It Is A Tree Of LIfe
29/10/18 09:35 Filed in: sermons
Friends,
Generations of readers of this week’s Torah portion, Hayei Sarah, have noticed that the name of this portion has a sadly ironic twist. Hayei Sarah means “Sarah’s life.” But the portion is actually about Sarah’s death, and the preparations for her burial that Abraham makes. He buys the Cave of Machpelah as a burial site and, through that act, secures a foothold in the Promised Land. Immediately after this, Abraham sets about finding a wife for his son, Isaac, thereby securing the future for his covenant with God. Hayei Sarah means “Sarah’s life,” even though the portion deals with her death and its aftermath.
There is a far, far more painful irony in the fact that a Pittsburgh synagogue named Tree of Life was transformed, during Shabbat morning worship, into a grisly scene of death. The perpetrator was a gunman consumed with hatred of the Jewish people, and hatred of what he perceived – correctly – to be our historically rooted, Torah-based concern for today’s strangers and refugees: desperate Central American refugees, fleeing poverty and violence. The murderer, blinded by a twisted ideology, perceived these refugees to be bloodthirsty “invaders.” And, believing that the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, HIAS, was working on behalf of the refugees of the Central American caravan, seems to have pushed him over the edge into an act of mass murder.
How are we to respond to this outbreak of chaos, hatred and death? Certainly, this afternoon’s gathering represents a portion of that response.
But perhaps we can also glean some guidance by remembering that the name of the synagogue, “Tree of Life,” Etz Hayyim in Hebrew, is one of our most affectionate nicknames for Torah. We sing this name every time we return the Torah scroll to the Holy Ark: “She is a tree of life to all who hold her, and all who support her are happy. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.”
I reminded our Sunday School teachers of this connection, early this morning, as we discussed how best to respond to the fears and concerns that our children might raise in class. “This is part of how we respond to what happened in Pittsburgh,” I said. “We guide. We teach Torah. V’shinantam l’vanekha: ‘You shall teach them diligently to your children.’”
Let’s also remember – with deep grief, but also with love and admiration – something of who the victims were. In listening to an interview with the Rabbi Emeritus of Tree of Life yesterday evening, I learned that these eleven Jews, aged 54 to 97, were the "regulars," the people who, unlike most of the congregation, showed up at the very beginning of the Shabbat morning service, week in and week out, who made sure that there was a minyan [a prayer quorum] present for the majority of the congregation who trickled in as the service continued. They sacrificed their lives in part due to their commitment to Jewish communal life, expressed in their presence and their punctuality.
Let us therefore fulfill the mitzvah of k’vod ha-met, honoring the dead, by doubling down in our commitment to Jewish communal life here in Austin. Let us say hineini, Here I am. Let us show up, again and again and again. Let us be courageous, remembering that courage is not the absence of fear; courage is never letting fear determine your actions.
And let us express our deep gratitude for everything America has given our people by speaking out against all bigotry, against all dehumanizing political rhetoric. Let us also demand legislative action that will make the scourge of mass murder and domestic terrorism a thing of the past, bimhayrah b'yamenu, speedily and in our own day.
In gratitude for the bravery of the police officers, investigators and first responders, and in memory of those whose lives were taken, let us take to heart the prayer of Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav:
Yehi ratzon mil’fanekha, she-tivatel milchamot u’sh’fikhut damim min ha-olam…
May it be Your will to cause war and bloodshed to vanish from the earth, to let a great and wondrous peace prevail in all the world. So never again shall nation lift up sword against nation, nor ever again shall they train for war. Only let all who dwell on earth clearly see the truth of truths, that we have come into this world not for strife and discord, not for hatred and envy, and not for rivalry and bloodshed. Rather we have come into this world to know and understand You. May You be blessed forever. May Your glory enter our minds and hearts, that we may become chariots for the Divine Presence, bringing Your presence to the world, making known all who live Your power and the splendor of Your kingdom. Amen.
