D'var Torah

I welcome the chance to write the clergy article this week, as I return from a three-month sabbatical. It’s great to be back and begin reconnecting with all of you – if I haven’t seen you yet, I’d love to say hello! My time away was fulfilling and renewing, and I am so grateful to the congregation for this opportunity.

This month, I participated in the Rabbinic Torah Seminar at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and learned from some of the greatest Jewish scholars of the day. The sabbatical also allowed my family to spend an extended time in Israel. It was incredible to settle into both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and to show our three kids the country at a relaxed pace. I will never forget listening to them enjoy testing each other in modern Hebrew using an iPhone app while we drove around the Galilee!

It was, of course, an intense time to be in Israel, and the gravity of events there is only deepening. (For more on the current political crisis, please see the clergy’s email message from Tuesday.) My family attended some of the Saturday night protests that have happened every week since January. We met with Palestinians to hear their stories and took tours that shed light on multiple narratives of life in the holy land. At the same time, we enjoyed Israel, its open-air markets with their arrays of spices, fruits and rugelach, its beaches and deserts, its beautiful and fascinating kibbutzim, each unique in its character and history. Going to Israel and experiencing it yourself is amazing and rewarding in many ways. If you are able to join Dara Holop and me on the family trip to Israel in December of this year, let us know!

At the same time, seeing Israel’s failures as well as its successes, its wonders as well as its challenges, was a real-time reminder of what is at stake in the current moment. Today is Tisha B’av, a traditional fast day in commemoration of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. The sages attribute the Temple’s destruction to sin’at chinam, or baseless hatred, teaching that it was not only Roman oppression but also the inability of Jewish leaders to work together that led to their exile. I am reminded by this holiday that the current struggle in Israel is not only for democracy but also for compromise and moderation. The greatest thing we can do for Israel is to help prevent an ancient tragedy from repeating itself today, to help society withstand the pressures of extremists, and strengthen the unity of the Jewish people.

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Jeffrey Saxe