December 5, 2003 D'var TorahDear BSO Congregant, This coming Shabbat, December 5-6, 2003 - Kislev 11, 5764, we will read Parshat Va-Yaytzay (annual cycle - Genesis 28:10 - 32:3; triennial cycle Genesis 31:17 - 32:3). The Haftarah is from Hosea 12:13 - 14:10.
This week’s Torah portion of Va-Yaytzay opens with Genesis 29:10, “And Jacob left Beer Sheva and went to Haran.” This seemingly innocuous verse provides Rashi (our most well known and quoted Biblical commentator) with an opportunity to share a beautiful lesson.
Rashi wonders why the text explicitly tells us that Jacob left Beer Sheva. Wouldn’t we know this already just by the text stating that Jacob went to Haran? Therefore Rashi informs us that the apparently extra reference to Jacob leaving Beer Sheva teaches us that “when a tzaddik-righteous person leaves a place, it makes an impression; for during the time that the tzaddik is in a city, he is its beauty(hoda), he is its brilliance(ziva), he is its splendor(hadara). When he leaves a city, there is a vacuum of beauty, brilliance and splendor.”
This is one of my favorite midrashim and rabbinic comments. I have found this statement to be most helpful and comforting. It is especially instructive for us at Congregation B’nai Shalom of Olney.
Every single person who enters our synagogue, to worship with us, visit us, or attend any of our programs adds a certain beauty, brilliance and splendor. Every single person impacts upon our congregation in ways that are unique since each of us reflects a different aspect of God’s image. When any of our congregants leave us, either by choice or most unfortunately, when there is a death, the congregation’s collective beauty, brilliance and splendor diminish. We lose some of our luster because everyone, in some form or another, makes an impression upon our community. While some of that impression may remain imbedded within our community, most often the essence of that person’s contribution leaves along with him or her.
As we grow into an ever larger and most active community with a now large and quite impressive synagogue building, it would be wise to remember the lesson taught by Rashi from the opening verse of this Torah portion—everyone who enters our congregation brings unique gifts. It is our challenge to encourage people to share those gifts, and to create a comfortable environment wherein our congregants are confident their gifts will be appreciated and accepted.
Perhaps this lesson can help us understand the power in the opening words of the Mourner’s Kaddish. When a person dies and leaves us, there is most often a vacuum—an absence of that person’s beauty, brilliance and splendor. The unique gifts from that person are no longer part of God’s world in the same way. The divine image, which was carried in the body that has now died, is diminished. In other words, when a person dies, God’s presence shrinks, so to speak. Therefore, in the Jewish religion those who are closest to the deceased, begin to recite the words “Yitgadal v’yitkadash shmay rabah—may God’s name be magnified and sanctified….” We declare the need for God’s name to now be magnified and sanctified since we feel the vacuum, the emptiness, the sense of longing for our loved one. When we perform noble and worthy acts in memory of our loved one, we are not only honoring his or her name. At the same time we are replenishing some of the divinity that escaped from this world upon his or her death.
This week and next are the earliest candle lighting times of the year. If December 21 is the shortest day of the year, why are the earliest candle lighting times now, and not later in the month? Our service on Shabbat morning, December 6 will begin at 9:00 AM. During this service we will the Bat Mitzvah of Rachel Goldberg. Our Shabbat Minha service will begin at 12:30 PM. Ma-Ariv followed by Havdalah will begin at 5:10 PM. Our service on Sunday morning, December 7 will begin at 8:45 AM. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Philip Pohl B'nai Shalom of Olney
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