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September 8, 2023 (23 Elul 5783) Parashiot Nitazvim/Vayelech - A Blessed Existence
Dear Friends, I hope this correspondence finds you well and in good health. I pray that you enjoyed a relaxing and wonderful summer, surrounded by family and friends. Believe it or not, next Shabbat we will gather together, as a sacred community, to usher in Rosh Hashanah. Please read all upcoming emails for what promises to be an uplifting, joyous, and spiritual gathering. In the meantime, we invite you to join us this Saturday morning for in-person Shabbat services, which will take place in our beautiful sanctuary at 10:15am. Allow me to take you back with me some twenty-two years. I am living in a beautiful suburb on the north side of Chicago, where I am serving a thriving congregation in Wilmette, Il. My three daughters are aged eight, five and three. Obviously, one is cuter than the next! The joys of parenting young children and witnessing their radical amazement while interacting with an astonishing world, simply cannot be adequately expressed or even fully recalled. Having served my shul for fifteen years, I decide to embark on a synagogue fundraiser and begin training for the Chicago Marathon! I have now trained my 750th B’nei Mitzvah student (!), so I come up with a clever way of giving back to the Shul and expressing my gratitude for the sabbatical I had been granted, which incidentally offered me the opportunity to become a certified Mohel (someone who performs the rite of circumcision). I pitch to the Board the idea that I will run the Chicago Marathon in honor of the accomplishments of the Shul’s kids. I will personally reach out to families and ask these proud parents to support our undertaking in honor of their family’s recent Simchas. Donations begin to pour in. The world is a fantastic place in which to live a blessed existence. One Tuesday morning, I carefully tie the laces of my Asics 920 running shoes and mount the treadmill at the local fitness center. I begin my workout feeling strong and ready. Gradually, I adjust the computerized program and turn the speed up to a grueling 6 minute and 45 second mile. As my run will take over two hours, I adjust my headphones and flip on the closed-circuit screen to a local TV channel. Running inside can be brutally boring, absent some external stimulation. Between the pounding of the gym’s own motivating music, the repetitive rhythm of my pace, and some folks yelling back and forth encouraging weightlifting endeavors, my auditory capacity is truly at full tilt. I sweat profusely, yet am pleased with my training workout as I begin mile nine. Indeed, the world is a fantastic place in which to live a blessed existence. At 9:14am the gym comes to a standstill. Everything stops and a deafening silence fills the space. We stand dumbfounded as we watch the devastation caused by the crumbling of the Twin Towers. It was September 11, 2001. Living in the vicinity of NYC, no doubt you have vivid memories of that day. On that day, the world came to a standstill and our blessed existence crumbled alongside the Towers. Last week, strictly by chance, I came upon a 9/11 memorial in North Bergen. It is located at the southern end of Braddock Park, overlooking New York’s stunning city skyline. The one hundred and fifty-five Hudson County residents, who lost their lives on September 11th, have their names listed in poignantly ascending columns. This week’s double Torah portion is called Nitzavim/Vayelech. These portions always are read together when Rosh Hashanah falls on a Thursday or Saturday. While Nitzavim means to stand still, Vayelech means to go forward. The metaphor of standing still and then moving forward can be applied to the spirit of our country, the power of faith, and the resilience of humanity. Today, more than two decades after the attacks, we pause (Nitzavim) to remember the thousands of lives cut short in the name of terror and hate. I am inspired by the words carved into the bottom of the platform on the west side of the monument. Barack Obama reminds us that the simplest acts of kindness and the smallest acts of service can, indeed, change worlds and Vayelech, nudge us gently forward. As Jews, our Torah and rabbinic traditions offer us an established Divine framework for always repairing the world and perfecting our spiritual selves as we, too, move forward. Friends, during this time of year, as we prepare for the upcoming High Holidays, while simultaneously remembering past tragedies, we are directly challenged not only by Obama’s words but by the Torah cycle itself. Rosh Hashanah suggests that standing still briefly for the purpose of taking account (חשבון הנפש) and considering our place in the universe is immensely important. Vayelech then teaches us the necessity to always move forward. Truly, it is only in the ephemeral space of acts of kindness, study of Torah, charity, peace & love, that we can recapture for ourselves as individuals, and as Americans, the sentiment above proclaiming, “The world is a fantastic place in which to live a blessed existence”. May this Shabbat and these holy days offer us another step forward in the direction of that harmonious, blessed, and peaceful existential condition. Shabbat Shalom & Shanna Tova, Rabbi Eric L. Wasser, EdD, Hon.DM
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