Rabbi Shoshanah King-Tornberg
Congregation B`nai Israel, Sacramento
In this season of the year, the Jewish calendar moves from the Exodus from the slavery of Egypt that is celebrated with Passover to the receiving of God’s teaching and way of life at Mt. Sinai, that is celebrated with Shavuot, or the Festival of the Giving of the Law later this month. This is an in-between time for the Israelites: they have tasted freedom for the first time, but they do not yet know how to live freely with a sense of responsibility. They do not know how to be an organized, functioning people now that they are no longer under slavery’s yoke. As they make their way through the thirst and discomfort of the wilderness, they begin to complain. Some even look back upon Egypt with the myopia of nostalgia, yearning for the “good old days” when they were slaves.
So often, we look back on the past and yearn for a false vision of where we have come from. This skewed view can prevent us from seeing how far we have come; it can prevent us from fully understanding how we might best build a future.
May the holy spark that each person in this room finds in their core drive this body forward into a future of vision, responsibility and clear-sightedness about where we have been. For each of us has a role in directing us all to where we must go together.
And let us say--AMEN
