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What do we remember of religious school?  Memorizing Hebrew letters?  Learning the melody to particular prayers?  Creating a Rorschach map of Israel, perhaps?

One of the things our Religious School aims to do is to familiarize our children with Torah stories.  We want our children to connect with this lovely fact: Any story, any verse in our tradition can give rise to innumerable and wholly relevant questions.

Our Torah and the midrash – the rich rabbinic commentary it has generated – is a treasure worth unpacking.  Our ancestors’ enigmatic silences or their passionate appeals, their struggles and their troubles can speak to our children – and to us.

Take this midrash: As Moses approached his wayward people with the Ten Commandments, a people wildly celebrating the creation of the Golden Calf, the letters on the tablets he carried flew off the stone.  The tablets became too heavy to hold.  No wonder he threw them from his arms; no wonder they splintered into pieces.

What happens when humanity violates the most essential principles, the most foundational elements of creating a just society?  Even our children can and have imagined consequences.  We adults see them writ large each day in the news – from the murder of families to the genocide of peoples.

Our Torah tells us that our people forgot their commitment to build a just society.  They forgot their vow to God at Sinai.  The stones became too heavy to carry because Moses bore the burden of human arrogance.

Or perhaps he carried their fear?  They stand vulnerable in the wilderness.  Where is God?  Where is their leader?  What have they committed to?  Another midrash tells us that Moses broke the tablet to safeguard the people he loved.  He didn’t want them to be held responsible for what they hadn’t yet received.  If they hadn’t received the law, they could not be said to have violated it.  Moses understood the Israelites’ anxiety.  What had they ever known but slavery?  How could they understand the responsibilities of freedom?

The rabbis even imagine Moses challenging God.  In this commentary, Moses asks: “Do you not remember that Israel learned idolatry in the land of idolaters?  Who put them there but You?!”

Torah: a rich and sweet and challenging source for the questions humanity has always faced, for the questions we ourselves face.  Do we know what it is to forget a promise?  Do we know what it is to be lost in a wilderness in which our fear makes us unsteady, our decisions imbalanced and wrongheaded?

Ask the children what they are learning from their stories.  Consider taking a moment to read a little Torah on Shabbat.  Torah speaks to the human condition in any time.  It helps us learn who we are and who we hope to be.

Time for a New Tradition?

We lit the candles.  Perhaps we welcomed in the ministering angels by singing Shalom Aleychem.  Some men may have recited the traditional text of Eshet Chayil in praise of their wives; others have relied on their own words of gratitude for their friends and partners.  And the children have been blessed.

We chant Kiddush (sanctification), welcoming in the Sabbath with a prayer of praise that allows our borei p’ri hagafen (creator of the fruit of the vine) to be extended and expanded to express gratitude for all creation and the Sabbath we are about to welcome in.

Time to wash our hands.  Water is the very essence of life and wisdom in Jewish tradition.  Before we say the motzi and break bread, we wash our hands to act like the priests of old.  They, too, washed before they approached the altar.

Our table is an altar of sorts.  It is a holy place in time, a place where we sanctify all that nourishes us – our relationships, our families, our Sabbath rest.

We remove our rings.  We pour water, often from a two-handled cup, over each hand.

One couple I know has the practice of washing their hands together, and replacing their wedding rings as a gift to each other – just as they did when they were married.  It’s one way they sanctify their commitment. They make it anew with their own variation of an ancient Shabbat ritual.

Jewish tradition offers us so very many ways to enrich and sanctify our lives.  Consider taking on a new tradition this Shabbat.

Have a wonderful Shabbat!

Rabbi Barbara

And for those interested, the text of Eshet Chayil…

Eshet Chayil

A Woman of Valor, who can find? She is more precious than corals.
Her husband places his trust in her and profits only thereby.
She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.
She seeks out wool and flax and cheerfully does the work of her hands.

Let me be upfront: This is not a terribly original move on my part.  Other rabbis routinely send out weekly notes to their congregants.

For a time I rather worried about the fact that everyone’s inbox is so cluttered these days that the last thing I wanted was for you to feel your rabbi was in on the mess-making.

Then I decided that if I named this just right, you would easily be able to recognize what had landed in your email and whether you had time to take out a moment for a little pre-Shabbaty message.

Of course, I hope you will!

Here, then, is my first pre-Shabbat Shabbat-O-Gram.

Once upon a time, a not so long time ago, Jews invited friends to dinner on Friday nights.  The candles were lit, husbands delighted their wives by reciting Eshet Chayyil, A Woman of Valor (a lovely litany of praises from Proverbs 31:10-31), the kids got blessed, and everyone sat down to an awesome meal.  After eating: digesting with the help of merriment, song, and all-round good cheer.

Tomorrow night, on February 17, at 6:30 at McGill Baptist Church, our congregation is holding its first-ever congregational Shabbat dinner – a large-scale version of an old tradition.  Candles will be lit, anyone who wants to can rise to praise their partner, spouse, or good friend, parents will bless their kids, and everyone will sit down to an evening of good food, a bit of song, some silly ice-breakers and a whole lot of schmoozing.  We are offering folks a chance to get to know our congregation at this event and our congregation a chance to know one another better.

Shabbat is about taking sweet moments to acknowledge our blessings and remind ourselves of the goodness of life itself.  Shabbat is about being with each other and learning more about friends and neighbors.  Shabbat is a way to make time holy with laughter, with prayer, with song, with pure fun.  Enjoy your Shabbat by joining in on Shabbat – at Temple Or Olam’s First Congregational Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner!

P.S. Those who haven’t officially signed up can still bring something yummy and join in!  Just let President Judah (jmalin@trimarkusa.com) know if you’re coming so we can make sure we have enough  chairs and tables set out….