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September 5, 2025 - 12 Elul 5785
Dear Friends, The High Holidays are only two weeks away and we look forward to having you join us for an uplifting, meaningful, and Hamish holiday season in the comfort of our beautiful sanctuary. Please send in your reservation forms right away, so we know you are coming. If you have any friends, neighbors, or relatives who aren’t yet sure where to attend services, please share our information and encourage them to join us too. Tomorrow, our Kiddush luncheon will be sponsored by Beryl & Harold Steinbach in honor of the birth of their first granddaughter. It is lovely that they are sharing their Simcha with the congregation, so we thank Beryl & Harold for their generosity. Please be sure to join us at the Kiddush table to celebrate with them and their family and friends. Blessings and curses. The words are seemingly everywhere we go these days. #Blessed shows up all over social media, the word all but replacing "fortunate" and "lucky." And we curse. A lot. We use curse words in ways and places that were unthinkable even 15 years ago. We say our sports teams, even our lives themselves, are "cursed." We fantasize of having the power to "curse" our perceived enemies. And yet, upon closer examination, we have been obsessed with blessings and curses seemingly for time immemorial. Our Torah speaks of God placing before us blessing and life, or curses and death, exhorting us, famously, to "choose life," (i.e. to follow the commandments that will bring about divine blessing). This week's portion, Ki Tetze, includes a brief recap of the episode with Balaam, "prophet for profit," hired by the Moabite king Balak to pronounce curses and doom upon the Israelites. Deuteronomy 23:5 tells us that the Ammonites and Moabites are not to be admitted into the people of Israel "because they did not meet you with food and water on your journey after you left Egypt, and because they hired Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor of Aram-naharaim, to curse you." The following verse is the one speaking to me this week: וְלֹֽא־אָבָ֞ה יְהֹוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ לִשְׁמֹ֣עַ אֶל־בִּלְעָ֔ם וַיַּהֲפֹךְ֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֧יךָ לְּךָ֛ אֶת־הַקְּלָלָ֖ה לִבְרָכָ֑ה כִּ֥י אֲהֵֽבְךָ֖ יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃ "But your God יהוה refused to heed Balaam; instead, your God יהוה turned the curse into a blessing for you, for your God יהוה loves you." Rather than presenting curses and blessings as individual paths or choices, the description here is of God literally flipping one upside down to become the other, as the verb Vayahafoch (reversed) implies. This imagery seems to suggest that perhaps blessing and curse, rather than being separate entities, may in fact be two sides of the same coin. Perhaps some curses, plus time and perspective, can ultimately be flipped into blessings. I know I feel that way about my recent eye surgeries and recovery. Certainly, having a torn and detached retina is no picnic, both literally debilitating as well as metaphysically terrifying. Four and a half months later, the long road to returning to full vision in my right eye is still ongoing. Being unable to drive for some time helped me to appreciate how often I take something I both need and mostly enjoy for granted. It helped me appreciate even more so my amazingly generous wife and life partner, Tali, driving me to and from work in three states while I was unable. Rather than sitting around feeling sorry for myself, I thanked God every day (and continue to!) for the gift of my being alive in a moment where torn and detached retinas can be repaired. Having endured this same injury in my other eye 20 years ago this summer, I realized that, were this 50 or 75 years ago, I would already be blind in the left eye, and slowly going blind in the right, with absolutely no recourse. Instead of viewing my injuries as a curse, I came to see them - pun intended - as a gift of even deeper appreciation. It brings me back to our Nissim B'chol Yom, the "miracles of every day," our daily prayer that simply lists so many of the gifts of life and being human that we don't think about nearly enough. The one that hits me hardest these days is: Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, pokeiach ivrim. “Blessed are You, Adonai our God, who gives sight to the blind.“ Both literally and figuratively, I am grateful to God who, through wonderful doctors, healthcare professionals, and the wonders of modern medicine, have helped me to see clearly. With all of the support and love I have received - from them, from my loved ones, and so many of you - I have emerged from a moment of potential blindness to a new world of clarity, brightness, and, of course, blessing. May we come to see and appreciate all of the blessings in life that are ours, and strive to take what seem to be curses in our lives, and flip them into blessings. Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, pokeiach ivrim. Blessed are You, Adonai our God, who gives sight to the blind. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Joshua Strom
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