Parashat Korah/Juneteenth

WTHOUT COURAGE, FREEDOM IS A SLOGAN

Freedom is not a moment.  There is never a moment before which there isn’t freedom and after which there is.  We long for such moments.  We believe in them and refer to them, but they are a best meaningful moments in an narrative and at worst deceptive lies.  

Did the Israelites feel free when the fled Egypt in the dark of night fearing the Egyptians and retribution?  I doubt it.  

Did they feel free when they crossed the sea to safety with Pharoah’s shattered army behind them?   Yes, of course, and they famously sang and danced about it as they should have,  but it was only a few days later that they started to complain and rebel and ask to go back to Egypt, because comfort can feel a lot like freedom.   It is easy to confuse the two. 

Parashat Korah/Juneteenth

WTHOUT COURAGE, FREEDOM IS A SLOGAN

Freedom is not a moment.  There is never a moment before which there isn’t freedom and after which there is.  We long for such moments.  We believe in them and refer to them, but they are a best meaningful moments in an narrative and at worst deceptive lies.  

Did the Israelites feel free when the fled Egypt in the dark of night fearing the Egyptians and retribution?  I doubt it.  

Did they feel free when they crossed the sea to safety with Pharoah’s shattered army behind them?   Yes, of course, and they famously sang and danced about it as they should have,  but it was only a few days later that they started to complain and rebel and ask to go back to Egypt, because comfort can feel a lot like freedom.   It is easy to confuse the two. 

Parashat Korah/Juneteenth

WTHOUT COURAGE, FREEDOM IS A SLOGAN

Freedom is not a moment.  There is never a moment before which there isn’t freedom and after which there is.  We long for such moments.  We believe in them and refer to them, but they are a best meaningful moments in an narrative and at worst deceptive lies.  

Did the Israelites feel free when the fled Egypt in the dark of night fearing the Egyptians and retribution?  I doubt it.  

Did they feel free when they crossed the sea to safety with Pharoah’s shattered army behind them?   Yes, of course, and they famously sang and danced about it as they should have,  but it was only a few days later that they started to complain and rebel and ask to go back to Egypt, because comfort can feel a lot like freedom.   It is easy to confuse the two. 

Parashat Korah/Juneteenth

WTHOUT COURAGE, FREEDOM IS A SLOGAN

Freedom is not a moment.  There is never a moment before which there isn’t freedom and after which there is.  We long for such moments.  We believe in them and refer to them, but they are a best meaningful moments in an narrative and at worst deceptive lies.  

Did the Israelites feel free when the fled Egypt in the dark of night fearing the Egyptians and retribution?  I doubt it.  

Did they feel free when they crossed the sea to safety with Pharoah’s shattered army behind them?   Yes, of course, and they famously sang and danced about it as they should have,  but it was only a few days later that they started to complain and rebel and ask to go back to Egypt, because comfort can feel a lot like freedom.   It is easy to confuse the two. 

Parashat Korah/Juneteenth

WTHOUT COURAGE, FREEDOM IS A SLOGAN

Freedom is not a moment.  There is never a moment before which there isn’t freedom and after which there is.  We long for such moments.  We believe in them and refer to them, but they are a best meaningful moments in an narrative and at worst deceptive lies.  

Did the Israelites feel free when the fled Egypt in the dark of night fearing the Egyptians and retribution?  I doubt it.  

Did they feel free when they crossed the sea to safety with Pharoah’s shattered army behind them?   Yes, of course, and they famously sang and danced about it as they should have,  but it was only a few days later that they started to complain and rebel and ask to go back to Egypt, because comfort can feel a lot like freedom.   It is easy to confuse the two. 

Parashat Korah/Juneteenth

WTHOUT COURAGE, FREEDOM IS A SLOGAN

Freedom is not a moment.  There is never a moment before which there isn’t freedom and after which there is.  We long for such moments.  We believe in them and refer to them, but they are a best meaningful moments in an narrative and at worst deceptive lies.  

Did the Israelites feel free when the fled Egypt in the dark of night fearing the Egyptians and retribution?  I doubt it.  

Did they feel free when they crossed the sea to safety with Pharoah’s shattered army behind them?   Yes, of course, and they famously sang and danced about it as they should have,  but it was only a few days later that they started to complain and rebel and ask to go back to Egypt, because comfort can feel a lot like freedom.   It is easy to confuse the two. 

