A teaching in memory of my mother who died on Election Day in 2008 and in honor of my husband, the election judge.  

Let me be clear. I live in a purple county, I work in a purple county and I work for a synagogue that is a 501 3c that is a purple non-profit. I understand my role. I cannot tell someone who to vote for. Full stop. But I can tell you to go vote. That is your voice. And your voice is needed. It is precisely the message that JUF sent out to all of its donors and I sent to my congregation on Purim. It matches the message of Mordechai to Esther. Perhaps you are in this time and place just for this reason. “Fierce like Esther” is what my coffee mug says. 

Let me be clear. I am a rabbi. That means that I teach. All day every day, from our youngest Chai Babies with fun music to our senior seniors with what the Torah and haftarah texts say. Everything I teach whether it is “arcane” halachah about how to observe Passover to how to sit shiva (or not) to the blessings over every day occurrences, it all goes back to text and Jewish values. 

That leads to a question. What is a Jewish value? Things that the text tells us we should do or that we should be. They are the central, core principles, the moral fiber of living a Jewish life. It’s how we do Jewish. 

These are unprecedented times. Whether you are worried about the Middle East, Israel and the hostages in particular, Ukraine, peace in other places or losing a job or money in your retirement accounts, health of yourself, friends and family or you a mourning the loss of loved ones, there is plenty to make people scared and anxious. 

Many people are searching what they can do and where the moral leadership might be. They look for that kind of leadership in their religious leaders, whether Jewish, Christian, Muslim. They don’t always agree. You may not be agreeing with this. That’s OK. Argue with me. Politely. Civilly. 

We had just such a discussion this weekend. Our prayerbook, Siddur Sim Shalom, like many Jewish prayer books has a prayer for our country. We have been praying for our leaders since Jeremiah’s day. Wherever we have lived. How ever they have treated Jews. The words vary some by decade, by location, by need. One of my favorites is the one that the Jewish congregation of Richmond, VA wrote for Washington that spells out Washington as an acrostic as part of the prayer. Another one prays for the King of England. Not Charles, but Elizabth’s father! Charles may need prayers for healing from what I am seeing in the news. And we have recently prayed for the Pope, even though he is not our leader per se.  

I have written extensively about our prayers for healing, specifically Mi Sheberach. And we ask people to pray for whom they are concerned about. That could be someone with a sniffle, with COVID, with a chronic disease, in the hospital, at home, in rehab. It is a prayer to support those who need healing of mind, body and spirit. So, it encompasses those with mental health issues and those with physical ailments. It helps those offering the prayer or those who may not even know we are praying for them. We have prayed for victims of Katrina and other hurricanes, for IDF soldiers, for hostages, for Gazans, for refugees. For the world at large. The world does need a lot of healing. I don’t see this as political. I see  them reflective of Jewish values.  

Let’s go back to trying to define Jewish values.  

Some would cite Micah, “What does the Lord require of you: Only to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly, modestly with your G-d.” Seems simple, no?  

Or some would cite the holiness code, Leviticus 19, which says, “You shall be holy for I the Lord your G-d am holy.” It goes on to spell out ways to set up a civil society. Revere your mother and your father. Don’t put a stumbling block before the blind or curse the deaf. Don’t stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds. Don’t hold a grudge. Do not withhold the wages of your laborer. Have just weights and measures. Above all, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

Or some would argue that we should be like G-d. In the Talmud we learn, “Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina taught that the passage commanding us to walk with God (Devarim 13:5) cannot be understood literally because God is an all-consuming fire (see Devarim 4:24). Rather we must understand this to mean that we should follow in the way of God, emulating His deeds. For example: 

• Just as G-d clothed the naked (Bereshit 3:21), so we should clothe the naked. 

• Just as G-d visited the sick (Bereshit 18:1), we should visit the sick. 

• Just as G-d comforted those in mourning (Bereshit 25:11), we should comfort those in mourning. 
• Just as G-d buried the dead (Devarim 34:6), we should bury the dead.  (Sotah 14ab) 

This text mirrors other Jewish texts like the famous Isaiah haftarah from Yom Kippur that argues that G-d isn’t especially interested in our fast. Rather it is to unlock the fetters of wickedness, untie the cords of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free…to share your bread with the hungry, to take the poor into your home, and when you see the naked, to clothe them. “ (Isaiah 58:6-7) 

These are my marching orders. I take them very seriously. I spent Saturday afternoon walking a 5K to feed the hungry and house the unhoused. As part of cleaning the CKI kitchen for Passover, I took our leftover whole breads and delivered them to the micro pantry at Holy Trinity. They were gone before I left CKI for the evening. I met with a bride and groom this morning. I helped someone find access to medical care. I am living out my Jewish values. I am doing something. Little bits every day.  

Do is a very interesting verb. It one of the most used one in American English. Hi, there, how are you doing? What do you do? How do you do? The list goes on and on. Sometimes we need to stop doing and just be. That’s part of what Shabbat is. The pause that refreshes so that then we can continue doing. At CKI we have a political free zone. We don’t talk politics per se. And there is an important difference between politics and partisanship. What we really mean is partisanship. Remember, I can’t endorse a candidate, have a sticker on my car, or a lawn sign. But I can teach about Jewish values, morals and ethics.  

One year as part of our Shavuot Tikkun Leil Shavuot we looked at all the texts around chesed, lovingkindness. Because ultimately, if we are emulating G-d. It all comes down to lovingkindness, compassion and empathy. Here is the text we signed as a group: 

The Israelites
gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai said “We will do and we will hear.” Even before they knew what was in it, they agreed.  

On this, the 6th of Sivan 5779 as we reckon time in Elgin, IL, we, the members of Congregation Kneseth Israel are standing again at Mount Sinai ready to receive the Torah as a sign of our covenant with the Holy One. We promise to engage in 

Lifelong Learning 

• To attend the house of study  

• To learn and to teach with our adults and children 

• To teach our children diligently 

Meaningful Observance  

• To pray with sincerity 

• To remember and keep Shabbat
  To rejoice with bride and groom 

• To console the bereaved  

• To celebrate lifecycle events and holidays 

• To maintain a kosher kitchen 

Building Community 

• To honor our fathers and mothers 

• To perform acts of love and kindness 

• To visit the sick 

• To host gatherings for men and women and children 

• To be warm and welcoming to all who enter 

Embracing Diversity 

• To recognize that everyone is created in the image of G-d, b’tzelem elohim
  To love our neighbors as ourselves 

• To welcome the stranger  

• To provide hospitality to all who enter 

• To not put a stumbling block before the blind or curse the deaf 

• To provide a safe, non-judgmental space for all to learn, celebrate and grow 

• To make peace where there is strife 

And the study of Torah equal to them all, because it leads to them all. 

