Rabbi's Message

Moadim L’Simaha!  I hope you are having a wonderful Sukkot. As we near the end of the holiday, I also hope you have been able to spend some time in a sukkah, especially our beautiful TBS sukkah; soon to be dedicated as The Gottschalk Family Sukkah. As I shook the lulav and etrog with our Rabbi Albert and Sarah Lewis Religious School students yesterday, I was struck by the beauty of our sukkah space and especially our newly installed Sukkat Sholom Mural, created by TBS member Laura Walters and mural artist, Brad Carney and generously funded by the Walters Family.  It is amazing.  In particular, my eyes were drawn to one image on the mural: a large Torah scroll with the letter BET written on the right end and the letter LAMED written on the left end. 

This weekend we will conclude our holiday season. First with Shemini Atzeret on Friday night and Saturday, and then with Simhat Torah on Saturday night and Sunday. On Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, death and life are linked by just two beats of the heart. Our Torah reading cycle reaches its final episode, the death of Moses. A single heartbeat later, we are once again “In the beginning”, as we restart the cycle, affirming life through Bereshit, the Creation of the world.

This beating of the heart is the seam that welds together the end and the beginning: our tradition points out that the final letter of Devarim (Deuteronomy) is LAMED and the first letter of Bereshit (Genesis) is BET (remember the mural?).  Together in Hebrew, these letters spell the word LEV, which mean “heart.”   
We end the holiday season by turning to the heart and reminding ourselves to lead with our hearts as we begin the new year.  Back to the mural.  The large Torah in the mural does not only contain the letters LAMED and BET, it is also filled with hundreds of heart-prints; the hearts of the Jewish people, the hearts of our community.
As we dance with the Torahs this weekend and conclude the holiday season, may our hearts be lifted, and in turn, may we dedicate ourselves to living wholeheartedly in the coming year.

Shabbat Shalom and Hag Sameah.