Rabbi's Weekly Teaching
Shemini Atzeret / Simchat Torah
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
On Rosh Hashanah, just a few short weeks ago, we talked about what it means to "love our neighbor." While these words are familiar, and true for every faith tradition, sometimes what we don't realize is that loving our neighbor is something that requires action. It is not just a matter of looking out at the world through a positive lens; it is instead letting ourselves be aware that there are people in our communities that need our help - and then taking action to make sure that we give help where it is needed.
Sometimes we aren't sure where to begin, so in this new year, Temple Sholom is beginning our Chesed initiative, to enable our congregational community to engage in at least one act of loving-kindness per person. The following words I am sharing are an extract from my Chesed initiative sermon - you can link to the full text at the end of this teaching.
There is a scene in the movie The Bear, where a little bear cub is about to be attacked by a mountain lion. The little cub stands on its hind legs in an attempt to look intimidating. When the mountain lion turns and runs away, the little cub is very impressed with himself. What the little cub doesn't see is his 10-foot tall, 1200-pound parent standing upright behind him.
Like the bear cub, there are times when we need the strength and attentiveness of others... and we may not even know it or know how to ask for it.
Like the parent bear, it's natural to love our children and to be there when they need us. But is loving our immediate family enough?
As Jews, we're commanded to extend love beyond our close family. We're not only commanded to "love our neighbor" -- but also to go even beyond those in our community, as we are commanded to "love the stranger."
In Hebrew, the same construction for the prayer, "You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your being," - v'ahavta et Adonai Elohecha - is the same construction as the commandment to love the stranger: v'ahavta et ha ger kamocha - "you shall love the stranger as yourself."
This linguistic clue tells us something very important about the Divine imperative to love - that loving God is equal to loving the "other." Conversely, it can also indicate to us that sometimes God can seem as far away to us as any stranger.
Thus, closeness to God - drawing near to the Divine - can then be achieved by performing acts of loving-kindness. These "good deeds," or mitzvahs, can help us to seek God's presence by reaching out to those in need of our help, and those most in need of Divine - and human - grace.
Reb Yitzhak Meir Alter, the Gerer Rebbe, asked one of his students after the Morning Prayer service "How is your colleague, Moshe Ya'akov doing?"
"I...I'm not sure. Is there something I should know?" replied the student.
"What?" shouted the Rebbe. "You pray under the same roof? You serve the same God? You study the same Torah? Yet you dare to tell me you don't know how Moshe Yaakov is? You don't know if he needs help, or advice, or comfort? How can that be?"
The story of the Gerer Rebbe reminds us that the very essence of community life is to share in each other's lives. We're not meant to leave one another alone, in fear, in sorrow, or in joy.
Early in our daily prayer book, there's a liturgical phrase: Behold I'm ready to accept upon myself the commandment of the Creator that "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." This mitzvah from the Torah is the source of the so-called Golden Rule, and according to Rabbi Akiva, "it's the most important mitzvah principle of our Torah, greater than, and including all others."
Accepting upon ourselves the commandment to love others doesn't simply mean being more loving, or looking out at the world from the self and merely thinking well of others. It means taking action. It means, in the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, "praying with one's feet."
This year, Temple Sholom is introducing our new Chesed initiative. This will enable our congregants to be matched with acts of loving-kindness that need to be done in our Temple community and beyond. Whether it is driving an elderly person to a class or to services, volunteering to serve meals at a soup kitchen, collecting food for the hungry or donating blood, our new initiative asks our Temple family to reach out beyond the day to day business of the self to engage in at least one act of loving-kindness in this new Jewish year.
I have enclosed my remarks on our Chesed initiative from Rosh Hashanah, and a downloadable version of our Chesed initiative sign up form. You can fill out this form and return it to Rav David Saiger at the Temple. Or, you can check out our list of opportunities online, on our Temple Sholom website, and email Rav David directly using the email link on our website or at ravdavid@templesholom.com. Or if there is another project you'd like to support, we hope you will get in touch and tell us about it, so that we can match others to your opportunity.
In the days to come, may we all find the act of loving-kindness that speaks most deeply to our hearts, and may these good deeds bring us closer to the One who is the source of love and good within us all.
Chag Sameach,
Rabbi Mitch
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