others.

And that's the theme of the book of the Torah we begin this Shabbat, the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy). In a world of uncertainty, after wandering in the desert, Moses looks at the Israelites and tells them: life is uncertain and sometimes absurd, but you can nonetheless choose life. You can still say yes. You can still say that God is God, that goodness is real and possible, and that love matters. You can, in times of uncertainty, hold onto these words that God commanded us on this day, inscribing them on our doorposts and teaching them to our children.

One of my children today said, "some people say that rain is God crying." I said, "do you really think that?" She said, "no." I said, "because God doesn't have ..." and she filled in, "a body." I was trying to be a good Maimonidean. "But God still cries," she said, "when God is sad."

This is a hard time, but God is still with us. And we can still choose to be with God. We can still choose to be present for meaning and goodness in this life. We can still find love and connection. Even at times of great uncertainty, even when none of the options before us seem good, we can still say: these words God commanded me on this day. And we can teach them, and we can live them.

Shabbat Shalom