A version of this sermon was delivered Rosh HaShanah morning 5778 at Temple Emanu-El of East Meadow
Before there was anything, there was
God, a few angels, and a huge swirling glob of rocks and water with no place to
go. The angels asked God, “Why don’t you
clean up this mess?”
So, God collected rocks from the
huge swirling glob and put them together in clumps and said: “Some of these
clumps of rocks will be planets, and some will be stars, and some of these
rocks will be…just rocks.”
Then God collected water from the
huge swirling glob and put it together in pools of water and said: “Some of
these pools of water will be oceans, and some will become clouds, and some of
this water will be…just water.”
Then the angels said: “Well God,
it’s neater now, but is it finished?” And God answered…
“Nope!”
On some of the rocks God placed growing things, and creeping
things, and things that only God knows what they are, and when God had done all
this, the angels asked God, “Is the world finished now?” And God answered…
“Nope!”
God made a man and a woman from some of the water and dust and said
to them: “I am tired now. Please finish
up the world for me…really, it’s almost done.”
But the man and the woman said: “We can’t finish the world alone! You have the plans and we are too little!”
“You are big enough,” God answered them. “But, I agree to
this. If you keep trying to finish the
world, I will be your partner.”
“The man and the woman asked: “What’s a partner?” And God answered…
“A partner is someone you work with on a big thing that neither of
you can do alone. If you have a partner, it means that you can never give up,
because your partner is depending on you.
On the days you think I am not doing enough and on the days I think you
are not doing enough, even on those days, we are still partners and we must not
stop trying to finish the world. That’s
the deal.” And they all agreed to that
deal.
Then the angels asked God, “Is the world finished yet?” And God answered…
“I don’t know. Go ask my
partners.”[1]
In this telling of the creation story, God makes a point to
emphasize that creation is not done, and that humanity is God’s partner, tasked
with creation. Rosh Hashanah
commemorates the creation of the world, the reason why our Torah reading for
the second day is the story of creation from the first chapter of Genesis. A little later our choir will end our Shofar
Service with the words of Hayom Harat Olam: this is the day of the
world’s birth. Our ancestors did the
math in the Torah, adding up all the dates of birth and lifespans, and they
determined that this year is the 5778th year since the world’s
creation. Perhaps we would have expected
that in almost 6000 years, we’d be done, but this last year has taught us that
creation is still awaiting perfection and that creation’s perfection still
waits on us and our actions. We are
indeed partners in divine action. And
the angels are still asking if we’re done yet.
The Torah starts with a bang!
God’s first action is creation. Bereishit
Bara Elohim. In the beginning, God
created. We understand God’s role to be
primarily, or at least initially, that of creator, forming something of value
and importance out of the primordial wild and waste, the tuhu vavohu. We recognize this and praise God for it.
This morning, as every morning, we read the prayer Baruch She’amar,
which begins: Baruch she’amar v’hayah ha’olam / praised be the One who
spoke and the world came to be. Every
morning we thank God and praise God for the act of creation. We recognize the unique ability that God has
to speak creation into being.
As humans, our words are indeed powerful, but not powerful enough
to create worlds or beings. As humans we
are called to try to emulate God, we are created in God’s image, but we don’t
have the divine tools. We have our hands,
our hearts, and our brains. The closest
thing we have to a divine tool is our voice; and its role, though not one of
creation, is important. When God is done
with creation, God takes a moment, gazes over God’s handiwork, takes a divine
breath, and recognizes that what God had created was not just good, but very
good, and ultimately worthy of blessing, when God blesses Shabbat. Our voices have the ability to bless and
praise, but it’s our hands and our minds which have the divine creative impulse
within them.
A year ago, as our congregation was deliberating our future, I
described our place as in the wilderness, a place of uncertainty between where
we’ve been and where we’re going. The
wilderness, though scary, is a place of great creativity. This year, as many, but certainly not all, of
the questions about our community’s future have been answered, we find
ourselves moving closer to the border of the Promised Land, though not yet
arrived. And we are now given the
opportunity to determine what our new community will be, so that we will arrive
next year, on Jerusalem Avenue.
Our voices have been heard, so now it is time to put our hands and
minds to work. Let us, in this New Year,
channel our divinely given charge of creation toward the establishment of our
new community with divine impetus and skill, with a determination that everyone
has something to contribute, with an eye toward seizing the opportunity
presented to us, with the charge to make space for others, and with a sense
that new doesn’t mean getting rid of the old.
Let us create with divine impetus and skill:
In the middle of the wilderness, the people are commanded to
create. God calls to Moses and requests
that the people build God a sanctuary so that God may dwell among them. In order to make this happen, God singles out
one man, among the many Israelites, to be the foreman of the divine building project. This man’s name is Bezalel, and he takes up
the mantle of overseeing creation of a house for the people to communicate with
the divine. The Torah tells us:
See, the Eternal has singled out by name Bezalel, son of Uri son of
Hur, of the tribe of Judah. God has
endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind
of craft and has inspired him to make designs for work in gold, silver, and
copper, to cut stones for setting and to carve wood—to work in every kind of
designer’s craft, and to give directions. He and Oholiab son of Ahisamach of
the tribe of Dan have been endowed with the skill to do any work.[2]
Bezalel
is singled out, but also partnered with Oholiab. Oholiab is often forgotten in this story,
First, because God singles out Bezalel first, and second because Bezalel has a
school of art and design named after him in Jerusalem. Each of them, and both of them, are filled
with what the Torah calls chochmat lev.