“Ours is not to finish the task, neither are we free to ignore it.” Pirke Avot 2:21 

Witnessed and signed this day of Shavuot, 5779 by 

Tomorrow some of you have an opportunity to vote. That is priceless. It hasn’t always been true wherever we have lived as Jews. We haven’t been considered citizens. Go exercise your right to vote and vote your Jewish values. That is something you most certainly can do. Then figure out how to feed the hungry, house the unhoused, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, love your neighbor as yourself. Those need doing too.   

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all
Joni Mitchell

Today’s portion has something to teach us about clouds. And G-d’s very presence.  

Cantor Robin Joseph, a graduate of the Academy for Jewish Religion, a former president of ARC and someone who has been in her pulpit for 44 years, reminded me of this song and this metaphor with her D’var Torah this week: 

“Clouds are—what? The presence of God? A cover for God? A signal from God? In Parashat Pekudei, they are D) All of the above. And then some. 

One cloud in particular makes a brief, but spectacular, cameo appearance as the curtain comes down on the second “act” (Book) of the Five Books of Moses. Not just any cloud, not just a cloud, but The Cloud (הֶעָנָ֖ן). As much a supporting actor in the Torah as anyone (or anything) else, I’m continually surprised not to see the word “cloud” capitalized in the English translation whenever the article “the” precedes it. 

This is not the first time that The Cloud has made an appearance in the Torah. 

As early as in the Book of Genesis, when God makes a covenant, a Brit, with Noah to never again destroy the earth by flood, God sets God’s “bow in the cloud.” [Gen. 9:13] 

And it will not be the last. One example is later in the Book of Numbers, The Cloud will withdraw from Miriam and Aaron’s confrontation with Moses and leave Miriam stricken with white scales. [Num. 12:10] The list of Cloud sightings goes on. “The Cloud” appears close to one hundred times in the Torah; it is no “bit part.” 

In this parashah, The Cloud’s entrance is grand and its powers are absolute. 

It covers, it settles, it lifts (or doesn’t lift) and it rests. It is animated in a way which belies its ephemeral qualities. It accompanies God’s presence in the wilderness as an emissary of the Divine. Or is it, perhaps, Divine in and of itself?” 

She goes on to connect the Torah’s understanding of cloud to the ancient Greeks: 

https://ajr.edu/parashat-pekudei-5785/ 

Rabbi Toba Spitzer asks similar questions in her book, God is Here. “How do we foster a sense of closeness—to one another to our community, to Jewish practice—when we can’t be physically close.” She was writing this in the middle of the pandemic, when congregations pivoted to Zoom or some streaming platform. People were feeling isolated. They didn’t know how they could draw close to one another, or frankly to G-d. She comes to some of the same conclusions as Cantor Jospeh. “With the metaphor of Cloud, the biblical authors found a way to convey a sense of nearness to Something close that cannot be touched.” 

She talks about fog obscuring things from view but can also make something that is usually invisible visible. She also references Joni Mitchel’s song “Both Sides Now.”  

She talks about hiking and being surrounded by fog. Simon and I have hiked much. In one of those first hikes, we climbed Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. It is the first part of the United States that sees sunrise. It was a hard climb, and it seemed we wouldn’t reach the summit by sunrise. Yet there was a bank of fog on the horizon, and the sun was taking longer to crest the horizon out on the Atlantic. I famously said, “I don’t think the sun will rise.” Simon thought it was a lack of faith on my part. Of course, the sun rose. It passed through that cloud bank brilliantly and we sat on the side of the mountain singing Shacharit out of the siddur we had carefully carried up in our backpack while eating some breakfast snacks. 

There is a famous quote written by some annonymous Jew on a wall in Cologne, Germany, during World War II: 

“I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love,
even when there’s no one there.
And I believe in God,
even when He is silent. 

Even though he or she couldn’t see the sun or G-d, still they believed. Even if the clouds obscure the sun, still the sun is there. Even if The cloud blocks our vision of G-d, still G-d is there. That brings me hope.  

I love flying. OK—I don’t like turbulence. But once you clear the clouds, looking down on the clouds is a great time to think or write. Sometimes it even leads to a spiritual experience. I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now.  

I love prairie clouds. OK–I don’t like the severe weather that sometimes comes with them. Be weather aware this weekend. But when I am out for a walk, I love the large expansive spaces, the towering clouds, the play of light and dark. They keep me grounded. It can be a spiritual experience, And I have even dreamed of crafting a book of photos of those clouds. I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now.

Often times clouds seem like an obstacle for doing what we want to do. But Rebbe Nachman teachers, “One who is aware can find G-d in the midst of the obstacles themselves. There really are not any obstacles in the world at all because in the obstacles themselves is found the Holy One. Through the obstacles themselves, in fact, one might draw closer to God because that is where God is hidden. And this is the meaning for of Moses approached the thick cloud. That is the obstacle, for that is where God is.” 

Many of you are encountering obstacles. Whether they are health challenges, job loses, mourning relatives and friends. Some have reflected that you are scared or anxious. Many of you have asked what you can do in this unprecedented time.  Some of you wonder where is G-d. That everything seems to be slipping away. The Israelites felt that way too when God seemed hidden by The Cloud and they didn’t know which way to go, when Moses disappeared on the top of the mountain for 40 days and nights..  

Last week when we were reading Torah, I said I found it a boring parsha. All those sockets. All those supplies needed to build a miskan, a sanctuary, a house for G-d, a place where that cloud, that presence could settle, and Moses could speak with G-d face to face. While I was chanting the Hebrew, I noticed something that I hadn’t seen before. Each paragraph started with the words “V’asa. And he made.” This portion , too, has a number of instances V’asu, as well as “V’asuli. And they made.” Together they build the mishkan. It took all of them. Together, even here, we are building a house for the Lord, and for us as a community. Only together can we do this work.  

Then we are told “When Moses finished the work, the cloud covered the tent of Meeting the Presence of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Yet, still Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting. Only when the cloud lifted could the Israelites set out on their journey.  

This parsha gives me hope.  Pirke Avot teaches us, and it has now become part of my email signature, “Ours is not to finish the task, neither are we free to ignore it.” There are obstacles to creating, to repairing the world we want to live in. But if we each make something, if we each do something, if we look up at the clouds, we can find a way to not ignore the task. This afternoon, look up at the clouds and know that God is there. This evening, find one thing, just one thing you can do to make the world a better place, your community, your household, to build a place for God and you to dwell. 

As we often sing: 

Oh lord prepare me to be a sanctuary 
pure and holy tried and true.
And in thanksgiving I’ll be a living, sanctuary for you.
Ve’asu li mikdash veshachanti betocham 
Ve anachnu nevarech yah Me Atah ve Ad olam 

At the very end of the parsha, we say chazak, chazak v;nitchazaik. Be strong, be strong and be strengthened. We have more of the journey to do. 

 Vayakhel Moshe et kol adat b’nei yisrael. 

Moses then convoked the whole Israelite community  (Ex 35:1) 

That’s how the full portion begins. Our section is a repetition of how to build the mishkan, the portable sanctuary. We know that when something is repeated in the Torah it comes to teach us something new. What are we meant to learn here?  

Every Saturday , every Shabbat morning, I begin our service with this prayer:  

אֱלֹהַי נְשָׁמָה שֶׁנָּתַֽתָּ בִּי טְהוֹרָה הִיא 

My soul that You have given me is pure.  

I remind you to take a breath, because soul is breath. And that you are a beloved child of G-d. G-d created you, breathed your soul into you and that your soul is pure. You are each created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of G-d.  

So take this mirror and take a deep look and smile. Each of you is pure. Each of you is created in the image of G-d. Each of you is loved. 

Our portion and yes, our haftarah too has a lot to do with purity. It talks about the pure gold the overlays the klei kodesh, the holy instruments in the mishkan they are building. The haftarah talks about purifying the impure people who have been scattered, exiled, because they polluted the land.  

Anyone ever drive into Michigan and notice their slogan, “Pure Michigan.” While I believe it has to do with the pure natural beauty of Michigan, I bristle at it every single time. That’s a sermon for another time.  

In the old days, people were scared of life giving fluids, blood and seminal emissions. You needed to be purified from them. They were seen as dangerous if they were somehow out of your body. Mary Douglas’s famous anthropology book, Purity and Danger, makes this very clear. During the second temple period, there were 70 mikva’ot surrounding the temple so that people, men and women could be pure before ascending to the Holy Temple.  

These days, mikva’ot are used primarily by brides, by women after their mensuration and by people becoming Jewish. Having worked at a mikveh I know that they are expanding their uses to create meaningful observances. People recovering from illness, beginning chemo, ending chemo, retirement, milestone birthdays, before Shabbat or other holy days. The possibilities seem endless. I have been witness to many life-affirming rituals both happy and sad.  

Pure isn’t about cleanliness. In fact you take a bath or shower before entering the mikvah. Anita Diamant prefers the term ritually ready. She should know. She wrote the Red Tent and founded the mikvah I worked in and her most recent book is “Period.” 

Sometimes, however, this all gets lost in translation and in practice. So what is the most unusual about this portion is that it includes the women. Over and over again: 

Men and women, all whose hearts moved them, all who would make an elevation offering of gold to GOD, came bringing brooches, earrings, rings, and pendants—gold objects of all kinds. (Ex 35:22) 

The Torah is going out of its way to emphasize the role of women in building the mishkan. How appropriate that we read this portion this year during Women’s History Month. Did any of you go to Gail Borden to see the exhibit about Barbie? It it worth the trip. While I was not allowed to have a Barbie growing up (not the right image according to my intellectual parents), the creator of Barbie, Ruth Handler, “a nice Jewish girl” who wanted a different kind of doll for her daughter than just a baby doll. Barbie could be anything you wanted. A doctor, an astronaut, a computer programmer, an office worker, a police officer. The sky was the limit. Go see the exhibit.  

Did you know that there is Tefilin Barbie. A custom doll (and out of my budget, still). She can wear tefilin, read and lift Torah.  

While women were not prevented from wearing tefilin or chanting Torah, they were most certainly discouraged. They are exempt—so not required from time-bound mitzvot, such as tefilin or saying the Sh’ma as a specific time. That doesn’t mean they can’t. Even Saul’s daughter and Rashi’s daughters are documented in the literature to wear tefilin. 

Not chanting Torah is a little more complicated. It is not, as I was first told as a Tufts student, because women might be impure (read menstruating). Much like the waters of the mikvah, you cannot pass impurities to the Torah. Full stop. Period, (Pun intended.) Rather, women had more time so could better prepare and the rabbis of the Talmud were essentially afraid that a woman, or a child, would show the men up. 

Here at CKI we don’t have that problem. We have men and women who help lead the service. We have men and women who serve equally on the board of directors. And this wasn’t always the case. 

Here during Women’s History Month, it is important to point out that two women’s organizations were founded during the month of March, both in 1912. The first, Hadassah was a platform for women to learn and exhibit real leadership skills in an era where there were not many venues. Like Esther, nee Hadassah, Henrietta Szold, founded Hadassah to give women their voices and to improve the lives of women living in then Palestine, through a focus on nursing. The women found their voices and have raised millions for Hadassah Hospital, their critical medical care and research.  

The second organization also near and dear to me, is Girl Scouts. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low and based on a model from the UK, it was founded in Savanah on March 12, 1912. It gave girls the chance to learn real skills and to earn recognition through badges that were not available to most girls and women at that time. 

Nonetheless, despite Ruth, Henietta and Juliette, women are still denied participation in many of opportunities allowed men in this country.  My husband’s ex-wife was denied the possibility of becoming an archaeologist by the University of Michigan. Their policies would not allow a woman to travel to a dig. Their daughter was told she didn’t need to take chemistry in high school. She is now a chemical engineer evaluating intellectual property. And, of course at some point, I was told I couldn’t be a rabbi because I was a woman.  

Yet, our portion reports that women were responsible for helping to build that mishkan.  

