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Drash
for Shabbat Tzav As we entered Temple tonight, and took the spiritual challenge to put away our Blackberries, turn off our cell phones, resist watching another scandal-packed political episode on our iPods, we probably nurtured in our hearts a deep longing to hear something that will illuminate us in our lifelong journey to live with a sense that somehow Judaism will give us the tools to live lives of deeper holiness, and greater consciousness. At least, that is always my hope, each Shabbat, as I enter the doors of the Sanctuary. So when I first read tonight's Parasha Tzav from the Book of Leviticus, I wondered what we could possibly share or learn from it that would be helpful in our daily lives. Is my holiness dependent on a burnt offering? What do I need to sacrifice in order to find God? It felt as removed from my life as an individual and a member of society as I could possibly imagine. It deals in detail with offerings--burnt offerings, meal offerings, purgation offerings, well-being offerings--all the rituals that God charged Moses with on Mount Sinai, and then passed on to Aaron and to us as our heritage. It is so bloody, so complicated, so formulaic, so outdated. Or is it? "Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the Tabernacle and all that was in it, thus consecrating them"…"Anything that touches these shall become holy. He poured some of the oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to consecrate him." The more I thought about these phrases, the more I realized that there is something of deep and meaningful value for us to draw even from some of the disturbing images in this Torah portion. Doesn't each of us sitting here tonight carry within ourselves the residue of that anointing oil? Aren't each of us, as human beings and as Jews, responsible to find a way to consecrate our individual lives to God, so that we can contribute to blessing this world with holiness? Isn't this something that we can do, moment by moment, day by day, by making of our daily lives the Tabernacle of God's presence? There are so many choices available to each of us in our world today, choices about how we treat each other, about how we use our resources, about how we work with our own personal characteristics and challenges, such as our anger, or our fears, or our sense of entitlement, or our desire to be more devoted to our religious/spiritual lives. Maybe our sacrifice and our offering is in all of us, congregants and clergy alike, working to develop the strength to make the right choices, the holy choices--to treat every member of our congregation, our family, our colleagues, our community as an expression of God, deserving of our most holy and consecrated relationship skills in which respect, acceptance, compassion and unselfish interest define us and our way of being with each other. Today we are all here to honor Marjorie Hochberg whose devotion, kindness, and nurturing love given so freely to all the adults, young people, and members of Temple staff exemplifies this kind of holiness. May we all learn from her example and express our gratitude to her by striving to bring these same qualities to our own lives and to our relationships within these Temple walls. This is something we can all offer. Though it might not be burnt, or purgative, or reparative, it will be real and it will go a long way towards bringing a spirit of holiness to our Tabernacle and to our lives. Shabbat Shalom.
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