Rabbinic Reflections: Issue 222sar
August 30, 2024 - 26 Av 5784
Parasha Re'eh - The Israeli Miracle
Guest author - Dr. S. Abraham (Avri) Ravid
Dear Friends,
We are between rabbis for the month of August, so instead of the regular Rabbinic Reflection articles, we are instead sharing some reflections, even if they are less than rabbinic.
This Shabbat, we are pleased to welcome Rabbi Joshua Shorr back to the Bimah to lead services. This will be his last Shabbat with us during his August “residency,” so we thank him for helping us during the rabbinic transition.
Rabbi Joshua Strom joins us as our new rabbi next week, so please plan to be with us on September 7 for his first service. We will hold a special “welcome” Kiddush after the service, so come for the service and stay for the Kiddush to welcome the rabbi to the synagogue.
The High Holidays are just one month away, but time is flying by quickly, so please send in your ticket requests and your greeting card and Yizkor book order forms. If you don’t have them, be sure to scroll down in this email or call the synagogue office.
This Shabbat, we will read from Parsha Re’Eh. This Parsha instructs the Jews arriving in the land of Israel, which they are about to inherit, how to conduct their lives in the promised land. The Haftorah is from Isaiah, one of my favorite prophets, who follows the Parsha in advancing the theme of God inspired good deeds: “Establish yourself through righteousness, distance yours self from oppression for you need not fear it, and from devastation for it will not come near you.” (Isaiah, 54:15)
I had the privilege of growing up in the Promised Land as the Jewish state was emerging for the first time in millennia after a devastating war of independence. By US standards, the residents of the nascent state of Israel had very little. My parents, my brother and I lived in a one-bedroom apartment. We did not have a car, we did not have a phone, no washing machine and no TV. We only bought an electric refrigerator after our ice box had broken down, flooding the kitchen, and my mother put her foot down and insisted we needed to modernize. When I was a toddler, my mother had to buy eggs in the black market, because there was food rationing in Israel. America was perceived as the land of plenty, and many people received packages from relatives in the US. We had to conserve scarce water, and Israel had no energy resources of its own.
From this modest start in the 1950s, Israel had experienced an almost miraculous growth until the early 2020s. The water problem had been solved and Israel now exports water to Jordan. Israel has plenty of natural gas, some of which it exports to Egypt and Jordan with plans to expand its exports to Europe as well. Israel’s GNP per capita, a good measure of the standard of living, is greater than the GNP per capita of Germany, Belgium, or Canada. And there are Israelis with Nobel prizes in economics, literature, physics and chemistry. Recently, Israeli athletes garnered 7 Olympic medals in Paris.
Since October 7, however, the Israeli miracle has been under very dark clouds from within and from outside the country. The eternal ideals in the Parsha and the Haftorah translated to modern Jewish values can still, however, serve as guidelines. Deuteronomy 11:24 says: “I present before you today a blessing and a curse.” If we keep our moral compass, our compassion and our resolve and follow the righteous path that Hashem commanded us to adhere to through Isaiah’s prophecies, Israel may still be able to resume the incredible path forward it had taken throughout its first three quarter of a century of its existence.
On a final note, I am always intrigued by translations of the Bible - in my translation the word עושק (Isaiah 53:14) is translated as “oppression.” However, in modern Hebrew (and in Google translate.) the word עושק is usually translated as “extortion” rather than “oppression,” which seems more consistent with Isaiah’s prophecies and teachings.
Shabbat Shalom,
Dr. S. Abraham (Avri) Ravid
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August 30, 2024 - 26 Av 5784
Parasha Re'eh - The Israeli Miracle
Guest author - Dr. S. Abraham (Avri) Ravid
Dear Friends,
We are between rabbis for the month of August, so instead of the regular Rabbinic Reflection articles, we are instead sharing some reflections, even if they are less than rabbinic.
This Shabbat, we are pleased to welcome Rabbi Joshua Shorr back to the Bimah to lead services. This will be his last Shabbat with us during his August “residency,” so we thank him for helping us during the rabbinic transition.
Rabbi Joshua Strom joins us as our new rabbi next week, so please plan to be with us on September 7 for his first service. We will hold a special “welcome” Kiddush after the service, so come for the service and stay for the Kiddush to welcome the rabbi to the synagogue.
The High Holidays are just one month away, but time is flying by quickly, so please send in your ticket requests and your greeting card and Yizkor book order forms. If you don’t have them, be sure to scroll down in this email or call the synagogue office.
This Shabbat, we will read from Parsha Re’Eh. This Parsha instructs the Jews arriving in the land of Israel, which they are about to inherit, how to conduct their lives in the promised land. The Haftorah is from Isaiah, one of my favorite prophets, who follows the Parsha in advancing the theme of God inspired good deeds: “Establish yourself through righteousness, distance yours self from oppression for you need not fear it, and from devastation for it will not come near you.” (Isaiah, 54:15)
I had the privilege of growing up in the Promised Land as the Jewish state was emerging for the first time in millennia after a devastating war of independence. By US standards, the residents of the nascent state of Israel had very little. My parents, my brother and I lived in a one-bedroom apartment. We did not have a car, we did not have a phone, no washing machine and no TV. We only bought an electric refrigerator after our ice box had broken down, flooding the kitchen, and my mother put her foot down and insisted we needed to modernize. When I was a toddler, my mother had to buy eggs in the black market, because there was food rationing in Israel. America was perceived as the land of plenty, and many people received packages from relatives in the US. We had to conserve scarce water, and Israel had no energy resources of its own.
From this modest start in the 1950s, Israel had experienced an almost miraculous growth until the early 2020s. The water problem had been solved and Israel now exports water to Jordan. Israel has plenty of natural gas, some of which it exports to Egypt and Jordan with plans to expand its exports to Europe as well. Israel’s GNP per capita, a good measure of the standard of living, is greater than the GNP per capita of Germany, Belgium, or Canada. And there are Israelis with Nobel prizes in economics, literature, physics and chemistry. Recently, Israeli athletes garnered 7 Olympic medals in Paris.
Since October 7, however, the Israeli miracle has been under very dark clouds from within and from outside the country. The eternal ideals in the Parsha and the Haftorah translated to modern Jewish values can still, however, serve as guidelines. Deuteronomy 11:24 says: “I present before you today a blessing and a curse.” If we keep our moral compass, our compassion and our resolve and follow the righteous path that Hashem commanded us to adhere to through Isaiah’s prophecies, Israel may still be able to resume the incredible path forward it had taken throughout its first three quarter of a century of its existence.
On a final note, I am always intrigued by translations of the Bible - in my translation the word עושק (Isaiah 53:14) is translated as “oppression.” However, in modern Hebrew (and in Google translate.) the word עושק is usually translated as “extortion” rather than “oppression,” which seems more consistent with Isaiah’s prophecies and teachings.
Shabbat Shalom,
Dr. S. Abraham (Avri) Ravid