While this is translated simply as skill, the literal translation is the
wisdom of the heart. The skills Bezalel and
Oholiab have are divinely inspired, and a combination of both wisdom and soul,
heart and head together.[3]
The rabbinic tradition reinforces
this point about Bezalel. In the Talmud,[4]
we read of Bezalel:
In the moment that the Holy One of Blessing said to Moses: Say to
Bezalel: make for me a Mishkan, an ark, and vessels. Moses went and switched
the order, and he said to [Bezalel]: make an ark, vessels, and a Mishkan. [Bezalel]
said to him, our teacher, it is the custom of everyone that [first] one builds
a house, and afterwards [one] places inside vessels, and you are saying, make
for me an ark, vessels, and a Mishkan. Where do I place the vessels that I am
making?
In
this moment, Bezalel recognizes an incongruity in Moses’ instructions. Something doesn’t add up. When he asks Moses what he’s supposed to do
with the vessels, he’s asking Moses the purpose for all that he is asked to
construct. He wants to know the why. He wants to understand deeply, in his heart
as well as in his mind, so that he can build and create with intentionality,
with kavannah.
Moses responds to Bezalel’s retort
with words that amount to a blessing: “Perhaps you were in the shadow of God.” Here, the Talmud makes a point of emphasizing
the meaning in Bezalel’s name. Shéma
betzel el hayyita. Betzel-el, in the
shadow of God.
If, as a community, we make our choices with intentionality and purpose,
if we ask the right questions, and seek the purpose. If we focus on the why and use the skill of
our mind as well as the skill of our heart, we will be blessed to do so in the
shadow of God. We will be blessed to
create with divine impetus and skill.
Let us be determined as well that everyone has something to
contribute to this creative project:
Bezalel gets the accolades, and deservedly so. But even before God singles out Bezalel in
the book of Exodus, we read: “the Israelites, all the men and women whose
hearts moved them to bring anything for the work that the Eternal, through
Moses, had commanded to be done, brought it as a freewill offering to the Eternal.” But it’s not just that they brought the gold
and the precious stones and the skins and the yarn and the wood, the materials
commanded for the building. It’s that
everyone who wanted to be a part of the creation was invited to be. Everyone whose heart moved them to join in
the act of creating a home for God was welcomed to participate. Big tent Judaism in the service of building a
big tent for God.
We read that the women who were skilled in spinning, spun yarn, and
then brought it. Everyone’s skill set
was put to use. Everyone who could do,
did. Everyone, men and women, helped to
create the beautiful house for the Eternal, because they knew that it was also
a house for them. A place where they
could reach for the sublime and find the answers to life’s most difficult
questions. A place where their
connection to heaven was made manifest.
A place where God would dwell among them. A place where they could create community and
pass traditions on to their children.
Bezalel may have been imbued with a divine skill, but he was only
given two hands, like the rest of us. He
needed everyone’s help to accomplish the task.
He needed everyone to give of their time and their effort, in addition
to their donations. It was the first
capital campaign in history, but it has an important lesson to teach, because
it wasn’t a passive campaign. It asked
people to participate and made space for everyone. It asked of people to express their talent
for everyone’s benefit.
Everyone in our community has been asked to be a part of this
creation, with your skills and your hearts.
Each of us has our own skills we can add. If we choose to use them, and choose to give
of our talents, we will be blessed to create a place where God will surely
dwell among us.
Let us work to seize the opportunity given to us to build something
to the glory of God:
The building of the Mishkan in the book of Exodus is the first of
the two great building projects dedicated to God described in the Bible. The other is the Temple in Jerusalem built by
Solomon in the book of Kings. David,
Solomon’s father, was not allowed to build the Temple for God because even
though he was the king of Israel and established Jerusalem as the capitol, his
sins of the heart and body render him unfit in God’s eyes. So it is left to his son, Solomon the wise,
to establish God’s permanent abode atop Mount Moriah, that same mountain where
Abraham brings Isaac, that same mountain where Adam and Eve find refuge after
exile from Eden.
In the book of Kings, Solomon’s building of the Temple comes about
not only by divine command. We read of
Solomon corresponding with Hiram, the King of Tyre, in modern day Lebanaon:
You know that my father David could not build a house for the name
of the Eternal his God because of the enemies that encompassed him, until the Eternal
had placed them under the soles of his feet.
