Before I get to this week’s Shabbat message I wanted to say two things:
1. Thank you to all who answered our survey about the High Holy Days. This year’s service will be streamed on Zoom, but with your feedback we will ensure a meaningful and spiritual service. For those who would still like to answer the survey, here are the questions:
What are the moments in the High Holiday liturgy that are most meaningful to our community?
What is the essence of that moment?
What do you need from your experience this year?
What do you remember taking away from last year?
What do we need from the High Holidays this year individually and communally?
2. Please follow me and the Temple on Facebook to stay as up to date as possible.
Now for my Shabbat message: One of the largest issues any of us are facing at this current point in history is the issue of power. We are left to wonder and struggle with what we can control and what we cannot control. There is a lot going on right now that we cannot control and that is frustrating. The story of Noah, however, offers us a vision of how to claim power in a time of powerlessness.
In Noah we learn about the limits of personal power. We hear firsthand about a person who is confronted with issues he can control and issues he cannot control. Noah cannot control people’s behavior, God, or nature. All he can do is control his own actions and responses to the situation around him. He has the power to build an ark, nothing more and nothing less. Therefore, we are left to ask a question each day we survive through this pandemic: What do I have control over fixing and what do I not have control over fixing? Whatever I can fix will become my ark, what I can’t will, for better or for worse, have to be washed away in the flood. Each day we must build ourselves an ark. This act will keep us afloat in the chaos that surrounds us.
