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November 25, 2022 (1 Kislev 5783) The Sanctuary of Sanctuary Dear Holy Friends, I hope this correspondence finds you in good health and good cheer, having enjoyed a meaningful Thanksgiving “Yuntif” with family and friends. Please join us in the sanctuary this Saturday morning at 10:30am for our Shabbat services, which will also be available on our regular zoom prayer link (and additionally give us another chance to be thankful!). Friends, this past week, the news in the world, simply put, has been horrifying. First, a torrent of grief was the response to the killing of five people at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ night club. At least 19 others were injured Saturday night at Club Q – a longtime haven for the LGBTQ community and now another crime scene in a country that has suffered an average of two mass shootings every day this year. Authorities arrested 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, who faces preliminary charges of five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of a bias-motivated crime – known elsewhere as hate crime – causing bodily injury. Second, earlier in the week, two men were arrested in connection with online threats to attack a New York City synagogue (this came one week after threats to multiple New Jersey synagogues). The suspects now face charges of making terroristic threats, criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal possession of a firearm. “As alleged, the two defendants possessed a firearm, a high-capacity magazine, ammunition, an 8” long military style knife, a swastika arm patch, a ski mask, and a bullet proof vest, among other things,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement to CNN. A potential tragedy was averted when they were, fortunately, intercepted by police officers at Penn Station. Third, in Israel, 9 days ago, a stabbing attack and apparent car ramming in the Israeli West Bank city settlement of Ariel left three Israelis dead and another three wounded. The Palestinian terrorist stabbed a security guard and another person near the entrance to the Ariel Industrial Park before stabbing two more people near a gas station. These events left me recalling the famous sentence in Parashat Noah (Genesis 6:11) which, in explaining Hashem’s decision to destroy the world, reads, “וַתִּמָּלֵ֥א הָאָ֖רֶץ חָמָֽס…” and the entire world was filled with violence.” While not dismissing the importance of addressing issues such as gun control, abortion, or political matters from a Jewish perspective, many Rabbis, myself included, feel that Shabbat, in general, and our sanctuary, in particular, should function as a respite from the chaos of the world. The word itself finds its etymology from the early 14th century Anglo-French sentuarie meaning a "consecrated place or a building set apart for holy worship and sacred objects. In Old French, saintuaire implies a sacred relic or holy thing and, from Late Latin, sanctuarium means "a sacred place or holy shrine. Most importantly, the general (non-ecclesiastical) sense of "place of refuge or protection" is attested from the 1560s and suggests that the sanctuary is a place to leave behind the worries of the world, both legal and political. While I am curious about your thoughts and reactions to this idea of separation of the profane and the holy, I can promise you that our sacred sanctuary, above all, will continue to be a place of uplift, positivity, spirituality, song, joy, prayer, and community. In the meantime, I leave you with the following message from the Book of Psalms (122:8), which perhaps gives us something to think about as we enter Shabbat and pray for a better world:
לְ֭מַעַן אַחַ֣י וְרֵעָ֑י אֲדַבְּרָה־נָּ֖א שָׁל֣וֹם בָּֽךְ׃ לְ֭מַעַן בֵּית־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ אֲבַקְשָׁ֖ה ט֣וֹב לָֽךְ׃
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Eric Wasser, EdD, Hon.DM
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