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June 2007

From the Desk of Rabbi Sharff

This past month we celebrated Shavuot and studied the miraculous nature of revelation at Mount Sinai .  The whole notion of miracles in Jewish tradition is a concept we often overlook in our modern Reform world.  At best we will discuss the miraculous nature of everyday events such as a rainbow or the birth of a child.  Unfortunately we rarely discuss the concept that God could change the laws of the universe for the betterment of either individuals or a people.

This concept is articulated by many of our sages including Moses Maimonides, who in his Thirteen Principles of Faith articulates how God's Torah is both perfect, and how God will resurrect the dead.  The perfection of Torah and bodily resurrection are ideas that are anathema to our modern ears.  Yet the miraculous nature of life, the universe, and everything, should not be.

Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the great twentieth century Jewish theologians and philosophers emphasized the notion of awe and wonder.  Heschel was articulating how God is really out there in the world, but how our modern trappings often prevent us from appreciating the wonderful and awesome aspects that surround us each and every day.

For example, having traveled the world, I still find it miraculous, that for the most part, people stop at red lights.  Traffic flow seems an odd place to look for God and miracles in the universe, yet as we know, without a coherent and consistent plan, none of us would ever get where we wish to go.  Something worth pondering while you sit at yet another frustrating red light.

It is by far easier to look at tragedies in the world and wonder where God was.  It is easier to look around at suffering and question God's existence.  But merely to focus on suffering and wickedness also blinds us from the goodness that surrounds us on a daily basis.  There is a lot that is right in the world.  There is a lot that when looked at carefully can also reveal the miracles that still befall us on a day-to-day basis.  It just involves focusing not merely on the extraordinary, but by reveling in the ordinary as well. 

As the summer settles in and the temperature rises, we may be tempted to curse the heat and oven-like temperatures, but it would not be a bad idea to also thank God for giving us the miracle of sechel (intelligence) to be able to invent air-conditioning. 

Rabbi Ben Sharff