Parashat Vayakeil begins with Moses bringing together all the Israelites. The word vayakeil itself is a word for bringing together and shares a root with the word for community – kahal.

With all that is going on, I cannot think of a more important direction: gather. As this week's parasha reminds us the importance of coming together, find ways to be with each other – perhaps tomorrow night at Cherry St Village for Itfar Havdallah, next week for Kabbalat Shabbat, or the following for a Shabbat morning service, or anything else you can gather around, let's take Moses’ suggestion this week that names the parasha, and enact communitization.

May shabbat provide ways to be with others in hard week's and allow us a glimpse of the world we can indeed still build together.

Shabbat shalom,
R’ David

This week's parasha, Tetzaveh, begins with the commandment to keep a lamp lit always. The wording for this lamp is the ner tamid – perhaps translated as an “always candle/lamp” and is to be fueled by olive oil.

Questions arise about whether or not this ner tamid means a lamp that is always burning or a lamp that is regularly being fueled. The difference being the agency: is there a flame that never goes out or is there a community that is always collectively fueling a flame? Many synagogues have an ornate electric powered light attached to a switch. Perhaps one could say it is literally a community's job to “keep the lights on.”

Similar to last week as the Israelites were asked to pool their resources to construct a communal sanctuary, this week they are asked to ensure a fire always has fuel to stay lit.

One could say Kadima has been similar to the Israelites at this part in the story. Decades of keeping fuel in the tank to ensure there is a flame – a symbol of not giving up on one another and our collective purpose.

In this moment of history it makes me ask: what flames need to die? What flames do we need to stop fueling? And, what are the flames that we need to see burning bright? How can we get more oil to them? 

As we light shabbat candles tonight, let us ask: what flames must we ensure continue and which ones must we extinguish? Let this shabbat be one of refueling the fire inside such that should shabbat end, we are rejuvenated in our work to fuel the flames of our collective needs and dreams.

Shabbat shalom,
R’ David

​Parashat Terumah takes place just as Moses ascends Sinai, disappearing into "the cloud” of divinity that surrounded it. The entire parasha is a monologue of G-d speaking to Moses about the very specific details of building the mikdash, also known as the tabernacle, or sanctuary. The Hebrew word mikdash means literally “a place of holiness,” ultimately, a dwelling place for divinity. Until this point in other beliefs of the time and the region, it is thought that gods were place-specific, yet here, G-d godself is instructing the Israelites to build a structure in which divinity can travel. Maybe anywhere.

The details of the building of the structure are meticulous, but it is the materials that get a lot of curiosity.

Last month, we looked at Parashat Bo with an eye for reparations. The Israelites were told to ask their Egyptian neighbors for money and clothing just before their exodus. And now here we have G-d asking them to use those reparations to pool their new resource and wealth and build a collective structure that houses and makes divinity portable.

As we consider how to deal with injustices of the past and the present, let us remember that we might truly owe some of what we have to repair injustice. And that what we have received is not all for us as individuals, but for a collective good. May we use our resources well and continue to build structures of justice where divinity might wish to dwell.

Shabbat shalom,
R’ David

זֶ֣ה סֵ֔פֶר תּוֹלְדֹ֖ת אָדָ֑ם בְּי֗וֹם בְּרֹ֤א אֱלֹהִים֙ אָדָ֔ם בִּדְמ֥וּת אֱלֹהִ֖ים עָשָׂ֥ה אֹתֽוֹ׃
This is the record of the origins of humans.—When God created humankind, it was made in the likeness of God. (Genesis 5:1)

You are loved by ahava rabbah – a great love. You are divine and the image of divinity. You are reflected in the very origin and creation of humanity. You are part of what makes us all whole.

And, you are attacked. You are feared. You are blamed. You are scapegoated.

And, we will work to protect you. You are us. Let me and us and each other know how those of us who are cisgender can help and support and protect and show up and do better and let you rest.

For affirming and/or educational readings about the importance of non-binary genders in Judaism, maybe start here:

• Rabbi Elliot Kukla Wants Us to Remember the Many Genders of Ancient Judaism
• TransTorah Project
• Gender in Genesis

And while this week's Torah reading is Bo, the third parasha of Exodus, and not the beginning of Genesis, the idea of being in the image of the divine is just as important here. In the Talmud (Sotah 14a), being created in the image of G-d means doing as G-d does:

…the meaning is that one should follow the attributes of the Holy Blessed One…Just as G-d clothes the naked, as it is written: “And Adonai made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21), so too, should you clothe the naked. Just as the Holy Blessed One visits the sick, as it is written with regard to God’s appearing to Abraham following his circumcision: “And Adonai appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre” (Genesis 18:1), so too, should you visit the sick. Just as the Holy Blessed One consoles mourners, as it is written: “And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son” (Genesis 25:11), so too, should you console mourners. Just as the Holy Blessed One, buried the dead, as it is written: “And he was buried in the valley in the land of Moab” (Deuteronomy 34:6), so too, should you bury the dead.

Rabbi Brant Rosen makes an obvious addition to this list. Adonai responds to the cries of the oppressed as we see in the story of the Israelites in Mitzrayim, so too should we respond to the cry of the oppressed.

Let us make the call. Let us hear the call. Let us answer the call.

We are divine. Let's do our best to act that way.
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Shabbat shalom, chodesh Shvat tov, and happy Lunar New Year!
R’ David