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Shana Tovah
Each year at our Bet Shira Preschool, the children plant a vegetable garden. They all look forward to their Pre-kindergarten year, when they gather the vegetables that they planted with their own hands. In a very personal and direct way way, our young ones learn an important lesson.
The concept that we reap what we sow serves as a guiding wisdom for how to live our lives. The historical record of the Jewish people teaches us, over and over, that every action has a consequence. It is a lesson taught to us week after week when we read the Torah. Rebecca, with the complicity of Jacob, deceives Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing of the first born, stealing what was Esau's birthright. Jacob then lives in fear of Esau's jealousy and thirst for revenge. Jacob, apparently learning nothing from the experience, favors his son Joseph, sowing the seeds of jealously and revenge in all his other children. On the good side, Abraham, who dared to bargain with God to save the lives of the people of Sodom, who was willing to sacrifice his son at the command of God, who would sit by his tent to greet strangers and provide them food and water, became a wealthy man, and the father of a great nation.
From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, we talk in great detail about asking for forgiveness. As Irwin Kula reminded us when he last came to speak at Bet Shira, how many of us really do what we are supposed to at this time of year, which is seek forgiveness from those we have wronged. It seems as if we put all our effort into making small talk with our friends and family, but never seem to get around to those very difficult discussions about forgiveness with those whom we care about.
What we seem not to realize is that asking for forgiveness is more than a self-centered attempt to ease our own consciences, but it also is an opportunity to grow a better and deeper relationship with others.
The ethics of our sages, Pirke Avot, teaches "Al tifrosh min hatzibur, "One should not separate him or herself from the community." How does one become fully part of our Bet Shira community, and Am Yisroel, our Jewish community?
Continuing along in our agricultural discussion, to yield a bountiful crop, you have to prepare the soil, make sure you have good seed, plant the seeds, and water them regularly.
Well, at least at Bet Shira, we've already taken care of preparing the soil for you. We have beautiful new carpeting, a refurbished sanctuary complex, and plenty of families and members of all ages. See, we've made it easy for you - you can put away your plow.
Taking good seeds. Well, compliments, kind words, humor, a willingness to volunteer, attending services, participating in services, Shira baskets, donations to others and the synagogue, lox boxes, paying a shiva call, making a visit or call to a sick congregant - those are all good seeds, and there is an inexhaustible supply.
Planting them. The fertile fields are all around you. All the people here, who you are sitting with and praying with during these High Holy Days. And family events, youth events, EEC and religious school, synagogue and community wide events throughout the year, and - believe it or not - even coming to services. You know that study after study has shown that people who regularly attend religious services have healthier immune systems and a longer life span than those who do not, and that coming to services certainly is more cost-effective than drug intervention. I don't know if it is the prayers, or the feeling of community, or the challah and herring, but the facts speak for themselves.
Being part of a community, in whatever capacity that may be, is better than being alone.
One of the rewards of being part of a community is the support we receive in our own times of joy and need. Bar and Bat mitzvahs, weddings and baby-namings, are meant to be joyous occasions. When we have invested the time and effort in becoming part of a synagogue community, how many more blessings, and how much more joy, do we bring upon our families and ourselves when the synagogue is full on these occasions with the friends we have made. And how much more comfort do we receive when the shiva house is full of those same friends to comfort us in times of heart-breaking loss.
This kind of support does not automatically appear. Rather, it is created based on our choosing to involve ourselves in our synagogue and in the greater Jewish community. Support others and the support will return to us when we need it most.
It may not seem at first that we are helping ourselves when we connect with a community, because on the outside it may look like attending committee meetings or putting together Shira Baskets only helps others. The following story is about how our investment in helping others eventually comes back to help us.
There had been one storm after another, and a merchant ship had been blown off course. It would be many days before it could dock and replenish its supplies. The captain was worried and called for his cook. They had worked many years together, and he had come to trust the cook not only for his services, but also for his advice.
