Rabbi's Blog

On Sunday, we had the great privilege of celebrating our Hebrew School students and their achievements, together with their parents and grandparents. It was a true delight to witness the smiles and beaming faces filled with Jewish pride and joy (pictures below).

This Sunday, 5/26, we will celebrate Lag Baomer. One reason for the celebration is the cessation of a severe plague that befell Rabbi Akiva’s students, tragically claiming the lives of 24,000 of them.

Rabbi Akiva, the son of a convert, grew up illiterate and worked as a shepherd. At the age of 40, he married Rochel, who recognized great potential in him and encouraged him to begin learning Hebrew so he could start studying. One day, while drawing water, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Akiva was amazed at how water, dripping over a huge solid rock (drip..drop..), had eventually carved out a deep hole in the rock.

“What mighty power there is in a drop of water,” he thought. “Do you think there is hope for me? Suppose I began to study the Torah, little by little, drop by drop. Do you think Torah wisdom can penetrate my mind?”

Setting aside his age and ego, he made up his mind right there and then. This is how Akiva the shepherd became the great Rabbi Akiva, the greatest scholar and teacher of his day!

What impressed him was not the ability of water to dent a rock, but how it did. The drops of water were consistent, over and over again. Seeing this, he realized that a small change in behavior, done repeatedly, can lead to something transformative.

We all strive to become the best version of ourselves, endeavoring to improve our character traits, careers, or spiritual lives. Rabbi Akiva teaches us that significant change arises from small yet consistent positive actions performed repeatedly.

The college protests and encampments have been deeply disturbing for the vile Jew hatred being espoused by the participants. You may be aware that a segment of those participating in these protests are actually young Jewish college students.

What should our attitude be toward these uninformed, profoundly misguided young Jews? Should we view them as estranged brothers? Should we reject them? After all, what can be a greater statement of denouncing one’s Judaism than siding with the enemy?

The four species with which we celebrate Sukkot (which we learn about this week) are symbolic of four different Jewish characters: one who is knowledgeable in Judaism and active in good deeds (Etrog), a second who is knowledgeable but inactive (Lulav), a third who is uninformed but active (Myrtle), and the fourth one, the willow, represents the Jew who is uneducated and inactive. Yet, we can’t bless and shake the Lulav without the ‘good for nothing’ fourth Jew, tied in with all the others.

The involved and active Jewish community is incomplete as long as any ‘lost’ Jew is not part of the pack. This means, that even a Jew who has no identifying factor of their Judaism, all they have going for them is that they were born Jewish, they are deserving of our unconditional love, not because of anything they do, but because of who they are. In fact, the less Jewishly they identify, the more they are in need of our love.

Here’s a timely takeaway: There are plenty of Jews who largely mix with non-Jewish people. In recent months, they may be feeling increasingly lonely, discovering that their friends may not be such good friends after all. So they never had Jewish friends, and now may feel distant from their non-Jewish friends. Now would be a great time for you to reach out to them, meet them for coffee, invite them to your home for a Shabbat dinner, or to be your guest at a community event. Make sure they are lonely no more.

Watch, in no time the ‘Willow’ branch will start smelling like the delicious ‘Etrog’.