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AwarenessNovember 2003From the Desk of Rabbi CohonAchen Yesh Adonai Bamakom hazeh v'anochi lo yadati "God is certainly in this place, and I didn't know it!" The old Saturday Night Live comedian, "Father" Guido Sarducci, used to have a routine called "The Three-Minute University". He promised that in three minutes he could teach you everything about a subject that you would remember five years after you finished college. For example, if the course was Economics, he would teach you "Supply and Demand". If the course was Spanish, he would teach you "Como esta usted? ¨Muy bien, y tu?" And if the course was Theology, he would teach you "Where is God? Everywhere!" During the High Holy Days and the festivals of Sukkot and Simchat Torah that immediately follow it is easy to sense God's presence, or at least to note the presence of God's Chosen People in Temple. But it's also very easy, in the aftermath of the fall holiday season, to forget to look for God-or, more accurately, to forget that God is, in fact, everywhere, and we only have to be open to God's presence to sense that. The best way to keep that focus, to remind ourselves that we have holiness within us and are more than flesh and blood, is to develop a regular form of Jewish practice. When you come to services on Shabbat-evening or morning or both-you have the opportunity to connect to God, and holiness, and a sacred community on a weekly basis. When you come to Torah study or any of our many Adult Education Academy courses you stimulate your ability to think about and commit to a life deeper Jewish knowledge and action. And when you work on a Social Action program, like our coming Deep Freeze homeless shelter, you are acting in a way that demonstrates your Jewish commitment to remake a holier world. It's not that you can't find God on a hike or in the comfort of your own home. It's that we all need reminders, "refreshers" on the reality and presence of God in every part of our world. We have a beautiful yad, a pointer for reading the Torah, that is inscribed with the quote from Genesis that begins this article. It comes from our ancestor Jacob, who awakens from a dream of angels going up and down a famous stairway to heaven, and realizes that "God is certainly in this place, and I didn't know it!" But Jacob is not alone in that experience. Most of us function in our daily lives as though God were absent. Judaism teaches, rightly, that we can all sense God's presence if we only take the time to do so, through prayer, meditation, study, and practice. The point is, pun intended, to become aware of God in our world. In this month of Marcheshvan, the only Jewish month without a special holy day, I urge you to make religious practice a part of your weekly routine. Find a way to become aware of God. And let us here at Temple help you. L'shalom v'rei'ut, in peace and friendship, Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon |
