Please remember that the Shul has been invited to attend the Temple Scholar-in-Residence weekend.
*Friday, January 12 - 6:00 p.m.
Shabbat Evening Service
with the Congregational Choir
Rabbi David Frankel, PhD will speak after service on
"When God Fought the Monster of the Sea - Mythological
Traditions and Their Transformation in the Bible and Midrash"
*Saturday, January 13
10:00 a.m. - Coffee & Doughnuts
12:00 p.m. - Temple Anniversary Service
with the Congregational Choir
Guests: Congregation Beth-El
After service Dr. David Frankel will speak on
"What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden"
**“Does the Hebrew Bible Foretell the Story of Jesus? Jewish-Christian Polemics in the Middle Ages” - Saturday, January 13, 2018, 3:00 p.m., in partnership with the Christian-Jewish Dialogue - What are some of the classic arguments for a Christian reading of the Hebrew Bible? How did the Jews of the Middle Ages respond to these arguments? And how might Jews and Christians move beyond these polemics to a more fruitful form of dialogue today?
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Some of us view God as Father and some of us view God as Creator. Some think of God as an old man with a long beard perhaps sitting on a cloud or mountaintop and others might think of God as beautiful aspects of nature. For some, God is the power of love; or perhaps the source of internal strength and resilience to withstand adversity. Early Genesis describes God as giver of life and maker of families, even as for some moderns God is definitely ‘seen’ or ‘felt’ and by others God is ‘known’.
What we all have in common is the perspective that each of us individually chooses to understand God; an absence of belief in God reflects personal choice too. Freedom to think and feel is the essential foundational element in broaching the subject of belief.
Imagine being raised as a child without any introduction to God. Some people may be uncertain as to their own perspectives concerning God and, as many of us do when confronting difficult subjects, avoid the topic with the intent of “talking about it later”. It is a disservice to avoid bringing God into daily life. Rather than avoiding God because it’s hard we would be better served if we engaged in thoughtful discourse and struggled with one of the most pressing core elements of the human condition; how do I experience ultimate value in life?
You might be surprised to consider that Moses may not have been exposed to ideas of God in his early years. Remembering that he was raised in Pharaoh’s household until he fled Egypt casts Moses in a different light. Likely, he did not see God as real until he experienced God at a much later point in his life. Only after Moses fled his native land while running for his life, serving as a shepherd to wed his wife, becoming a husband, father and son-in-law and contending with living as a stranger in a foreign society, did Moses encounter God at the Burning Bush. Living the comfortable status quo of a prince, Moshe did not know God. Like those of us who choose to look the other way Moses had looked the other way, or had perhaps intended to”talk about it later”, potentially not taking seriously a belief in God. Could it be that his awareness of the Holy Creator of Everything came about because his life had not turned out the way he had expected?
In this week’s Parshah, God informs Moses of God’s own mysterious name- the name none of us knows how to pronounce- the name we traditionally refer to as a noun which, over centuries, has become more than a nickname. Some of us are familiar with HaShem ( literally the Hebrew word for “the Name”) as a substitute for the unpronounceable identifier for God.
Intriguingly, God introduces Godself ( Exodus 6:4-7) with four Hebrew letters which might be a condensed version of “was, am, will be.” Giving a nod to Stephen Hawking or to Albert Einstein, God’s name could be an attempt to summarize all aspects of time itself-the Past, the Present and the Future. God is the ultimate of all time and all Time beyond time.
Just after God announces this special 4-letter code word, God promises that all of Israel will go free. God’s name becomes a mission code for the Exodus. God’s identity becomes expressed in the struggle for freedom which will demand great sacrifice and effort, appreciated by young and old alike - but appreciated differently by women, men, girls, boys, nursing mothers and elderly, shepherd and artisan, leader and commoner. In other words - God is different for any and all who choose to bring God into their minds and hearts; just as each of us views God differently.
This week may we all open our minds just as Moses did.
Shabbat Shalom.
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