“Every skilled woman put her hand to spinning, and they [all] brought the spun yarn of sky-blue wool, dark red wool, crimson wool and fine linen. Highly skilled women volunteers also spun the goats’ wool.” (Ex. 35:25-26) 

“Every man and woman among the Israelites who felt an urge to give something for all the work that God had ordered through Moses, brought a donation for God.” (Ex. 35:29) 

As Rabbi Lord Sacks, z’l” the chief rabbi of Great Britain pointed out, “Indeed the emphasis is even greater than it seems in translation, because of the unusual locution in verse 22, Vayavo-u ha-anashim al hanashim, which implies that the women came to make their donations first, and the men merely followed their lead (Ibn Ezra, Ramban, and Rabbenu Bachye).” 

Perhaps this is because they still had their gold, since they didn’t give it up to build the Golden Calf, the story we read last week. It is because of this refusal that Rosh Hodesh has been given to women as a half-holiday.  

Perhaps as Kli Yakar (R. Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz, 1550 –1619) instructs, since the Tabernacle was an atonement for the Golden Calf, the women had no need to contribute at all, since it was the men not the women who needed atonement. Nonetheless, women gave, and they did so before the men. They led by example and the men followed. 

And then as Sacks points out, “He [Betzalel] made the copper washstand and its copper base out of the mirrors of the dedicated women [ha-tzove’ot] who congregated at the entrance of the Communion Tent. (Ex. 38:8”) 

Those mirrors, passed down through the generations of women enslaved are the same ones that the women used to woo their husbands. Those husbands so tired from their forced labor as slaves did not want to procreate. Perhaps the original “Not tonight, I have a headache.” But the women, according to the midrash, would lure their husbands. Moses initially rejected these gifts because the mirrors were made for temptation and lustful thoughts. But G-d told Moses to accept them since they were more precious to G-d than anything. They helped the Jewish people survive. (Midrash Tanhuma) 

What then do we do with our text today? We remember as Rabbi David Greenstein suggested to the students at the Academy for Jewish Religion, we are all klei kodesh, holy instruments and what we are building here is a kehila kedosha, a holy community. A kehila kedosha built as the men and the women were building the mishkan as a place for both women and men built by men and women. We continue to build this place, this very community.  Each of you in pure. Created by G-d, in the image of the Divine. Each of you is loved. 

Adonai, Adonai el rachum v’chanun. Erech Apayim v’rav chesed v’emet. Nose chesed l’alaphim, nose avon, v’ pesa, v’nakeh….

We don’t usually sing this on Shabbat, even if it is a festival. But we know these words. We add them to our daily services every day from Rosh Hodesh Elul through Yom Kippur. It is how G-d taught us to gain atonement.  

It is a portion I know well. It was part of my Bat Mitzvah portion and it is part of why I decided to become a rabbi and then I wrote my thesis about it. Some years I feel that I can never find something new to say.  

If you listen carefully, you will hear two words that repeat. There are no extra words in the Torah, so when this happens, we know it is there for emphasis or to teach us something. The repetition of Adonai, Adonai, according to the rabbis tells us that G-d loves us before we sin and after we sin.  

In another interpretation, we are told that G-d prays. What is that prayer? G-d prays that mercy outweighs justice. Rabbi Zutra bar Tovia, quoting Rav, states that God prays: “May it be My will that My mercy will overcome My anger, and may My mercy prevail over My other attributes, and may I conduct Myself toward My children with the attribute of mercy”. (Berachot 7) Mercy and compassion are extended to a thousand generations and outweigh justice.  

 That might be because G-d loves us unconditionally. And that is the other word. Chesed. Hard to translate. The former president of Hebrew Union College, when he wrote his thesis concluded that Chesed is not a word that can be translated. The closest is lovingkindness. 

According to the dictionary, chesed is “the attribute of grace, benevolence, or compassion, especially (in Kabbalism) as one of the sephiroth. 

Hebrew ḥeseḏ ‘grace, lovingkindness’” 

It is therefore part of the essential nature of G-d. Part of lovingkindness is compassion. This week I saw two quotes that brought me up short.  

Apparently, Elon Musk said, “The fundamental weakness of western civilization is empathy.” It was said during an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience on February 28, 2025. A meme contrasted this with a quote by Hannah Arndt, “The death of human empathy, is one of the earliest and most telling signs of culture about to fall into barbarism.” Hannah Arndt was a German Jewish political philosopher who escaped Nazi Germany and lived in New York. The CKI book group read a graphic novel/biography about her, “The Three Escapes of Hannah Arndt.” 

Empathy: “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another “he has a total lack of empathy for anybody” 

For me these quotes were chilling. We are taught that we are supposed to be like G-d, we should walk in all G-d’s ways. So, if G-d is gracious and compassionate, full of lovingkindness, how do we do this? 

What is the connection between empathy and compassion. “Compassion combines both empathy and altruism. If empathy is the ability to experience the feelings and pain of another, compassion translates that feeling into action.”  

So compassion is about action. We are then back to discussing gemilut chasadim, ACTS of lovingkindness. Earlier today we sang the verse from Pirke Avot, “Al Shlosha devarim, On three things the world stands. On Torah, On worship and on acts of lovingkindness, gemilut chasadim.” 

We are told that we should love our neighbors as ourselves, v’ahavta l’reyecha kamocha, ahava being the other word for love. And we are told that what G-d requires of us is “to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with G-d.” (Micah 6:8) The phrase “Love mercy” as we commonly translate it really combines those two words. “V’ahavat chesed.” Perhaps better, “Love lovingkindness.” 

This, therefore is what we are commanded to do. To love our neighbors, (That’s why I immediately reached out to First United Methodist to see what we can do in light of the roof that was ripped off the church last night.) To be like G-d, extending lovingkindness and compassion to all by clothing the naked, welcoming our guests, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry and burying the dead. That’s what it means when it talks about walking with G-d.  

From the time of Jeremiah the prophet, about 2500 years ago, Jews have prayed for their leaders and advisors, wherever they have lived, whoever the government of the day has been.  We Jews, we argue about everything. We even debate the word argue. Maybe the word causes non-civil discourse. We don’t agree about when to sit or stand during prayer, and that is OK. So do what is comfortable for you in your own tradition:

Our G-d and G-d of our ancestors: We ask Your blessings for our country—for its government, for its leaders and advisors and for all who exercise just and rightful authority. Teach them insights from your Torah, that they may administer all affairs of state fairly, that peace and security, happiness and prosperity, justice and freedom may forever abide in our midst. 

