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Reconnecting with Our Homeland

03/31/2022 08:44:36 AM

Mar31

Rabbi Sam Trief

From Shabbat to Shabbat. This is what we call our weekly Sinai email message. 

In it, we reflect upon the week that has passed, the events we have hosted, the experiences we have had. We turn our eyes toward words of Torah as we prepare for the upcoming Shabbat, the holiest day on our calendar. It is the day of peace and it comes every week, even when peace seems far from our hearts. 

Of course, the war continues to rage in Eastern Europe and we think about the innocent Ukranians experiencing those horrors. Even as we focus on the suffering there, our hearts find themselves directed to our Jewish homeland, and the series of terrorist attacks Israel has endured during these challenging and difficult days. Over the course of the past 8 days there have been 3 deadly terror attacks in Israel. Eleven innocent Israelis have been murdered marking the deadliest week of terrorism in Israel since 2006.

As a Sinai Family, we mourn these victims and we condemn these deadly and cowardly attacks. Our hearts break when any nation, any people, must live in constant fear. But when it is our homeland that must experience this fear and terror, the pain is that much more visceral. 

For so many of us, our connection to Israel is made stronger by trips and visits to our homeland. Unfortunately, these past two years of the pandemic have kept Israel way too distant, as our school, synagogue, and personal trips have been canceled or postponed. 

In a sense, we feel like the biblical person described in this week’s Torah portion, Tazria. This person, afflicted with the mysterious disease of tsara’at, must go me’chutz la’machaneh, outside of the camp, and remain there for a specified period of time. Imagine the loneliness as (s)he sits there, the social fabric of connection fraying and forgetting.  

For a variety of reasons, we have all felt outside the camp in one way or the other these past few years. This week, as Israel tragically enters the headlines, we are reminded of that relationship, the lifeblood that the camp of Israel represents to the Jewish People.  As the Middle East captures our attention, let us think of positive and uplifting ways to connect to our homeland this Shabbat. 

Perhaps it’s watching an Israeli TV show (click here). Perhaps it’s planning a trip to Israel (we invite you to register interest for upcoming Temple Sinai Trips here ). This Shabbat, we remind ourselves of the myriad ways to get back into the camp and reconnect with our incredible homeland.

Even as we uplift Israel and think of her beauty, we pray together for her peace and well-being: 

Our God and God of our ancestors...God of Peace...give us hope for Israel and her future. Renew our wonder at the miracle of the Jewish State.
In the name of miracle workers of years past --heal the hearts of those who wish Israel ill, replacing hatred with understanding and coexistence.
In the name of your transformational power--may the psalmist’s words resound. Though we lie down in tears, we shall wake up in joy.
In the name of Israeli inventors who have amazed the world with their innovations – help us apply the same ingenuity to finding a path to peace.
Grant us the strength to conquer doubt and despair in Israel.
Replacing doubt with action.
Replacing despair with hope.
And let us say: Amen.
Shabbat Shalom 

Fri, March 29 2024 19 Adar II 5784