Dear Friends,
Have you ever wondered – like I do – what is the meaning of the repetition in our prayers and in the Torah of the phrase, “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?” Why is this lineage consistently repeated in both Torah and prayer, when we already know that God is and was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?
I read a nice, novel suggestion in an article this week by a scholar from the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. She wrote that her daughter’s kindergarten teacher was explaining that Jews use a Siddur – a prayerbook – when we pray, and she asked the children who uses a siddur? After a few funny responses, the teacher playfully replied, “Abba uses a siddur. Ima uses a siddur (Abba = father, Ima = mother). Saba uses a siddur, Savta uses a siddur (grandparents). Saba’s Abba uses a siddur. Ima’s Savta uses a siddur. The children and parents laughed, and then the teacher asked, “Why do they use a siddur?”
She answered, “They want to be connected.”
And, there you have it!
The recitation of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which appears so powerfully in our Torah portion this week when God informs Moses, “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name ADONAI,” (Exodus 6: 3) affirms this central value of connection.
For years at Temple Beth Jacob, our leadership pondered and studied the idea of Relational Judaism – that what we do as Jews is about relationship. Unlike a shoe store or a pet store, the Temple does not peddle pets, pumps or sneakers. Our “trade” is in connection. We offer links to generations long gone, and generations yet to be. We trade in ideas generated by sages from antiquity, and novel ideas from today’s kindergarten teachers. We avail linkages to the lonely, and vend the value of the relationships which Temple community creates.
We are in the connection world, like Facebook, LinkedIn and JDate. And, we have been in that business ever since God first appeared to Abraham, and later appeared to Moses. Why? Because, ultimately, connections and relationships are not only all that really count in our spiritual and soulful lives, but they are truly all there really is in our spiritual and soulful lives. Houses and cars come and go. So, too, may some people in our lives. But the linkages that we make – even with those who depart from our lives – endure and sustain us for our lifetimes, and even beyond, inspiring our thoughts and actions for decades. That is the power of connections.
Hence, God appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – and Jennifer, Jessica, and Julie, and Richard, Brad and Jeffrey, and….
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
Have you ever wondered – like I do – what is the meaning of the repetition in our prayers and in the Torah of the phrase, “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?” Why is this lineage consistently repeated in both Torah and prayer, when we already know that God is and was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?
I read a nice, novel suggestion in an article this week by a scholar from the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. She wrote that her daughter’s kindergarten teacher was explaining that Jews use a Siddur – a prayerbook – when we pray, and she asked the children who uses a siddur? After a few funny responses, the teacher playfully replied, “Abba uses a siddur. Ima uses a siddur (Abba = father, Ima = mother). Saba uses a siddur, Savta uses a siddur (grandparents). Saba’s Abba uses a siddur. Ima’s Savta uses a siddur. The children and parents laughed, and then the teacher asked, “Why do they use a siddur?”
She answered, “They want to be connected.”
And, there you have it!
The recitation of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which appears so powerfully in our Torah portion this week when God informs Moses, “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name ADONAI,” (Exodus 6: 3) affirms this central value of connection.
For years at Temple Beth Jacob, our leadership pondered and studied the idea of Relational Judaism – that what we do as Jews is about relationship. Unlike a shoe store or a pet store, the Temple does not peddle pets, pumps or sneakers. Our “trade” is in connection. We offer links to generations long gone, and generations yet to be. We trade in ideas generated by sages from antiquity, and novel ideas from today’s kindergarten teachers. We avail linkages to the lonely, and vend the value of the relationships which Temple community creates.
We are in the connection world, like Facebook, LinkedIn and JDate. And, we have been in that business ever since God first appeared to Abraham, and later appeared to Moses. Why? Because, ultimately, connections and relationships are not only all that really count in our spiritual and soulful lives, but they are truly all there really is in our spiritual and soulful lives. Houses and cars come and go. So, too, may some people in our lives. But the linkages that we make – even with those who depart from our lives – endure and sustain us for our lifetimes, and even beyond, inspiring our thoughts and actions for decades. That is the power of connections.
Hence, God appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – and Jennifer, Jessica, and Julie, and Richard, Brad and Jeffrey, and….
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn