This Shabbat we start reading the Torah from the beginning - again. Every year we read the entire Torah. The words are exactly the same. The stories, the characters and even the outcomes are exactly the same. However, we are not the same. We come to the new reading having accumulated a whole new set of experiences and memories. The joy and the pain from the previous year become the lens of our new reading, our new understanding.
BRING IT ON!
How will we "get busy with the words of Torah"? Which of the characters will we identify with most? Which aspects of the stories will bother us the most? What will our reactions to God's actions be this time? What will we accept and what will we reject? What will we do to bring the teachings to life?
BRING IT ON!
This Shabbat we read B'reishit/Genesis, "In the beginning of..." It is a fantastic creation story. Every culture has one. Ours happens to be through spoken word. "God said; 'Let ther be light.' And there was light" Day 1. This is what happens with water, starts, sun, animals, trees and everyting else that God created. God said it. It was thus. That is, until human beings are created. This creation is given life through the breath of God. God breaths into human beings nostrils and life is activated. Every inhale is God's breath. Every exhale is potential.
What will we do with all of our ability? How will we use our capacity for broader good and not just personal gain?
After everything is created we are given the ultimate gift - Shabbat. God gives us a full day of rest. We are not supposed to contribute or gain during this 25 hour stretch. What if we actually took God up on the offer to fully rest on Shabbat? Can we give ourselves permission to fully rest for even an hour?
I invite, encourage and challenge each of us to Shabbat, to really and truly rest for at least one hour between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday. Sleeping doesn't count. Playing Candy Crush on our phone doesn't count and neither does binge watching NetFlix. Let's refrain from contributing or gaining. Let's just be still.
How might "Shabbating" (really and truly resting) impact the actions we take and the decisions we make post Shabbat?
BRING IT ON!
Shabbat shalom u'mevorach,
Laurie
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