Parshat Re’eh

SERMON   PARASHAT RE’EH  Evie Kent Bat Mitzvah  AUGUST 22, 2025  

Rabbi David Edleson   Temple Sinai  South Burlington, Vermont

Practicing Our Faith

Have you ever thought about why we often use the verb “practice” when we talk about faith and faith traditions.  We say we practice this faith or this discipline.   What do we mean by that?   Rabbi David Niven asked that question when teaching about this week’s Torah portion. 

Often we think of faith as something we have, or don’t have.  People often talk about faith coming in a flash, or in the midst of a crisis when somehow they suddenly open to a connection to the divine that just hadn’t been there before, or that they didn’t allow themselves. 

Evie,  you are a gymnast, and you know very well that to get good at a particular move or routine, you have to practice something over and over and over.  It isn’t always fun.  It can be boring and tiring and frustrating.  You do it because you are working for those moments when it all comes together and you are in the flow and it all comes together.   In those moments, all those hours and hours of practice somehow become worth it, more than worth it.  You would never have those moments without all the practice that leads up to it.

So what if faith is more like gymnastics than we usually think? What if faith requires practice? 

While Jews almost never use the word “practice” when it comes to their faith and Judaism, I think our tradition is deeply rooted in this idea.  We just call it something else:  we call it being “observant”.  We observe the mitzvot or we keep them, but it really means practice.  The mitzvot are the practices by which we act out our faith, and those actions in return give us the foundation to have those spiritual moments when we are in the flow and it all comes together. 

Tonight you chanted the Shema and the Va’ahavta, which describe key practices we have.   We say the Shema several times a day.  We teach our practices to the next generation in Religious Schools like you’ve been in with us here at Temple Sinai.   We write our duties on our doorways in the form of a mezuzah to remind us to practice our faith.  The Tallit you will get in the morning has the fringes knotted to remind us of our duty to practice.

And our prayers require practice, as you know so well from preparing for your Bat Mitzvah.   It takes practice to get used to our services, to the Hebrew and relax into it enough that the spirit within it emerges.  This has been our practice for thousands and thousands of years, from generation to generation. 

Becoming Bat Mitzvah means you are stepping into those practices and you will find that their meaning is found in doing them over and over through you life so that your growth and the highs and lows in your life are woven into these practices so their meaning deepens over time. 

Traditional Judaism lists 613 Mitzvot that Jews are obligated to;  some are things you must do; some are things you must not do and they cover everything from how we pray, to how you treat your parents and siblings, to how we help the poor and the stranger and the vulnerable.  Tomorrow, I know you will talk about the practice of giving to others.  Judaism sees these as all inextricably intertwined, with each practice reinforcing and deepening the other.  

In your Torah Portion from Deuteronomy, it says this:

“Be careful to hear and practice all these commandments that I enjoin upon you; thus it will go well with you and with your descendants after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of your God יהוה”  (Deut 12:28).

As you become Bat Mitzvah, a daughter of the mitzvot, I hope you will practice your faith and that in turn, your faith gives you live a sense of depth, of connection, of purpose, and of holiness.       

Shabbat Shalom.