Generations of readers of this week’s Torah portion, Hayei Sarah, have noticed that the name of this portion has a sadly ironic twist. Hayei Sarah means “Sarah’s life.” But the portion is actually about Sarah’s death, and the preparations for her burial that Abraham makes. He buys the Cave of Machpelah as a burial site and, through that act, secures a foothold in the Promised Land. Immediately after this, Abraham sets about finding a wife for his son, Isaac, thereby securing the future for his covenant with God. Hayei Sarah means “Sarah’s life,” even though the portion deals with her death and its aftermath.
There is a far, far more painful irony in the fact that a Pittsburgh synagogue named Tree of Life was transformed, during Shabbat morning worship, into a grisly scene of death. The perpetrator was a gunman consumed with hatred of the Jewish people, and hatred of what he perceived – correctly – to be our historically rooted, Torah-based concern for today’s strangers and refugees: desperate Central American refugees, fleeing poverty and violence. The murderer, blinded by a twisted ideology, perceived these refugees to be bloodthirsty “invaders.” And, believing that the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, HIAS, was working on behalf of the refugees of the Central American caravan, seems to have pushed him over the edge into an act of mass murder.
How are we to respond to this outbreak of chaos, hatred and death? Certainly, this afternoon’s gathering represents a portion of that response.
But perhaps we can also glean some guidance by remembering that the name of the synagogue, “Tree of Life,” Etz Hayyim in Hebrew, is one of our most affectionate nicknames for Torah. We sing this name every time we return the Torah scroll to the Holy Ark: “She is a tree of life to all who hold her, and all who support her are happy. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.”
I reminded our Sunday School teachers of this connection, early this morning, as we discussed how best to respond to the fears and concerns that our children might raise in class. “This is part of how we respond to what happened in Pittsburgh,” I said. “We guide. We teach Torah. V’shinantam l’vanekha: ‘You shall teach them diligently to your children.’”
Let’s also remember – with deep grief, but also with love and admiration – something of who the victims were. In listening to an interview with the Rabbi Emeritus of Tree of Life yesterday evening, I learned that these eleven Jews, aged 54 to 97, were the "regulars," the people who, unlike most of the congregation, showed up at the very beginning of the Shabbat morning service, week in and week out, who made sure that there was a minyan [a prayer quorum] present for the majority of the congregation who trickled in as the service continued. They sacrificed their lives in part due to their commitment to Jewish communal life, expressed in their presence and their punctuality.
Let us therefore fulfill the mitzvah of k’vod ha-met, honoring the dead, by doubling down in our commitment to Jewish communal life here in Austin. Let us say hineini, Here I am. Let us show up, again and again and again. Let us be courageous, remembering that courage is not the absence of fear; courage is never letting fear determine your actions.
And let us express our deep gratitude for everything America has given our people by speaking out against all bigotry, against all dehumanizing political rhetoric. Let us also demand legislative action that will make the scourge of mass murder and domestic terrorism a thing of the past, bimhayrah b'yamenu, speedily and in our own day.
In gratitude for the bravery of the police officers, investigators and first responders, and in memory of those whose lives were taken, let us take to heart the prayer of Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav:
Yehi ratzon mil’fanekha, she-tivatel milchamot u’sh’fikhut damim min ha-olam…
May it be Your will to cause war and bloodshed to vanish from the earth, to let a great and wondrous peace prevail in all the world. So never again shall nation lift up sword against nation, nor ever again shall they train for war. Only let all who dwell on earth clearly see the truth of truths, that we have come into this world not for strife and discord, not for hatred and envy, and not for rivalry and bloodshed. Rather we have come into this world to know and understand You. May You be blessed forever. May Your glory enter our minds and hearts, that we may become chariots for the Divine Presence, bringing Your presence to the world, making known all who live Your power and the splendor of Your kingdom. Amen.
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