Parashat Korah/Juneteenth

WTHOUT COURAGE, FREEDOM IS A SLOGAN

Freedom is not a moment.  There is never a moment before which there isn’t freedom and after which there is.  We long for such moments.  We believe in them and refer to them, but they are a best meaningful moments in an narrative and at worst deceptive lies.  

Did the Israelites feel free when the fled Egypt in the dark of night fearing the Egyptians and retribution?  I doubt it.  

Did they feel free when they crossed the sea to safety with Pharoah’s shattered army behind them?   Yes, of course, and they famously sang and danced about it as they should have,  but it was only a few days later that they started to complain and rebel and ask to go back to Egypt, because comfort can feel a lot like freedom.   It is easy to confuse the two. 

Parashat Korah/Juneteenth

WTHOUT COURAGE, FREEDOM IS A SLOGAN

Freedom is not a moment.  There is never a moment before which there isn’t freedom and after which there is.  We long for such moments.  We believe in them and refer to them, but they are a best meaningful moments in an narrative and at worst deceptive lies.  

Did the Israelites feel free when the fled Egypt in the dark of night fearing the Egyptians and retribution?  I doubt it.  

Did they feel free when they crossed the sea to safety with Pharoah’s shattered army behind them?   Yes, of course, and they famously sang and danced about it as they should have,  but it was only a few days later that they started to complain and rebel and ask to go back to Egypt, because comfort can feel a lot like freedom.   It is easy to confuse the two. 

Parashat Korah/Juneteenth

WTHOUT COURAGE, FREEDOM IS A SLOGAN

Freedom is not a moment.  There is never a moment before which there isn’t freedom and after which there is.  We long for such moments.  We believe in them and refer to them, but they are a best meaningful moments in an narrative and at worst deceptive lies.  

Did the Israelites feel free when the fled Egypt in the dark of night fearing the Egyptians and retribution?  I doubt it.  

Did they feel free when they crossed the sea to safety with Pharoah’s shattered army behind them?   Yes, of course, and they famously sang and danced about it as they should have,  but it was only a few days later that they started to complain and rebel and ask to go back to Egypt, because comfort can feel a lot like freedom.   It is easy to confuse the two. 

Parashat Korah/Juneteenth

WTHOUT COURAGE, FREEDOM IS A SLOGAN

Freedom is not a moment.  There is never a moment before which there isn’t freedom and after which there is.  We long for such moments.  We believe in them and refer to them, but they are a best meaningful moments in an narrative and at worst deceptive lies.  

Did the Israelites feel free when the fled Egypt in the dark of night fearing the Egyptians and retribution?  I doubt it.  

Did they feel free when they crossed the sea to safety with Pharoah’s shattered army behind them?   Yes, of course, and they famously sang and danced about it as they should have,  but it was only a few days later that they started to complain and rebel and ask to go back to Egypt, because comfort can feel a lot like freedom.   It is easy to confuse the two. 

Parashat Korah/Juneteenth

WTHOUT COURAGE, FREEDOM IS A SLOGAN

Freedom is not a moment.  There is never a moment before which there isn’t freedom and after which there is.  We long for such moments.  We believe in them and refer to them, but they are a best meaningful moments in an narrative and at worst deceptive lies.  

Did the Israelites feel free when the fled Egypt in the dark of night fearing the Egyptians and retribution?  I doubt it.  

Did they feel free when they crossed the sea to safety with Pharoah’s shattered army behind them?   Yes, of course, and they famously sang and danced about it as they should have,  but it was only a few days later that they started to complain and rebel and ask to go back to Egypt, because comfort can feel a lot like freedom.   It is easy to confuse the two. 

Parashat Korah/Juneteenth

WTHOUT COURAGE, FREEDOM IS A SLOGAN

Freedom is not a moment.  There is never a moment before which there isn’t freedom and after which there is.  We long for such moments.  We believe in them and refer to them, but they are a best meaningful moments in an narrative and at worst deceptive lies.  

Did the Israelites feel free when the fled Egypt in the dark of night fearing the Egyptians and retribution?  I doubt it.  

Did they feel free when they crossed the sea to safety with Pharoah’s shattered army behind them?   Yes, of course, and they famously sang and danced about it as they should have,  but it was only a few days later that they started to complain and rebel and ask to go back to Egypt, because comfort can feel a lot like freedom.   It is easy to confuse the two. 

