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August 15, 2025 |
Dear Friends,
Spending a brief part of my day in a workshop with my rabbinic colleagues, we were tasked with writing about an experience in nature. But the prompts asked us to go beyond what we had simply seen—to go deeper, to hear our own voices in response to the experience. It wasn’t easy.
In this Torah portion, Moses is addressing the people as they are finally preparing to enter the land, without him. And like any good parent readying a child for a new experience they won’t share, he is giving the people the best advice he can. We may not always resonate with the way he frames his words, but more than anything, he wants the people not to squander this opportunity. Moses reminds them that their choices have consequences, urging them to stay aware, reminding them not to take what they have for granted.
In reading Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l’s commentary on this Torah portion, Eikev (“and if”), Deuteronomy 7:12–11:28, I came across the following observation. He pointed out the difference between the way we talk about experiencing and knowing things in English and the way the Torah does the same. English uses the metaphor of sight, while the Torah emphasizes listening and hearing. We speak of perception, insight, hindsight, foresight, vision, and imagination. The assignment we were given today pushed us to use both.
Mitzvah of the Week
In speaking today with someone who has both family members and friends in Israel, he shared with me one of the ways people are coping with the current situation: they are reaching out to one another. This may sound simple, but it echoes something our state senator, Gustavo Rivera, said on Monday evening at the vigil in Seton Park. He reminded us that we are not alone, that we need to reach out to one another. In Israel, people are simply, or perhaps not so simply, reconnecting—not necessarily talking about the situation, the matzav, but simply checking in. Why does this matter? When one feels the world closing in, one can feel alone, unmoored. Reaching out to others reestablishes our common humanity.
Whatever else you are doing, I invite you to reach beyond your usual circle and simply check in.
| Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu ve'al kol Israel, ve'imru, Amen. |
| May the One who makes peace in the heavens, make peace for us all and all the people of Israel. |
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