Shabbat Thoughts- Holy Ground

The term “Holy Ground” may bring to mind many famous locations including the Kotel (The Western Wall),synagogues, churches, etc… 

Having visited Arlington National Cemetery and Ground Zero near the World Trade Center,I am sure that you would agree that final resting places of our loved ones are also holy ground. Ask yourself what sanctifies ground? Perhaps a shul is considered holy because a community of people has agreed that this particular building will serve unifying spiritual purposes, including prayer,gatherings for mutual support, Torah study, shared Tzedakah and Yomtov (Holiday) observances. Perhaps a cemetery or the site of a terrible and tragic loss is holy because it is a tangible link to our loved ones. Visiting a cemetery or a place where a tragedy has occurred connects us to those loved ones who are at the very core of our being; having shaped our identities they contributed to who and what we are as people.

 When standing at a cemetery or at the site of loss, often overwhelmed with emptiness we are carried back to a moment or a season of fullness. It is that journey from fullness to emptiness that we sense at a cemetery. It is that stark spiritual awareness of loss and the awareness of what we possessed and still possess that is Kedushah (holiness).  Kedushah is that heartfelt call to anchor ourselves with love and memory in the past while seeking to transmit an essence of our loved ones into the future.

In this week’s Parsha (Tzav), Aaron and his sons are dedicating the first Israelite worship site which is called Mishkan (portable sanctuary). For seven days, Aaron and his four adult sons dwell in a small enclosure located just inside the outer gate of the Mishkan.  They are not allowed to exit the gate to enter the camp, nor are they allowed to go further into the Mishkan. They are on holy ground in preparation of establishing a sanctuary for the community and a spiritual support system for individuals who celebrate joy and experience grief. In those ancient days, the Mishkan was the greatest embodiment of holiness (Kedushah) because it served to connect Israelites to G-d. Now that we no longer have sacrifices and incense offering, how do we connect ourselves to G-d? In your own lives, where is the holy ground?

May your Shabbat be a season of holy time. May you find an element of the non-ordinary realm by rooting yourself in Shabbat, by being with family and friends in a way which is anything but routine.

        Shabbat Shalom.

       

        Rabbi Steve Silberman

Shabbat Thoughts- and He called out

The day before yesterday 60 people gathered in the Student center on the campus of the University of South Alabama. Drawn together by a spectacular example of courage, this disparate group consisted of students and non-students, teenagers and senior citizens, campus activists and Zionists,members of the MAJF and members of the greater community of Mobile; all of whom are enthusiasts who champion true equality and freedom for women-united in a shared desire to learn from a woman who is breaking ground on the formerly taboo subject of rape.

Linor Abargil, an 18-year-old Sabra from Netanya, Israel won the Miss Israel competition in 1998. Shortly thereafter, while modeling in Milan, Italy she was raped by an Israeli travel agent who had offered to assist her in returning to Israel.  Returning to Israel,suffering from extreme trauma she continued her preparations and won the title of Miss World six weeks after being attacked!

 The film (Brave Miss World) documents her accepting the crown but also highlights her emerging need to confront and testify against her attacker; seeing to it that eventually he was arrested and served 16 years in prison in Israel. Over the course of  5 ½ years, Linor repeatedly traveled to many locations in the U.S., Europe and South Africa- raising awareness of the importance of supporting women to speak out about their having been raped. It is up to all of us throughout our entire world to reject the terrible objectification of women which is rampant in society. I was moved to tears when I saw Linor, a young woman of 21 begin a mission to support women from many varied cultures, racial groups, countries, economic circumstances and religious backgrounds. The applause which erupted from this audience after the film and a second time after the remarks of Cecily Peck (film"s director and Veronique & Gregory Peck’s daughter) came forth naturally from many people,some of whom were openly crying.

 I suffered a terrible thought; how many people in this room had been attacked or have a loved one who had been attacked? Thank you to the Mobile Area Jewish Federation for co-sponsoring this film (under the auspices of the Jewish Film Festival) with the University of South Alabama! Doors of understanding have been opened. It is up to all of us to walk through these doors and to bring others with us.

This week’s Torah reading, Vayikra, starts with an improbable opening (Lev. 1:1). Most of us picture G-d as speaking down to people from mountains or clouds. G-d is usually imagined as being above us and the audience is below. But, this week’s Parsha opens with the phrase “and G-d called out to Moses from the Tent.” True enough, it was the special tent of public worship (namedTabernacle or Mishkan), but it was a tent nonetheless. It was on the same ground as all the other tents in the encampment of Israel. G-d, Moses and all of Israel were all on the same level during this communication!

A lesson for us all emerges from this Torah passage. Never underestimate the direction from which G-d’s speech may come. It may be from Moses to Pharaoh demanding that slaves be freed. It may be from a former Israeli beauty pageant contestant, now a lawyer, working in the Israeli Attorney General’s. Or it may come from the mouth of a Christian professor visiting Mobile from Lebanon imploring us to hear of oppression against Christians. We must open our ears in order to hear G-d’s voice better. Each of us has  a role to play in the world to share G-d’s voice of justice, compassion and love.

Shabbat shalom. RSS

A Jewish Idea- Aniv’atah n’shaneh et ha-olam

 In the words of a well-known Israeli folk song, “You and I can change the world” (Aniv’atah n’shaneh et ha-olam) we assert our power to make a difference. We can encourage each other during challenging times. Our community is blessed with two opportunities this week to repair some of the brokenness within our world.