"I know we don't have enough food for the whole crew and our passengers for the rest of the journey," said the captain. "I thought of that myself, sir," answered the cook. "I thought I would ask one of our passengers for help, that merchant who carries dried dates and figs and olives in oil from the Holy Land." "That miser?" grumbled the cook. "He would not give us the pit of an olive if we asked him, sir. He will watch us grow thin while he enjoys his wares." "I will try anyway," said the captain. "He must have some feeling in his heart for others."
The captain approached the merchant that evening before dinner. "I have a favor to ask you, sir," the captain began. "Because of the storm our journey will take much longer than we planned. We are in need of food for our passengers and crew. Perhaps you would share some of your fruit with us at a reasonable price." "What," snorted the merchant. "Not when I can get a large sum when we dock. What do you take me for, Captain, a fool?"
Seeing he would get nowhere with this selfish man, the captain went to the kitchen to tell the cook that he was right. "So there is nothing to do but make what we have last longer," said the captain. "Perhaps there is one more thing we could try," suggested the cook..
The cook waited before carrying out his plan, but he would not tell the captain what he was going to do. Then one day he beckoned the captain to follow him. "It has been long enough," he said.
The puzzled captain followed his cook to the merchant's cabin. There was a knock and the merchant opened his door. "What is it this time?" said the merchant. I hope it is not about the goods that I carry, for I have not changed my mind about selling them to you." "Come with me," said the cook. "I have something to show you."
The cook led the merchant and the captain to the ship's hold. Boxes filled with cloth and beads, clay pots, tools, rugs, and the merchant's dates and figs and olives were piled all around. The cook took a borer from behind one of the boxes and began to cut into the wood of the ship's hold. "What are you doing?" cried the merchant in alarm. "Have you lost your mind?" "It is no matter to you," said the cook. "I am merely making a hole under my spot on the boat. Not under yours. I've decided to die now rather than wait and starve before we reach port." "But…but…," the merchant sputtered. "The water will come in and flood the ship for me as well. I will die too."
"What happens to you and your part of the boat is of no concern to me," said the cook. "I must think only of myself." And he continued to drill deeper and deeper, the merchant grew more and more agitated until he caught sight of a smile on the captain's face. All this time, the captain had stood back and watched the cook curiously.
"Is this a trick?" the merchant asked the captain. And then he understood. "I see what you are trying to show me," said the merchant, much more humbly than before. "We all travel on the same ship. What affects you affects me as well. If you drown, I drown. If you and your crew are hungry and cannot sail this ship to port, then I am lost at sea as well. I cannot sail this ship alone." He went over to one of the crates. "See what you can prepare with this," he told the cook as he handed him one jar of food after another.
This story reminds me of a specific area of American Jewish life that I think some of us may sometimes struggle with, the support of the state of Israel. When we send money to Israel, we don't tend to think of it as helping ourselves, but rather helping a nation of people we may never meet and a country we may never see. But by supporting Israel, we ensure the survival of our Jewish homeland, a place where Jews can live as Jews.
In my experience as a rabbi, I have often witnessed that a trip to Israel can transform our lives as Jews. For both teenagers and adults who go to Israel for the first time or for the 100th time, there is a feeling that Israel is not just for those who are living there, but for us as well. We go to Israel and come back better Jews. We are able to see that in Israel Judaism is not just about going to synagogue; it is a way of life. The calendar is Jewish, the radio is Jewish, the language is Jewish, the headlines are Jewish. The names of streets and boulevards are Jewish. It is a place where bank entrances have mezzuzot, and post office clerks feel free to wear kippot. Israel is a place, in brief, where Am Yisrael Chai, the people of Israel, lives.
How does this translate to our lives? The mere fact that Israel exists should give us a new outlook on Judaism here in the Diaspora. We know there is a place we can turn to in a time of need, which should give us the confidence to live our Jewish lives the way we want to. Israel would not exist without the support of Jews around the world. Israel is there for us and we need to be there for her.
As we begin a new year, we should all be thinking about how much we have to give to the people and places most important to us. We should think about what we want our relationships and our communities to be for us. And we should start to move in that direction by being that same thing for them.
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