But now the Eternal my God has given me respite all around; there is no
adversary and no mischance. And so I
propose to build a house for the name of the Eternal my God, as the Eternal
promised my father David, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in
your place, shall build the house for My name.’[5]
Solomon,
as any good son would, tries to clean up his father’s reputation by commenting
that it was David’s enemies, not his dalliances, which caused a delay in the
building project for God. Solomon then
goes on to tell King Hiram that it is his idea to begin construction now. “I propose,” he says, “hineini omer.” The Hineini here is important, because it is most
often used as the marker of a response to God. When God calls to Abraham twice in our
reading this morning, once with the command to sacrifice his son, and once with
the command to stay his hand, Abraham responds both times with the word, Hineini. When God calls to Jacob, Moses, and Isaiah,
each of them respond with Hineini. Here
I am, but also with an implied sense of being ready to do what God has
commanded.
In Solomon’s case, there is no call
from God to build as there was in the desert to Moses. Solomon looks around, sees the peace he has
been able to establish after his father’s wars, and the wealth he has begun to
amass due to his expanding empire, and he determines for himself that he is
ready to do God’s work in building the Temple.
It is only after Solomon finishes building the Temple that God’s voice
is heard. “The word of the Eternal came
to Solomon: With regard to this House you are building, if you follow My laws
and observe My rules and faithfully keep My commandments, I will fulfill for
you the promise that I gave to your father David. I will abide among the children of Israel,
and I will never forsake My people Israel.”[6]
Solomon takes it upon himself to
look around at the situation and determine that the time is right to begin
construction. The time has come to
create a house for God. It is only after
Solomon takes the initiative himself that God recommits to the covenant with
the people Israel.
We have looked around. We have determined that the time is now and
the time is right to commit to a new project to create a house for God and a
house for our community. By devoting
ourselves to that task, by taking the initiative, we will make an opportunity
for God’s presence to dwell with us, and be blessed to find our covenant with
God reaffirmed.
Let us make space for others:
We know that not everything will be
the same. Many elements of what we have
come to know and love about Temple Emanu-El may change. Much will most likely stay the same, but we also
must look with honesty at the reality of what it means to bring two
congregations together. It means
bringing together two sets of customs, two sets of expectations, two distinct
histories, two traditions, and two groups of people. In many cases there can and should be room
for both. But in order to make room for
both, we have to take a cue from God.
Before there was anything, there was
God. The Kabbalists teach that in order
for God to create the world, God had to make space, since there was only God,
and God filled all space. This process
of withdrawal is called tzimtzum,
contraction, making space, and it is a necessary part of creation. Creation cannot come to be without it. “How did God create the world? Like a person taking a deep breath and
holding it, so that the small contains the large.”[7] “Before the creation of the world, the
Eternal God withdrew itself into its essence…it left an empty space within its
essence in which it could emanate and create.”[8]
For God to create the world, God has
to make space. God takes a deep breath
in…holds it…forever. It is in that void,
in the space that used to be filled with God’s essence, that God creates. God has to make room. God has to clear away some of God, give up
some of what God had always been. God
gave that up for us. God made space for
us, for the earth, for the universe to be.
In order to create, God had to give.
We will no doubt be asked to
compromise, and make space for traditions, customs, and ideas which are new,
unfamiliar, and possibly even uncomfortable, for both sides. But if we remember the divine contraction,
the divine making of space, the tzimtzum,
we can try to emulate the divine way and make room to create something new and
worthy of blessing.
New doesn’t have to mean getting rid of the old:
When Moses goes up to the mountain
of God a second time, after the Golden Calf, after he throws down the tablets
of the law and shatters them, he is given two new tablets. But, unlike the first set, these are not
etched by God. They are etched by
Moses. The second time, God tells him,
the work is up to you. You were handed
something, but now you have to create. Moses
transcribes the Ten Commandments onto two new tablets and descends from the
mountain with them in his hands, as he had done 40 days earlier.
When the time comes to place the
tablets in the Ark of the Covenant, the gold covered box, carried by the
priests, and upon which God’s presence was said to dwell, there was a choice to
be made. Moses had before him two sets
of tablets. One, shiny, new, etched by
his own hand. Another set, shattered,
broken, a remnant from an earlier encounter with God. Moses decides that both sets belong in the
Ark. The new and the old have a place. Each set of tablets has holiness. Each set of tablets has within it the word of
God, the breath of God, the presence of God.
There is room in the Ark for both.
When we come together as a new,
merged community, we will make space for both sets of tablets. Those that are a remnant of what was, and
those that represent the new direction.
There is a place for both, and both deserve to be preserved and
revered. When we make space for both
sets of tablets, we will be blessed to have completed the creation of a new community
devoted to God, built upon the foundation that was laid by our forebears.
In this next year, we have a special
opportunity to channel our internal divine impulse in the service of creation
of a new community. It will take a lot
of work and effort from all of us, and everyone is invited to participate. If we channel the divine skills we have been
given, if we ensure that everyone has a role and a contribution, if we seize
the opportunity afforded to us, if we work to make space for others, and if we
work to bring the best of the past with us, we will no doubt be successful. We will be successful such that a year from
now, when we gather together on Rosh Hashanah 5779 we will be blessed to look
back at the work that we have created, declare that it is very good, and find
cause to take a divine breath, and bless all that we have created.
Kein
Yehi Ratzon.
Shanah
Tovah!
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