Creator of all flesh, bless all the inhabitants of our country with Your spirit. May citizens of all races and creeds forge a common bond in true harmony, to banish hatred and bigotry, and to safeguard the ideals and free institutions that are the pride and glory of our country. 

May this land, under your providence, be an influence for good throughout the world, uniting all people in peace and freedom—helping them fulfill the vision of Your prophet—National shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they experience war any more.” And let us say: Amen. 

Those were not my words, nor are they AI generated. They are the words of the prayer we say every week in Siddur Sim Shalom. We think that footnoting is important.  

These are mine: 

Today I stand before you, our elected officials and pray. I pray for courage. It takes courage to be a leader. To give up time with family and friends.  To take a risk. Sadly, we know just how real that risk can be. Not only as an elected official as we have seen with Rep Gabby Giffords and Rep. Scalise, but for your staffs and families, for judges and their families across this nation, for local officials like you and for election workers. You ran for office because you wanted to represent the people of Kane County—all the people of Kane County. You ran for office because you wanted to make a difference.  

Today I pray for each of you, that you continue to make wise decisions on behalf of these great state.  

Today I pray for empathy and compassion, for the ability to listen with whole hearts. 

Today I pray for patience and strength when others disagree with you, when you need to reach across the aisle and build consensus and coalitions.  

Today I pray for the budgeting process. That you remember our obligations to the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the most vulnerable amongst us. 

Today I pray for our children, all our children, that they have the opportunity to grow up as leaders, just like these 4H members sitting here today, that they have appropriate role models like you. 

Today. I pray for our schools that they continue to educate our kids, all of our kids, The kids are always worth it. 

Today, I pray for our social service agencies to continue to provide critical, emergency services like shelter, mental health services, and access to health care. 

Today I pray for our health care systems and the role that the Kane County Health Board plays in delivering health care to all. 

Today I pray for our faith communities that come together and help with mutual understanding and respect. 

Today I pray for our first responders who are tasked with keeping all of you safe. And me and my community too. 

Today I pray for each of you. That the vision you have of this nation, this state, this county continues to be part of that American dream, will not diminished. 

Today I add Ramadan Mubarak to be the most inclusive I can be.

Finally, Today I share these words, even more poignant today…  

And today I add an extra prayer, a prayer for peace that as George Washington said to the Hebrew congregation in Newport, RI in 1790, that “For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. Then quoting the prophet Micah, “may there come a day when everyone may sit under their vine and their fig tree and none shall make them afraid. Ufros Aleinu Sukkat Shlomecha, spread over us the shelter, that fragile sukkah, of Your peace. Oseh shalom bimromav…May the G-d who makes peace in the High Heavens, make peace here on earth, speedily and in our day.  

Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart is so moved. 

 Rabbi Menachem Creditor says it this way: “V’yikchu li terumah”—”Take for Me a gift. (Ex. 25:1)” Interesting phrasing. Not “give Me a gift,” but “take for Me a gift.” Every person was asked to bring an offering from their own willing heart. This isn’t about transaction; it’s about transformation. We have to decide—every day, especially today—that our hearts will be willing.” 

ְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃ו 

And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. 

That I might dwell among them, not that I might dwell in it. The presence of G-d is with us.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W_XxCh2b30 

But why does G-d need gifts? Why does G-d need a place to dwell. Isn’t G-d everywhere? Perhaps it is us. We need those gifts. We need a place to meet G-d where G-d can dwell among us.  

My mug this morning says “Dream big.” 

Theodore Herzl said “Im tirtzu ain zo agadah. If you will it, it is no dream.” He was talking about the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.  

This congregation was the dream of people who came before. They gave gifts from their hearts. 

Look around you. It is filled with blues and purples and reds the same colors that were specified in our text, golds and silvers, and bronzes, 

We have a vision statement, that this is a place that creates meaningful observance, lifelong learning, that embraces diversity, which we discussed last night in terms of accessibility, and builds community. 

That is the dream of this congregation, building community. The original Vision Committee powerpoint which was just presented at the last board meeting again after 15 years underscores the desire for community. Then. And now. Particularly coming out of the pandemic where people were so isolated, there is an absolute need for community. We have spent a lot of time this year talking about community. It’s about connections. It’s about showing up.  

My parents were impressed when i was a freshman in college. I think it was parents weekend and we went to a Hillel service. Their comment was that those students were there because they wanted to be there, not because they had to be. No one was compelling them. No one was making them. That is true of each of you sitting here or on Zoom. There is much that competes for your time and your energy. No one compels you to be here. But each of you gain something. And each of you contribute.  

Each of you sitting here do exactly that. You give gifts from your heart. Such heart, such love. 

Whether it is the gift of music like Stew and Shira, leading a part of the service, chanting Torah or Haftarah, giving a new freezer or installing it, sponsoring a kiddush or an oneg, baking (and decorating!) cookies and hamantaschem.  

More importantly than the gifts that you bring, each of you is a gift. 

 Today is Rosh Hodesh Adar, the Talmud teaches that when Adar comes in joy increases. It is hard sometimes to feel that joy, to rise to that level. There is so much that is painful and even scary. Yet we will pause to celebrate Purim, a joyous holiday celebrating our very survival. Rosh Hodesh is a half holiday given to women precisely because they die not give up their gold for the golden calf. And yet, they were able to give gifts from their heart to build the mishkan. Today is also the first of the month of March. March is often seen as Women’s History Month. March 8th this year is International Women’s Day. We will mark that here at CKI in two ways. Next Friday night is Hadassah Shabbat.  

Next Saturday morning we will study the book of Esther, the whole megilah with our friends from Frist Presbyterian who are bringing us a gift. They have an Esther scroll that they acquired from Jerusalem in the 1800s. They are returning it to the Jewish community.  

Esther has always been for me an important, meaningful text. Sure, it is farcical. But the idea that Esther finds her voice as is able to rise to save her people feels particularly important this year. Perhaps each of us are in this time and place for exactly this reason, just like Esther.  

This has been a hard year for many on many different levels.It is important to acknowlege that. It is real. But there is room in hearts for both joy and sadness. When the mishkan was built, the Israelites carried around the ark of the covenant which held the Luchot, the Tablets of the 10 Commandments, the 10 Sayings. But not just the whole ones, the second set. Also, that first set of tablets that Moses smashed when he came back down the mountain and found the Israelites dancing around the Golden Calf.  

