Last Friday, Congregation Shir Shalom celebrated our fourth anniversary. On July 1, 2012, members of the entire community gathered at the former Temple Sinai building on Alberta Drive to transport three Torahs across Longmeadow Road, Millersport Highway, to their new home at 4660 Sheridan Drive. We did so with song, dance, and a great deal of joy. I saw several pictures on Facebook last week and was reminded of how truly unique the occasion was. For the Jewish community, the Torah is our most valued possession, meant to be held and kissed and loved.
What a contrast the scene in this week’s Torah portion, Korah, makes to the way we experience Torah today. After an intense rebellion against Moses lead by Korah and 250 other members of the Israelite leadership, the people our petrified that the entire mission has been compromised. “Behold! We perish, we are lost… will we ever stop perishing,” they cry out to Moses. Afterward God reassures them, instructing Aaron and the Levites that they will bear the brunt of the iniquity. However, God also adds that as part of the punishment no Israelite including the Levite tribe should could near to the holy vessels and the Altar. Only Aaron and his family would be permitted to do so. The message of the Torah portion is clear: the sacred items of the community are dangerous and must be protected at all costs.
I am reminded of the battle currently going on in Israel over egalitarian prayer services at the Western Wall. For well over 20 years a group of women called the Women at the Wall have been battling to be able to hold the Torah in this most sacred space. And, while it seemed a solution had been reached last year with the agreement to build a separate space for egalitarian prayer services, the issue has been reignited in the last few months. Women are again being arrested for doing what we do every week at Shir Shalom, holding and reading from the Torah. Just this past week, a protester at the Woman of the Wall’s monthly Rosh Hodesh service joyously ripped apart a Reform prayer book, and a 13-year-old girl named Frannie had to withstand boos and hisses to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah at the Kotel. Even all these years later it seems we have not learned from Korah. As we learned on our Torah journey four years ago, Torah is best when all of us can enjoy it together as community.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex
Last Updated on 07/22/2016 by Marc Slonim