Parashat Sh’lach

Two Jews, Three Opinions

Can I have a show of hands, how many people have used the phrase: “Two Jews, Three Opinions?” How about the story of the Jew shipwrecked alone on an island and, when rescued years later, he had built two synagogues–one to pray in and the other he would never set foot in?

Parashat Beha’alotcha/ PRIDE Shabbat

Frank

On May 19,  Barney Frank passed away at age 86 in the home he shared with his husband in Ogunquit, Maine.  We are here tonight celebrating and honoring PRIDE in a synagogue, and so I want share a few words about Congressman Frank and who he was and what he did for the LGBT community.  

ONE ACT OF KINDNESS

I’ve started reading Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s memoir about losing her son Hersh, When We See You Again.  Hersh was kidnapped on October 7 at the Nova Music Festival.   Having lost his arm , he was held hostage in the tunnels of Gaza for 328 days when he was executed.  

Most of you know who she is, and have probably seen her speak at the Democratic Convention or be interviewed by Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes, or heard her on Dan Senor’s podcast Call Me Back.  She is always so calm, deliberate and reflective when she speaks, when I would be anything but that.   The book is devastating and deeply honest and painfully moving.  In fact, I’ve had to read it one chapter at a time because I get so emotional while reading it that I have to give myself a few days before diving back in, but the emotion I find I have to contend with most while reading is rage. 

Kehilla Kedosha

So it is with great gratitude and humility that tonight, we dedicate ourselves to the work of carrying this community into its future, it’s promised land.  We do that in so many ways, from teaching our children at our outstanding religious school to working hard to raise $3,000,000 in our capital campaign, aptly named DOROT  - generations.  We are almost there, only around $200,000 from our goal, so if any of you feel moved to make a generous donation in honor of our 60th, it would be deeply appreciated, and as we said in the south growing up, “a star in your crown in heaven.”  With this money comes, yes, a roof that won’t leak and a nicer kitchen, but also more scholarships for our kids to go to Jewish camp, and for our teens and members to go on Sinai trips to Israel, and for us to hire another clergy person to support for our growing congregation. 

Moses lived to be 120.  With your help, love, and generosity, we will grow from strength to strength, ad mea v’esrim – To 120.

Finding Heschel’s Amazement in Pidyon haBen

In a moment, we will be reading from the Torah, these scrolls handwritten by scribes, scrolls we have passed down from one generation to the next through the centuries.   The Torah consists of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, and today we are starting the fourth book, the book of Numbers.  In every synagogue in the world, this morning we are reading from the same part.   The section we are reading from is not the most inspiring or enlightening of portions.  It is mostly a list of people and numbers, because in it, God tells Moses to take a census of the people, not once but twice. 

But nestled in this portion is the part we are going to read today.  It tells us that because God took the first-born of the Egyptians as part of freeing the people, the first-born son of every mother is given to God for service.  At Passover Seder, we take a drop of wine from the cup to remember the loss of the Egyptians, and that always struck me as a bit too easy, but devoting our first borns to God is a much more profound way of atoning for the cost of our freedom. 

NUMBERS  

This week’s Torah portion is all about numbers.   It is in fact the opening portion of the Book of – you guessed it – Numbers.  In it, God commands Moses and Aaron to do a lot of counting, to count, to take a census of all the Jewish people not once by twice.   What are some of the reasons we like to count things?  

Numbers matter.

How old are you?  We care about how old we are even when we say we don’t.   I just turned 65, and believe me, it matters. 

Vehi She’amda l’avoteinu v’lanu.  

We read this just a few days ago at our Seders:

This covenant has stood with our ancestors and with us.  For not just once has someone arose to destroy us.  Rather, in every generation they rise up to destroy us, but the Holy One of Blessing saved us from their hands.   

This prayer first appears in the Haggadah in the 800’s in Babylonia, under the Abassid Caliphate.  This was actually a age of cultural flourishing and relative security for that Jewish community,  so it is interesting that this prayer comes into the Haggadah during such a time of safety.  

And so early.  

Vehi She’amda l’avoteinu v’lanu.  

We read this just a few days ago at our Seders:

This covenant has stood with our ancestors and with us.  For not just once has someone arose to destroy us.  Rather, in every generation they rise up to destroy us, but the Holy One of Blessing saved us from their hands.   

This prayer first appears in the Haggadah in the 800’s in Babylonia, under the Abassid Caliphate.  This was actually a age of cultural flourishing and relative security for that Jewish community,  so it is interesting that this prayer comes into the Haggadah during such a time of safety.  

And so early.