Estelle Frankel in her book Sacred Therapy comments that the original tablets may reflect many of the dreams and hopes, and even spiritual structure of our youth. Then we live our life. Reality sets in and we learn. This story “teaches us that it is important to hold on to the beauty and essence of dreams that we once held dear, for our initial visions contain the seed of our purest essence. Gathering up the broken pieces suggests that we must salvage the essential elements of our youthful dreams and ideals and carry them forward on our journeys so that we can find a way to realize them in a more grounded fashion.  For ultimately the whole and the broken live side by side in us all, as our broken dreams and shattered visions exist alongside our actual lives” ( “Sacred Therapy” p. 43) 

We have a dream, a vision of what this place can be, a sacred, safe, non-judgmental place where we build community for all. Where we support one another with kindness and compassion through hard times as well as joy. Where we enjoy the sounds of the children at play and learning. Where we applaud one another’s accomplishments as we build this sacred space for the divine. That is how G-d will dwell among us. That is the gift we bring. Creating sacred space.  

Rabbi Creditor reminds us that Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “Happiness is the certainty of being necessary.” “You are needed. All of you. Every part of you—the whole and the broken. As we enter Adar, let us find joy. Let us be light. Let us raise it all up.” 

This weekend is Parshat Terumah, Shabbat Shekalim. We learn all the details of how to build the mishkan, And I mean ALL the Details. Like where do you get dolphin skins or maybe dolphin is the wrong translation.  

The mishkan, the sanctuary, the portable tent that wandered in the wilderness with the Israelites. A place for the presence of G-d, the shechinah to dwell. And that presence is going to dwell among them, among us. All of us. Part of that is how to create space that is accessible for everyone. All 12 of the tribes. Men, women and children. 

We also read about the half shekel tax that every male over 20 needed to pay, as a way to conduct a census. Everyohe. Everyone counts.  

Tomorrow we will talk about how to build sacred space. How to build a home for G-d. How to build a home for all of us. Everyone of us. 

The U-46 Mission Statement ends with the phrase All means all. Students, Teachers, Staff, Families. It is like the early part of Genesis which clearly teaches that we are all created b’tzelem elohim. All of us. All means all. Are created in the image of the divine. Each of us has a spark of the divine.  

Tonight ends the month of February which is often labeled as Jewish Disability Awareness Month. We at CKI have a vision statement, one plank of which is embracing diversity.  

That means people of all intellectual and physical abilities. Today’s parsha begs us to address this important topic. How do we continue to make CKI accessible to all? What steps have we taken? What more do we need to do? 

Several years ago, JUF hosted a seminar on accessibility run by the Shusterman Foundation. Amongst the hand outs was the outline of a house—because that is what a synagogue is, a house, with ideas of how to make each room accessible. We do pretty well here at CKI and are committed to it. Not every thing  we do is visible. And there is always room for improvement. 

Intellectual disabilities: 

• Accommodations for Torah School students who have IEPS in School 

• Hiring Heather Weiser whose masters is in special ed 

• Teacher training/professional development around social emotional spiritual learning 

• Sensory room for those who need a quieter environment. 

• Working with members like Kathy who we helped celebrate a Bat Mitzvah, or Ted and making sure we wave to him every week and making sure they feel welcome. 

• What else do we need? 

Physical disabilities 

• Vast majority of first floor physical plant handicap accessible 

• Men’s bathroom accessible 

• Recently took down a divider in the women’s bathroom. 

• But the bimah remains a stretch 

• We can take a Torah down to the seat level 

• We have microphone permenently now on the main level 

• We have grab bars on the aron 

• We grant accommodations for electronics for hearing aides, sight issues, other medical issues. We have scooters and walkers and canes.  

• Zoom also provides accessibility, to those who don’t drive at night, for those who are in institutions, sick, immune compromised, etc.  

Health Challenges:
Sometimes our bodies or minds just don’t do what we want them to do. We experience a health set back. Sometimes there are physical challenges. Sometimes there are mental health challenges. Sometimes these are long term, chronic issues. Sometimes these are quicker 

• We acknowledge them as real issues 

• We provide pastoral care, spiritual direction and referrals as is appropriate 

• We offer companionship at hospitals, visits, meals, rides and of course, mi sheberach prayers.  

 Yet none of this is enough and we don’t always get it right. For that I am profoundly, deeply sorry. What else do we need to do? What else can we do? 

And this phrase, “V’asu li mikdash, Make for me a sanctuary, also may refer to how we treat our own bodies, as temples. “Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary. That’s what today’s portion is all about. Our physical, accessible sacred space, and our bodies as sacred space as well, whatever limitations they may have. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W_XxCh2b30 

May we be comforted amongst all the mourners of ZIon and Jerusalem and all the world.  

How can we be? So much has been written about the return of four coffins this week. 500+ days ago, the world changed. The world was ripped apart.  

My emotions range. I am the mother of a red head. Every picture of that baby looks like my own we used to call “frosted flake.” I am not alone in this.  

Two babies came back. We now know they were killed, brutally murdered by the hands of their captors in that first awful month.  Their mother was not sent back. Some unknown Palestinian was in the coffin. How is that even possible? Bring her home. NOW! My words utterly fail. What words of comfort can there possibly be for Yarden, her husband, their father. When Aaron’s sons were “zapped,” he remained silent. We learn from Job’s comforters the power of silence.  

And yet.. 

I am a peace activist from long ago. Since my first fiancé was killed by a terrorist bomb in 1983. I have supported Parents Circle-Families Forum and Rabbis for Human Rights and other organizations for decades. I have bought olive trees in the West Bank for Tu B’shevat.  

And yet, unlike Oded, I never drove a Gazan to an Israeli hospital. How do we offer comfort to his wife who was also a hostage? How does she go on? How do any of us go on? 

Some have argued this week that we can never forget, and we can never forgive. I agree with the first part.  

I wrote a thesis on the 13 Attributes of the Divine (Exodus 34) looking at repeating patterns in the 3rd and 4th generation. I examined domestic violence, German-Jewish reconciliation and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.  

I learned a lot about forgiveness. We are told to be like G-d, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. But like in the book the Sunflower, Jews are taught that we cannot forgive the harm done by someone to someone not ourselves. Only the person harmed can forgive. 

Tonight, it is too early to talk about forgiveness. Now or in the future. The emotions are too raw. It may never be time. It is not mine to say. 

As a DV counselor, or a clergy member, one should not tell a woman to go back to her husband who abuses her. Instead, we talk about safety planning and exit strategies. We are taught to believe women.  

There are at least two instances in this current, ongoing trauma where women were not believed. The first was when the IDF intelligence officers who happened to be women were not listened to. This was a glaring intelligence failure. The second was in not listening to and believing what happened to the victims—especially the women—who were brutally raped and tortured at the hands of their initial captors, before they were murdered or taken into captivity.  

In 2006 I was sitting in Germany, in a Holiday Inn in Waldorf, near my job at SAP. wokring on my thesis. Israel had “accidentally” bombed an apartment building in Lebanon. A young father who had escaped with the three month old was being interviewed on CNN. He said something like, “I don’t blame Israel, but this baby where will she be in 20 years? What anger will she hold?’ It illustrated the point. The sins of the fathers (and mothers) are visited on the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation. 

What happened on October 7th was wrong.  Period. What happened to all those held in captivity was wrong. Period. Israelis need to live in safety. Period.  

What I learned in writing that thesis and I argued, successfully, that unless someone feels safe one cannot forgive. When will Israelis feel safe? Or Palestinians either? 

Revenge, however, is not sanctioned. Leviticus is clear. “Revenge is Mine,” says the Lord. Yet we are directed to wipe out all of the Amalekites. We read about the Amalekites who attacked the weak, the young and old on the Israelites trek to the promised land. We read this section just before Purim. “Zachor…remember not to forget the Amalekites” Saul spared the Amalekite king and lost his own kingship. Some have likened Haman, Hitler and yes Hamas to the descendants of the Amalekites.  

This week I learned a remarkable thing.  Rabbi Rob Scheinberg taught in the AJR Purim Supplement that in the Talmud it teaches, “Some of the descendants of Haman studied Torah in B’nei Brak.” (Gittin 57b) After this week, can we imagine such a world? Can we afford not to? If we totally wipe out Hamas, in their anger what rises to take their place?  

And yet…My anger is great. At Hamas. At Netanyahu who seems to not have believed the women, who may have prolonged the war to save his own skin. At the world response, including the UN. At the American political system. Even at G-d, to whom we pray to make peace but who has not yet. 

At the Gazans themselves whose losses are astronomical as well. Who puts children in schools and hospitals that are the hiding places for missile launchers knowing that they will most likely be bombed?  

This is known as Repro Shabbat in some of the Jewish world. I have spoken about this extensively in other years. I even have a t-shirt for it. I started to set this up last week when talking about the 10 Commandments and translation. Does it say, “Thou shall not murder.” or “Thou shall not kill.” Later in Deuteronomy we are told to “Choose life so that we may live.” Shiri brought two beautiful children into this world. Those children whose lives were just beginning had no choice in their brutal end. We as a world must do better.  

For 500+ days I have prayed for the hostages, and those wounded and those returned. For those babies. All those babies.  

I am a small town rabbi. If I could have solved peace in the Middle East decades ago I would have. I fear based on my thesis we are now looking at least another 3 to 4 generations, without peace. And it makes me very very sad.  

May we be comforted? How can we be? Can we pray for peace? What other choice do we have?  

The only statement I have read this week that makes sense to me comes from NCJW: https://www.ncjw.org/news/our-statement-on-this-profound-moment-for-the-jewish-people/?emci=b5668747-82f0-ef11-90cb-0022482a94f4&emdi=aa0c48bb-88f0-ef11-90cb-0022482a94f4&ceid=8833339 

Yehuda Amichi taught, “Don’t stop after beating the swords into plowshares, don’t stop! Go on beating and make musical instruments out of them. Whoever wants to make war again will have to turn them into plowshares first.” 

We owe this to the beautiful piano music of Oded and his commitment to peace making.  

Today we read the 10 Commandments. We do that every year, even on a triennial cycle. The text of today’s portion is powerful, sweeping and has much to teach us even today, especially today. People have wrestled with this text from the very beginning. There are two editions of the 10 commandments, the one here in Exodus and the one in Deuteronomy. They are almost the same. Almost but not quite. One of the major differences is about Shabbat. Do we shamor, keep, guard the Sabbath or do we zachor, remember the sabbath. The answer is both.  

We guard Shabbat when we don’t work on Shabbat, when we fulfill the negative commandments. We remember shabbat when we fulfil the positive commandments. And in Lecha Dodi we learn that shamor v’zzacor bidibur echad, both were uttered by G-d simultaneously at Mount Sinai. Because after all G-d doesn’t make a mistake. 

We practice this in a number of ways: We light two candles, one to remember and one to guard and make it holy. Homes are made sacred by loving relationships, healthy connections and the protection of love. And according to JWI. Last night we talked a lot about love and at the very end, I thanked organizations like the Community Crisis Center and Shalva who work on domestic violence issues because sadly love isn’t always protected at home, even in Jewish homes. The lights of Shabbat illuminate a path to a world where our very rest that we are commanded to do refreshes us and enables us to be inspired to action.  

But what does it mean to be commanded? G-d? Moses? Tradition? If we are not commanded in the historical sense, are we still obligated? Why are these 10 Sayings, Aseret Debrot as they are called in Hebrew, so powerful? So important? 

What really happened on Mount Sinai? There are lots of midrashim to explain it. One of the most powerful is that we all stood at Sinai but at birth we forgot. I even wound up teaching this at the grocery store this week.  

There are not just 10 Commandments. There are 613 Commandments. Next week we read Mishpatim, which has more commandments than any other portion. Is there a difference between a mitzvah, command, a mishpat, a rule and a hok, a law. A hok is seen as a mitzvah without any explanation. 

Why review this material? Because at some level the Hebrew Bible is under attack. There are moves afoot, to display the 10 Commandments in public schools and in courthouses in several states. There are bills pending to “register non-Christians” (We’ve seen that before) and to make this a Christian nation.  

Just from a separation of church and state, guaranteed in the US Constitution, these moves should alarm us. When the display of the 10 Commandments was first announced for Oklahoma last spring, I immediately wrote to Tony Sanders, the former U-46 superintendent and now the Illinois State Superintendent. He wrote back and assured me he understood the establishment clause. It will not happen in Illinois. Not on his watch.  Oklahoma has now introduced House Bill 1006 which would require a poster or a framed copy of the Ten Commandments to be posted in a conspicuous place in every public school classroom in Oklahoma, a state where the head of public schools also is endeavoring to put Biblical texts in classrooms, effective for the 2025-2026 school year.  

