Yom Kippur is just past and Sukkot begins next week. Yom Kippur is like an intake of breath, a pause to reflect before we step into the New Year and Sukkot is like an exhale of breath, a blessing and a hope for a year of abundance and joy. We exist poised between the two, hoping for the best and wondering what this new year will bring. We hope for an end to the pandemic, greater openness, more health, more coming together. Many of us also hope for a new beginning, a chance to reset, to begin anew and create a society that is more resilient and more equitable.
In this week’s Torah portion, Moses leaves the Israelites with a challenge before he goes off to his death on Mt. Nebo, “Take to heart all the words with which I have warned you this day. Enjoin them upon your children, that they may observe faithfully all the terms of this Teaching. For this is not a trifling thing for you: it is your very life; through it you shall long endure on the land that you are to possess” (Deuteronomy 32:46-47)
We have spent the last 10 days, from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur immersed in words, of prayer and of Torah. We have had the opportunity to reflect on who we are and how we have acted. Now we have the opportunity to bring those insights into the new year and act on them to grow as individuals and to grow as a society. Let’s not squander this opportunity, it is no trifling thing, it is our very lives.
Ha’Azinu, Deuteronomy 32:1-32:52 – Parashat ha Shavuah for Saturday, September 17, 2021
September 17, 2021 by Dean Kertesz • Drashot
Yom Kippur is just past and Sukkot begins next week. Yom Kippur is like an intake of breath, a pause to reflect before we step into the New Year and Sukkot is like an exhale of breath, a blessing and a hope for a year of abundance and joy. We exist poised between the two, hoping for the best and wondering what this new year will bring. We hope for an end to the pandemic, greater openness, more health, more coming together. Many of us also hope for a new beginning, a chance to reset, to begin anew and create a society that is more resilient and more equitable.
In this week’s Torah portion, Moses leaves the Israelites with a challenge before he goes off to his death on Mt. Nebo, “Take to heart all the words with which I have warned you this day. Enjoin them upon your children, that they may observe faithfully all the terms of this Teaching. For this is not a trifling thing for you: it is your very life; through it you shall long endure on the land that you are to possess” (Deuteronomy 32:46-47)
We have spent the last 10 days, from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur immersed in words, of prayer and of Torah. We have had the opportunity to reflect on who we are and how we have acted. Now we have the opportunity to bring those insights into the new year and act on them to grow as individuals and to grow as a society. Let’s not squander this opportunity, it is no trifling thing, it is our very lives.
Shannah tovah, may we all have a good year.
~Rabbi Dean Kertesz