“Powerful Choices,” Rabbi Elaine Zecher’s Shabbat Sermon/Shabbat Awakenings

September 27, 2024 | 24 Elul 5784

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we move toward Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast here.

We are in the season of choice.

In the United States, voting is the ultimate act of agency. Though we may be surrounded by the multitudes who traffic in purveying their opinions as facts, we still hold the lever. Our decision to vote remains in our hands. So far, no one stands over us, though many have attempted and some succeeded to impede voting ability. Every time I enter the local school down the street to cast my ballot, I feel tremendously powerful. It doesn’t mean that I don’t also feel anxious and worried about the state of our democracy but for a split second with the pen in my hand, I get to make my choice.

Choose life is what our Torah instructs us. We read it this week and will lift up these words again on Yom Kippur.

I call heaven and earth to witness before you this day that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; choose life, then, for yourselves and your children. (Deuteronomy 30:19)

As we embark on the path of choice marking this coming Wednesday with the arrival of Rosh Hashanah, we contemplate our choices. The early Reform rabbis in the late 1900s replaced the Torah portion from Leviticus about the ritual connected to Yom Kippur with sections from this Torah portion. They understood that the Jewish communities throughout America would have to make choices about their lives as Americans interacting and perhaps conflicting with their Jewish selves.

But even more than this, they elevated what it means to choose life. The ancient rabbis referenced these words from Deuteronomy:

And now, O Israel, וְעַתָּה֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל
what does the ETERNAL your God demand of you? מָ֚ה יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ שֹׁאֵ֖ל מֵעִמָּ֑ךְ
Only this: to revere/fear the ETERNAL your God, כִּ֣י אִם־לְ֠יִרְאָ֠ה אֶת־יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ
to walk only in divine paths, לָלֶ֤כֶת בְּכׇל־דְּרָכָיו֙
to love and to serve the ETERNAL your God וּלְאַהֲבָ֣ה אֹת֔וֹ וְלַֽעֲבֹד֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ
with all your heart and soul. בְּכׇל־לְבָבְךָ֖ וּבְכׇל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ

The ancient rabbis focused on the particular phrase from Deuteronomy regarding revere/fear of heaven. They said, “Everything is determined in the Hands of Heaven except the fear of heaven.” (Berachot 33a) The phrase Yirat Adonai translated as revere or fear could be misunderstood as fright or cower but the prophet Micah (6:8) helps us understand through these words:

You have been told, O mortal, what is good,
And what GOD requires of you:
Only to do justice
And to love goodness,
And to walk humbly with your God

Choice is not taken from us because of some cosmic strategy we do not comprehend. For sure, it might contain the assumption of hubris that humans can control everything. Yet, there is no harm in the humility that comes with the recognition that there is a Force or Power in the Universe some call God or Heaven or the Holy One of Blessing. We are placed in a larger landscape and world than our individual self. Our power lies in how we regard the meaning of Yirat Adonai as explained by Micah through justice, goodness, and humility.  We live this idea in our choices regarding how we take care of one another, those we know and those we don’t know but who need our help. Fear and reverence of the divine manifests itself in stewardship of the earth and all its inhabitants, including that which grows and roams in the sea, land, and sky.

We enter the high holiday season called the Days of Awe to demonstrate how powerful we truly are because of the choices we can make and the decisions that ripple out far beyond ourselves.

We are in the season of choice. It is not just for today but also for those who come after us. That seems to be the most powerful choice of all.

Shabbat Shalom!  שבת שלום

We celebrate Shabbat this week with Qabbalat Shabbat at 6:00 p.m. OUTSIDE. Please dress for the weather if you join us in the garden. Register here to join on Zoom.

On Shabbat morning, we gather at 9:00 a.m. in the library for a short Shabbat service and Torah reading, followed by a lively discussion of this week’s Torah portion. All levels and abilities are welcomed. Register here to join on Zoom.

We gather for S’lichot on Saturday with Family S’lichot and dinner at 4:45 p.m.. Community dinner at 7:00 p.m. Spiritual Practice Labs will take place onsite and online at 7:30 p.m. The candlelit service will begin at 9:00 p.m. Please see our High Holy Day page for links.

See Temple Israel’s webpage for Livestream options.

I continue to value the many comments you exchange with me through these Shabbat Awakenings. Share with me what you think here. Your email goes directly to me!

Rabbi Elaine Zecher