|
From the Rabbi:
Most of us learned at a fairly young age that you can tell the age of a tree by the number of rings in a cross section of the trunk. Every year, the tree grows a new ring, but not from the inside. The core of the tree remains unchanged from year to year and the new growth comes from the outside. The layer that was bark last year becomes wood this year. In this way the tree internalizes its environment. Therefore certain environmental factors become visible in trees. For example, loggers in the South Pacific when harvesting old growth trees could clearly identify the layer corresponding to 1883 when Krakatoa erupted throwing millions of tons of earth and ash into the atmosphere and essentially causing a nuclear winter. That massive environmental trauma was clearly visible within all trees that experienced that moment, even as far away as Australia, some 3000 miles away. And it's not only such huge natural disasters that are recorded in arborial memory. Even gradual human-caused climate change can be measured in rings of trees showing changes in the carbon and oxygen ratios in the atmosphere.
The Tree of Life is no different. Each year as we begin the cycle of Torah reading again, we dance another ring into the Tree of Life. And that ring doesn't emerge from the heartwood of the Tree, deep within the shtetl and isolated from the outside world. The new Torah insights come from the interaction of the Torah with the world around it and from the happenings of history. The triumphs and the traumas of the Jewish People can be seen in the strata of Torah literature. Our relationships with the non-Jews around us, Peace or Pogroms, it's all visible within the rings around the Tree. This shows up as philoshphical and scientific insights being integrated into Torah such as Maimonides' integration of Aristotelian thought with the Guide to the Perplexed, or Bachya Ibn Pakuda's inclusion of Sufi themes in Chovot HaLevavot, and it shows up in severe condemnations of the outside world, such as in the claim that non-Jews don't have souls and in halachic responsa forbidding the reading of newspapers (even during the week, never mind on Shabbat). The way we interact with the world around us shows up in the rings of Torah, as well it should. Our relationship with God, although not entirely defined by historical happenings, certainly is the locus of integration of all the parts of our lives.
So what about this year? What are we saving into the Torah memory with our dancing? We've certainly experienced an awful lot this year. Last year's Simchat Torah Massacre still stings and stinks in our hearts, minds, and community consciousness. Yet, the resilience and creative spirit of Am Yisrael also has responded to the ongoing crisis with a HUGE outpouring of Torah, prayer, chesed, community involvement, social activism, philanthropy, and Jewish engagement at unprecedented levels. What will be the stored memory of 5784? Will we remember only the pain, loss, sorrow and fear? Will we remember the outpourings of kindness? The impassioned divrei Torah and genuine heartfelt prayers? The swelling of synagogue pews, Hillel houses, and Jewish organizations? How about the countless acts of selfless heroism exhibited by IDF soldiers and civilians alike?
I humbly suggest that it's up to us to save to memory this past year through our dancing this holiday. We will be joined by the souls of the two heros we're dedicated to remembering, Aviad Sar-Shalom Rivlin and David Yair Shalom Ne'eman. Let us celebrate their heroism and dance wholeheartedly with all the mixed feelings we're holding. Everything in our hearts is ok to feel and to commit to somatic memory in the Tree of Life.
Chag Sameach,
Rabbi Shlomo
Classes This Week
NOTE: The Thursday evening class is paused until further notice.
| 
