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Each year, the Torah portion Mishpatim fills me with a pang of nostalgia. It brings me back to the very first sermon I ever wrote. It was February 2012 at Hebrew Union College, in Jerusalem. 

I remember it quite well because at that time, during the first year of Rabbinical School, students were required to write and deliver only ONE sermon, or D’var Torah. 

I remember the pressure and the anxiety that surrounded that sole sermon. If presented poorly…if the content did not resonate with the listeners…would the rabbis back in the United States find out? Would I not be invited back for a second year of rabbinical school? As I spent days upon days toiling over my short speech, I thought to myself: “Am I really cut out to be a rabbi? Can I do this every week?! It will break me!” 

But here I am, 11 years later; writing sermons quite frequently, sometimes finishing them up just a few minutes before Services start. Shhhh, but don't tell anyone that :) 

I share this because as I study the Torah Portion Mishpatim, it reminds me of the human ability to grow, and to mature. Indeed, how something that once seemed so impossible and daunting can evolve into something that fills us with purpose and becomes a routine part of life. 

I spent a good hour this morning digging through old emails and files, trying to find that FIRST sermon. This trip down memory lane was emotional as I realized how much I have changed and grown from my time with all of you. The tasks that once seemed so hard are now second nature. And though I cannot find that original sermon, I do remember the lesson I conveyed clearly: 

In our parasha, as Moses prepares to receive the 10 commandments, God says to him. "Come up to Me on the mountain, and be there." 

Moses goes up on the mountain alone, enters into the very cloud of God's presence, and remains there with God for forty days and nights.

The phrase והיה שם / "be there" has always leapt out.  Wouldn't "come up to Me on the mountain" have been enough? Tradition teaches that every word in Torah carries meaning, which means there must be a reason for this phrase to be there. It cannot be redundant. "Be there" must suggest a different quality of presence.

Our Torah portion teaches that it is one thing to climb the mountain. It is another thing entirely to really be present at the top -- or to really be present along the journey up or down. 

You might know this about me by now...one of my biggest personal challenges is being in the moment. I am constantly caught up in what must be done next, that at times I miss the “now”.  It seems that even in our Torah portion, God knew that even Moses could face that problem, much like you or I. 

So God reminds him: “come to Me, and be there.” When we can be there, then God is there. In fact, one of God’s names hints at this idea. God is called HaMakom, literally “the Place”. Wherever we find ourselves, truly find ourselves, then God is present in that place. 

As much as I have changed - the sermon that I still need to hear has remained the same. Even as we grow and evolve, our core, our God given essence, often stays the same. It is a strength as much as it is a challenge.  

On this Shabbat, we ask the question: Regardless of how much we have changed and grown through the years of our lives, what is the sermon of which we always need to remind ourselves? And, do we allow ourselves to be fully present so that we open up to the possibility of encountering God and truly living our most meaningful and fulfilling lives? 

Shabbat Shalom