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Rabbi Baum's Remarks from our Annual Meeting
In this week's parashah, we read about the miracle at the Sea of Reeds where the children of Israel walk through the sea as it splits. The Midrash says that Nachshon ben Aminadav was the first person who jumped in before the sea split. His act of faith led to the splitting, but I found this line in Sotah (Talmud) which was interesting:
Rabbi Judah said to [Rabbi Meir] This is not what happened, rather, this [tribe] said, "I will not be the first to go down to the sea," and this one said, "I will not be the first to go down to the sea." Then Nachshon ben Aminadav sprang forward and went down first to the sea, as it is said, "Ephraim encompasses me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit, but Judah rules with God. (Hosea 12:1) Concerning him, it is stated in Scripture, "Save me, O God, for the waters have come into my soul, I sink in deep mire where there is no standing, etc. (Psalm 60:2) Let not the water overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up, etc. (Psalm 60:16)"
I found it fascinating that Nachshon, a man of deep faith, had some doubts! He fears drowning and asks God not to let the water overwhelm him, or the deep swallow him up. I thought about how we view the heroes of the world, those who take bold steps. I don't think any of them are fearless - that's not what faith is.
As I think about this moment which marks my fourteenth annual meeting, I think back to the past, to our founders, whether with Beth Tikvah or Shaarei Kodesh, and the tremendous leaps of faith it took to create this community. A storefront shul in Boca Raton?!? Would anyone walk in? Creating a community that is intentionally small? How will this work in opulent Boca Raton? And yet, despite the hard work, and yes, the fear of failure, we built a community.
Faith and fear may seem like opposites, but they are tied together.
Faith, or Emunah, is embedded into the DNA of Judaism in various ways, but perhaps the clearest example can be found in the Shmittah year which we ended on Rosh Hashanah. In both Leviticus and Deuteronomy, we learn about the Shmittah or Sabbatical year when our ancestors had to let the land lay fallow, and could not engage in agricultural activities like plowing, planting, pruning, and harvesting. Any fruits and vegetables that did grow were ownerless and even if it was on your land, anyone had the ability to eat from them.
There is no greater show of faith than allowing the means of production to be taken out of your hands and placed into to domain of God.
Rabbi David Wolpe has an interesting teaching that became the title of one of his books. In the book, he distinguishes between swimming and floating. Swimming involves using hands and feet, sometimes vigorously, to withstand the currents and move forward. Floating takes less effort, but more trust. It involves believing in the capacity of water to keep one buoyant. His book was titled, “Floating Takes Faith.” It does not mean that we aren’t fearful, that we do not harbor some doubts, but our faith helps us overcome these feelings of pessimism toward the future.
We have accomplished so much over these last fourteen years, and we weathered the storm of a once-in-a-generation pandemic when we were all gripped by fear. But we held our faith, and I think we are stronger now than we ever have been because of it.
None of us knows what the future holds, but we know that we will encounter things that we did not expect. What we learn from this week’s parashah, BeShalach, is that our ancestors knew what was behind them - their former slave masters chasing after them, but with God clearing the way for them to journey forward, they took bold steps toward the future without being paralyzed by the past.
I hope we will take bold steps together in the next year, and accomplish things we’ve never realized, for example, a congregational Israel trip - we’ve tried and tried, and it hasn’t happened yet - I hope that we can take that next step, among many others, in the year to come.
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Thank you all for journeying with us, for trusting our leadership, and for trusting me as your rabbi. None of us will know what challenges we face, but I know that we will face them together, and continue our journey to the Promised Land.
Rabbi David Baum
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