Shemot

Dear friends,

I have just completed formatting the announcements – and so much is going on. We are very blessed to have such an engaged congregation, with members willing to participate in all manner of ways, be it volunteering to interview members as we write our ‘torah’, our story of the beginnings of Kolot Mayim, or participate in leading services, or make offers of shiva meals as needed. And more. Truly this is Jewish life – a life of doing. Community is what we build everyday – and yet this can be very hard for new members to tap into when we can’t have people over to our homes. Hence our idea for people to visit over Zoom, one-on-one. Originally this idea came to me as I was thinking about how to better engage individuals who are thinking about conversion. Some people joined Kolot Mayim just as we were locking down – and even as I stress community, it can be very difficult for any of them to build connection with members. But as I thought about this idea, I realized there is an opportunity for many of us – if not all of us, to build deeper connections, even as we are still online for a while yet. Please think about participating. I will put a list in circulation and then leave it up to people to make calls, put up the tea and visit.

This week we begin a new Book in our Five Books of Moses – the Book of Shemot, or Exodus. Shemot is a very powerful book. We meet Moses, we understand in our bones the humiliations of living in this place of desolate exile, Egypt, and we learn that God has a plan to redeem us. We will hear words that ring so familiarly as we come closer to Pesach, words we hear every Seder. Eventually we will make our way to Sinai and there we become a people. We will say na’aseh v’nishma“–“We will do and we will hear/understand.” Such a simple statement. Not, let me figure this out first, and then do it – maybe. No. First we will do and then the understanding will come to us through our doing. Every day we are called by our tradition to put these words into action. The understanding may not be immediate, it may not even be proximal to the actual doing, but we know, we trust, the understanding will come to us eventually. We stood together at Sinai, and we stand together today, at that Sinai within each of us. As we provide comfort to each other and as we inspire each other, “na’aseh v’nishma.

Love to all,
Rabbi Lynn