Here is where my husband, in particular got upset. He spent hours exploring these questions: Which version, Exodus or Deuteronomy? Which language? If not Hebrew, which translation? Which numbering system, it varies between Jewish, Protestant and Catholic versions. As I have often said, every translation is a commentary. 

Does it say, “Thou shall not kill.” or Thou shall not murder.”? Even today when taking about the metaphor of eagles which shows up in the portion and in some of our prayers, someone reminded us that it could be translated as vulture. That has a very different connotation.  

Nor will it help with what the legislators want. They want to reduce violence in the classroom, to make kids be better behaved, more moral and ethical. Has anyone ever read the list of how to close this building? It is posted right by the door and the alarm. Eventually, it just blurs into the background. Research has shown that things like that do exactly that, 

The simple truth is that the 10 commandments, as important as they are, do not belong hanging in classrooms. It is in fact a violation of the establishment clause and freedom of religion guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.  

This is something that our founding fathers understood. Wahington’s letter of 1790 illustrates:  

The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy — a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. 

It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. 

It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes for my felicity. 

May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants — while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid. 

From the very beginning, the 613 commandments were seen as too difficult. Many prophets have tried to distill them. Micah famously said, “Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your G-d.” The Talmud starts with 15 and reduces them to one. The early Reform Movement kept the ethical commandments and discounted the ritualistic ones. Others have talked about as I did last night, “Love G-d, Love your neighbor, Love the stranger.”  

Once a long time ago I talked about the refrigerator magnets, the abcs and the alef bets that graced my parents ice box that my father gifted to my daughter. If you had to boil this down to one commandment that you could spell out in those magnets, I think mine might be “Do the right thing.” What would your refrigerator say? 

What the world needs now is love sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of. 

By Hal David and Burt Bachrach. I learned it as part of the choir at Temple Emanuel, Grand Rapids as part of Jewish Music Month which is held in February. 

Today is Valentine’s Day. Not a very Jewish holiday some would argue because it is really St. Valentine’s Day.  

Yet love is very important in Judaism. There are really two words for love, Ahavah, the first use of it in the Torah is in Genesis when Isaac takes Rebecca to Sarah’s tent and he loved her. The other word is chesed, perhaps best translated as lovingkindness.  

Shai Held recently wrote a book called Judaism is About Love. It is 643 pages and on every page, I found myself highlighting something.  I am not finished with it yet. It tells the kind of things I have been saying for years. Having grown up in a highly Christian community of Grand Rapids, the myth that Christianity is about love and Judaism is about works, or law or something not quite as good. Everyone wants to know that they are loved. That they are worthy and Christianity offers that assurance. So does Judaism but too often it gets hidden. Part of why I became a rabbi is to change that dynamic.  

The official review of the book says this: “He shows that love is foundational and constitutive of true Jewish faith, animating the singular Jewish perspective on injustice and protest, grace, family life, responsibilities to our neighbors and even our enemies, and chosenness.” 

Last week our littlest ones made heart shaped cookies, one to eat and one to donate and then read Larry Kusher’s book The Hands of G-d. They then hid the platter of extras in the ark for our Saturday morning crowd to discover. Their hands were the hands of G-d, doing gemilut chasadim, acts of lovingkindness. Pirke Avot teaches: the world stands on three things, on Torah, on work or worship and on acts of lovingkindness.  

Psalms teaches and Rabbi Menachem Creditor composed the song, “Olam chesed yibaneh” The world will be built on love. (We taught his song on Sunday morning to all our students!) 

Micah teaches that G-d demands three things, “do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with G-d.” The Hebrew is v’ahavat chesed. Love lovingkindness.  Both words for love, back to back. 

What about ahavah? We are told that we should love G-d, love our neighbor, love the stranger. When people ask me what is a Jewish value, a moral imperative? I think that is it. 

Our service tonight includes two of these examples. All evening services have this example. Our choir director Stew Levin talks about it as the ultimate love song. I say, it is like being wrapped in a warm blanket. Ahavat Olam tells us that G-d loves us and like a loving parent, G-d gives us rules, commandments, laws so that we will live long. It is like the parent who sets limits and says “No you can’t touch the stove!”  

Then we have the Sh’ma. The watchword of our faith. The proclamation that G-d is one. This powerful proclamation is something we witness, and it is in the code of the words themselves. The word Sh’ma ends in an ayin. Echad ends in a dalet. Ayin Dalet spells witness. 

Immediately following we chant the V’ahavta, “You shall love the Lord your G-d with all your heart, with all your spirit, with all your everything.” But wait, you say, you can’t legislate an emotion. And yet, the “prayer” continues with ways that we demonstrate our love. We study these very words. We put them on the doorposts of our houses. We recite them at home and away, when we lie down and when we rise up. And we teach these very words to our children. That’s why I am so happy when we have a child present who can lead this portion.  

A warm blanket of love on a cold winter’s night. Ahavat Olam, Sh’ma, V’ahavta. 

Loving our neighbor also comes with a recipe for creating a moral and civil society. The holiness code, in which “Love your neighbor” is included tell us: You should keep Shabbat. That’s what we are doing now. You should leave the corners of your field for the widow, the orphan and the stranger, the most vulnerable amongst us. We do that with our community garden. You should revere your mother and your father. You shall not steal, lie, seems right out of the 10 commandments that we read tomorrow. The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning. You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind. That’s why we try to have an accessible building as possible. You shall not stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds. That’s why we sponsor blood drives. You shall not render an unfair decision: do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich; judge your kindred fairly. You shall have just weights and measures.  

You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart. Reprove your kindred but incur no guilt on their account. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your fellow as yourself: I am GOD.  

A recipe for love. A blanket of love. 

Then there is loving the stranger. We got hints of it in this passage teaching us how to be holy. Giving us that recipe to create a civil society, a holy group, a kehila kedosha. 

And 36 times the Torah tells us, according to the Talmud that we should, have to, take care of the stranger. We need to love the stranger. Why? Because we were strangers in the land of Egypt. We know what it is like to be marginalized. To be enslaved. To be othered. So we must not do that to others. That  is a Jewish value. A Jewish imperative. A moral imperative. 

What the world needs now is love, sweet love.