Noticing rainbows and remembering the story of the first one is so important to Judaism that there’s a special blessing just for seeing one:

Blessed are You, LORD, our God, Ruler of the Universe, who remembers the covenant, and is faithful to God’s covenant, and keeps God’s promise.

One side says that rainbows are actually something scary, a reminder of past destruction and loss, and therefore not something we want to share. Telling a friend about a rainbow, even though it might be beautiful is kind of like sharing bad news.

The other side says that even though rainbows are supposed to remind us of the lowest point in human history (when things got so bad God decided to hit the reset button on planet Earth)- they’re a reminder that things can turn around. Noah was righteous, the animals were saved, the world didn’t end, and humanity got to restart and make the world a better place. The rainbow tells us that just like God will always remember God’s promise, we can always fix things.

So the next time you see a rainbow, whether in the sky or crayon-drawn hanging in a window, tell your friends about it. Remind them, and yourself, that we should always keep our promises, and there’ always a chance to fix things.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Jeremy Fineberg

Simchat Torah is NOT Cancelled

So if Simchat Torah is really not a holiday, and if this year we didn’t really finish reading the Torah since COVID-19 has interrupted our weekly reading of the Torah, why not just cancel Simchat Torah, and say “let’s just wait until next year?”  I believe that there are two reasons: One, we are not celebrating the reading of the Torah, but rather the learning of Torah, and that NEVER stopped even during the height of this pandemic. Our synagogue community has continued to engage in the learning of Torah by zoom, emails, and even in person when possible. Therefore on that level, Simchat Torah should be celebrating all that we learned and gleaned from our rich tradition.

The second reason is that while it is true that we will complete the reading of the Book of Deuteronomy and start the reading of the Torah portions from the beginning of Genesis – Bereisheet, Simchat Torah is not a celebration of the end of study.  We celebrate returning to the beginning of the weekly Torah portions and learning more lessons that will give us an insight into the Will of the Divine, and a pathway to righteous living. So while it is true that unfortunately due to COVID-19 we will not be congregating in large numbers on Saturday night or Sunday morning, we will not be dancing with the Torah, and we will not be sugaring up our children with handfuls of sweet confections (maybe that’s a good thing?), we will still rejoice in what the year has to bring through Jewish study, learning, and living.

I encourage each and every one of us to see the year ahead as another, new opportunity to open our hearts and minds to the wisdom of our Jewish tradition, and may it guide us in the year ahead. I also look forward to a year filled with great Jewish learning whether it be in our Religious School, at our local Jewish Day Schools, zoom classes with our clergy, or perhaps in prayer with us in person or online.  All are forms of study and should be celebrated even this year on Simchat Torah. Simchat Torah is not canceled this year, but hopefully, next year it will be more fun and festive.

Wishing everyone a Chag Sameach!

Rabbi Jeremy Ruberg

Learning the Formulas

The 5 days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot have always baffled me – after spending so much time and effort in shul on the High Holidays, why does the Jewish calendar place another festival so soon after Yom Kippur? Isn’t it a little much? Can’t we have a little break before we need to prepare holiday menus, build a sukkah, purchase a lulav and etrog, and get ready to head back to services? What’s the rush?
On the Yamim Noraim, we study the concepts of human frailty, the precariousness of our lives, and the importance of righteous behavior. We practice them over and over in shul as if it’s school – trying to get the formulas right. And Yom Kippur is like the final exam – that big test at the end of the year that makes sure we actually have learned the formulas for a good life.

But it’s not until Sukkot that we take those formulae and apply them in the real world. On Sukkot, we live and eat in flimsy and impermanent structures, to remind ourselves of the precariousness of our own dwellings and lives. We traditionally welcome others into our Sukkot to put into practice the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim (welcoming guests), and as a stand-in for other good deeds. And we try as hard as we can to celebrate all of the blessings we have in our lives with joy and sweetness, just like we promised to do on Rosh Hashanah. Sukkot is about translating all of the lessons and formulas of the High Holidays into the real world of our lived experience. We rush right into Sukkot to make sure the lessons are still fresh in our minds after the big test, to make sure we do them right when we apply them in our lives.

Shabbat Shalom, & may your High Holiday learning find real-world applications over Sukkot,

Rabbi Jeremy Fineberg