Rabbis' Weekly Message

Dear Kol Rinah Family,

Sunday through Wednesday I was in Montreal at the Rabbinical Assembly’s convention. It was wonderful to connect with colleagues, study, and step back from the day-to-day busyness and business of synagogue life to refocus on the big picture, the why’s of being a rabbi, of synagogues, of Jewish life. Nurturing senses of security and hope, creating community and supporting Jewish journeys are some of the bigger themes that emerged for me. These are nothing new, but were just a reminder, a refocusing.

We have a regular old Shabbat here at shul this week. Kabbalat Shabbat will be a cappella (no instruments) in the chapel this week, at 6pm. Candle lighting is at 7:44pm.

Tomorrow morning we’ll be in the lower auditorium starting at 9am. I’ll be sermonizing, Rabbi Shafrin will be Torah Talking (10:10am), and mincha will be at 6:45pm. Shabbat ends at 8:47pm.

Next Shabbat morning we’ll have Consecration, where we’ll honor our students who began religious school this year.

And now for a little Torah… There was a meme circulating earlier this week celebrating Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel’s independence day) that has subsequently been taken down. It compared Israel in somewhat crude and in highly inappropriate ways to a physically attractive woman. Celebrating Israel and Yom HaAtzmaut is a great thing! And there’s nothing wrong with humor. But this was just offensive, inappropriate, and in very poor taste.

It was a reminder to me that it’s not only that we’re supposed to do good things, commandments, mitzvot, and holy acts. But that we’re also supposed to do them in holy ways. That’s one reading of the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Kedoshim: “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). Is this just an introduction, a general statement, with the details of what holiness means to be elaborated by all the following mitzvot? Rather, says the Ramban, who lived in Spain in the thirteenth century, this means that we should do all the mitzvot in a holy way.   We know it’s possible to be a very Jewishly observant jerk. The idea is that we should do holy things, and do them in holy ways.

Can you think of something, a good thing, that you did this week that you could have done in a slightly more holy way?

Shabbat shalom and see you in shul,
Rabbi Noah Arnow