This past week brought many interactions and connections with people, as per usual. Babies and elders and everyone in between. People have moved here, and people have moved away.
As we come to this week of preparation for Shavuot I find myself thinking about the many journeys our people have embarked upon, packing up, leaving a home and moving into the unknown. This timeless story in many ways was presaged by Abraham hearing God tell him to Lech Lecha – “Go for yourself from your land, from your relatives, and from your father’s home to the land that I will show you.”
We have been leaving our homes for thousands of years – sometimes from such an inner command but too often, unfortunately, from forces to us, requiring us to leave our beloved homes and our homelands, including our homeland, Israel.
But we have always taken our Torah with us, and we always held that promise from God, that we would be shown (back to) our Land. This week in Israel, on May 28-29th, people celebrated Yom Yerushalayim, an Israeli national holiday that commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem after the Six-Day War of 1967. Shavuot not only marks our wheat harvest but also the receiving of Torah at Sinai – A Torah of Love. A Torah of Return. A Torah of Home.
Chag Shavuot sameach,
Rabbi Lynn
Shavuot
May 30, 2022 by Rabbi Lynn Greenhough • From the Rabbi's Desk Tags: shavuot •
This past week brought many interactions and connections with people, as per usual. Babies and elders and everyone in between. People have moved here, and people have moved away.
As we come to this week of preparation for Shavuot I find myself thinking about the many journeys our people have embarked upon, packing up, leaving a home and moving into the unknown. This timeless story in many ways was presaged by Abraham hearing God tell him to Lech Lecha – “Go for yourself from your land, from your relatives, and from your father’s home to the land that I will show you.”
We have been leaving our homes for thousands of years – sometimes from such an inner command but too often, unfortunately, from forces to us, requiring us to leave our beloved homes and our homelands, including our homeland, Israel.
But we have always taken our Torah with us, and we always held that promise from God, that we would be shown (back to) our Land. This week in Israel, on May 28-29th, people celebrated Yom Yerushalayim, an Israeli national holiday that commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem after the Six-Day War of 1967. Shavuot not only marks our wheat harvest but also the receiving of Torah at Sinai – A Torah of Love. A Torah of Return. A Torah of Home.
Chag Shavuot sameach,
Rabbi Lynn