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I spent the past few hours pondering my Shabbat Message for this week.  

I went through the past week, combing the days for something exciting to share or teach. As we have just finished marking Shavuot, there are no holidays to speak of for awhile. Intent on finding an exciting topic, I pondered the articles I read, the classes I attended, the powerful life cycle events, the movies and  lunch dates, the baby swim lessons and playgroups, anything and everything. And yet, even with the richness of this week, no obvious Shabbat Message revealed itself. I started chatting with my husband, Natan, to drum up some inspiration. In conversation with him, the message revealed itself. 

I realized that this week has been less intense than usual. In the three years I have been blessed to serve as a rabbi at Temple Sinai, life has moved at a frenetic pace. Moving to Atlanta, buying a house and a car, getting a dog (and nursing him back to health after a devastating accident),  changing houses, becoming a mother, developing amazing friendships, and losing loved ones...the list goes on. It has been busy.

And this week...this week has been chill. 
So maybe, this Shabbat column, in some way was a gift from God, a reminder that we cannot spend every day on the peak of that mountain. In fact, it was that mountain peak at Sinai (the biblical one…) that we just celebrated a few days ago with Shavuot. Now, our ancestors and us, via the weekly Torah readings, find ourselves ba’midbar, in the desert. It was in the desert where our ancestors really developed and where our tradition took form. It is in the desert, the time and place away from the excitement and drama, where true growth occurs.

I invite you to take this week as a gift to heed the words of our tradition and limnot yameynu- to treasure each day. Those days may rise full of excitement or they may float in seeming normalcy. And yet, normal they are not! Each moment is a gift, a fleeting gift to hold and to treasure. 

Thus, we can take a deep breath, reflect on the majesty of life, and the beauty of the weeks, no matter what does or does not transpire. New insights and teachings will reveal themselves as gratitude grows in all aspects of our lives. In this way, we will find ourselves refreshed and ready for the frenzied pace to return once again. Because...it will. 

Our post-Shabbat ritual of havdalah teaches us that we spend our lives living between the sacred and the mundane.  It is up to us to take notice of all that happens in between.  

Shabbat Shalom!