Shabbat Parashat Nitsavim
Shana Tova!!!
September 8, 2018 – 28 Elul 5779
Dear Friends,
I take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones a Shana Tova, a good year filled with sweetness and joy!!!
This Shabbat we will be reading the weekly Torah portion of Nitsavim [standing firmly]. The sense of the Hebrew word Nitsavim is stationary. Yet, our High Holy Day season invites us to be anything but stationary! We are invited to get moving. We are invited to remember our goals, our inspiration, and our hopes! We are invited to “return” to our roots, to our family, to our community, and to God! In our parsha, God promises to accompany us on our journey of “return.”
As I read our parsha, one particular image that stands out in my mind is that of God gathering together our people from where ever we may be, and bringing us back “in”. This image acknowledges that we, as a people, and as individuals, might be disconnected from our roots. We might feel disconnected or isolated from one another. We might not see ourselves as part of the “in” crowd. Yet, where ever we are, God will find us and help us to reconnect.
During these High Holy Days, we will have the opportunity to greet folks whom we have not seen in a while. Let’s be as welcoming to them as God promises to be for us. When we see new faces, let’s take the time to say hello and to listen to their stories.
May the image of God finding us (no matter how far and wide we have wandered) and gathering us in, inspire us to do our best to re-connect and to be as inclusive as possible of those around us. Let us welcome people “in” and accompany them in their journey, as we would have God welcome and accompany each and every one of us back in our own spiritual journey!
Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova u’Metuka [a good and a sweet new Jewish Year]!
Rabbi Gilah Dror
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