Congregation Shearith Israel
  • About
    • Help Wanted
    • Mission, Vision, Core Values
    • Contact Us
    • Our Congregation and History
    • Blog
    • Places >
      • Shul Locations
      • David A. Segal Family Simcha Play Center
      • Shearith Israel Cemeteries
      • Family Room
    • People >
      • Meet our Klei Kodesh
      • Meet our Staff
      • Meet our Lay Leadership
      • Shearith People
    • Communications >
      • The Shofar
      • Our Video Channel
      • Shearith Social Media
      • Sign up for our emails!
  • Calendar
  • Connect
    • Study Guides >
      • Shabbat Morning Torah Study Guides
      • Thursdays with the Rabbis Study Guides
      • Women's Torah Study Materials
    • Travel to Israel with Shearith
    • Volunteer
    • Get in Touch
    • Groups >
      • 20s and 30s
      • College Connection
      • Shearith Singles 40+
      • Pillars: Hazak Community
      • Shearith Prime
      • Social Action
    • Family Center >
      • Family Center Program and Event Descriptions
      • Tiny Treasures
      • Family Shabbat Retreat
    • The Ladder Project >
      • Donors to The Ladder Project
    • Music at Shearith >
      • Shabbat Musical Experiences
      • Small-Waldman-Cohen Signature Series
      • Hazzan Zhrebker Music
      • Our Shearith Choirs
      • Service From the Heart Album
    • SISterhood >
      • SISterhood Programs and Events
      • Torah Fund
      • SISterhood Gallery Judaica Giftshop
      • SISterhood Board Forms
  • SHEARITH.LIVE
  • GiVE
    • Make Your Donation
    • Annual Campaign
    • Shearith Foundation
  • Pray
    • Shabbat and Minyan Times and Liturgy
    • Alternative Prayer Experiences
    • Holidays >
      • High Holy Days
    • Shabbat Musical Experiences
    • Lifecycle >
      • Birth
      • B'nei Mitzvah >
        • Adult B'nei Mitzvah
      • Conversion
      • Wedding
      • End of Life >
        • End of Life Info
        • Shearith Israel Cemeteries
      • Passings/Yahrzeits
      • Shiva Minyan Liturgy
    • Misheberach (Healing)
    • Torah >
      • Torah and Haftarah Readings
      • Holiday Torah and Haftarah Readings
  • Learn
    • The Weitzman Family Religious School >
      • WFRS Registration
      • WFRS Curriculum
      • WFRS K- 7 Calendar
    • B'nei Mitzvah
    • Adult Learning Calendar >
      • Adult Learning Class Descriptions >
        • ScholarStream Classes
    • Kesher (Special Needs) Program
  • Membership
    • Become a Member >
      • Membership Brochure
    • Membership Portal
    • Update Your Membership Portal
    • Membership Directory
  • Foundation
    • Foundation Mission and Trustees
    • Foundation Gifting
    • Legacy Donors
  • The Gallery

10/9/2018

Where Torah and Real Life Intersect

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
This week we read in the Torah of the creation of our natural world and ultimately the creation of humanity in God’s image.  According to the Torah we are viewed as not just a “good” part of creation, but one that is uniquely “tov m’od”, “very good” amongst God’s array of creatures and living things.  God’s empowering us to think freely and make independent choices is a critical factor in God choosing us to act as God’s surrogates in tending to the world around us.  In effect, at least according to one version of the creation story, God makes humanity as the crown of creation and then recedes into the background to let us do God’s work.  Dwelling in the Garden of Eden, it’s hard to imagine that Adam and Eve would have felt like they had a big job to do; after all, this was effectively paradise at the outset.  But after Adam and Eve slip up and eat the fruit from the forbidden tree, they are cast out of the Garden and into the real world, so to speak.  The expectation of immortality gives way to an unpredictably finite lifespan, and life becomes messy instead of simple.  Even the blessing of bringing new life into the world will be taxing and painful for humans, explains God.

At first glance, one might think the expulsion from the Garden and these related developments would be a bad thing for humanity and for the world.  But I would suggest that, in fact, it was quite a positive development for humankind and for the world as a whole.  We cannot live out God’s vision and values and Torah in a vacuum, a bubble, a version of paradise.  If we were created to impact the world around us, then we most certainly had to have the chance and the obligation to interact with that imperfect world around us and then make choices that would hopefully reflect positively on us as God’s agents.  We can’t just learn Torah (broadly speaking, in the sense of Jewish values, ethics and laws) for the purpose of sitting in classrooms or in idyllic gardens holding on to that information.  We have to experience a lived Torah, one whose messages speak to choices big and small we make every day and every week as our lives intersect with the world.  To that end, once again this year here in our community we are making a concerted effort to offer adult education courses and programs that take Torah in and out of the building, that ground us in foundational concepts of Judaism (e.g. Intro to Judaism) teach us synagogue skills (Synagogue Skills and Adult B’nai Mitzvah classes), that have us grapple with serious and thought-provoking life questions framed with a Jewish lens (Torah on Tap), explore Jewish ethics (Pirkei Avot) and engage with significant ethical dilemmas in our world (The Ethical Life), and illuminate the words of the Written and Oral Torah (Tuesdays with Tanakh, Women’s Torah Study, Thursdays with the Rabbis) through fresh modern perspectives and lenses.  We hope you will consider participating in one (or many!) of these valuable adult education opportunities and, moreover, that you’ll emerge from these experiences looking for new ways to bring that Torah and those values with you into your home, your workplace, your relationships, and even the most ordinary of your daily encounters.
​
Shabbat Shalom!

Share

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

Details

    Authors

    Shearith Israel  clergy, staff and congregants share
    ​their stories. 

    Archives

    March 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    June 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017

    Categories

    All
    Annual Meeting
    DeReKH
    Family Center
    Guest Bloggers
    Holidays
    Israel
    Let's Go Live
    Marcy Helfand
    Prayer
    Rabbi Adam Roffman
    Rabbi Ari Sunshine
    Rabbi Matt Rutta
    Rabbi Shira Wallach
    Rosh Hashanah
    Rosh Hashanah 5779
    Sarah Lipinsky
    Social Action
    Social Justice
    The Ladder Project
    Traditions
    Worship
    Yom Kippur

    RSS Feed

© COPYRIGHT 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • About
    • Help Wanted
    • Mission, Vision, Core Values
    • Contact Us
    • Our Congregation and History
    • Blog
    • Places >
      • Shul Locations
      • David A. Segal Family Simcha Play Center
      • Shearith Israel Cemeteries
      • Family Room
    • People >
      • Meet our Klei Kodesh
      • Meet our Staff
      • Meet our Lay Leadership
      • Shearith People
    • Communications >
      • The Shofar
      • Our Video Channel
      • Shearith Social Media
      • Sign up for our emails!
  • Calendar
  • Connect
    • Study Guides >
      • Shabbat Morning Torah Study Guides
      • Thursdays with the Rabbis Study Guides
      • Women's Torah Study Materials
    • Travel to Israel with Shearith
    • Volunteer
    • Get in Touch
    • Groups >
      • 20s and 30s
      • College Connection
      • Shearith Singles 40+
      • Pillars: Hazak Community
      • Shearith Prime
      • Social Action
    • Family Center >
      • Family Center Program and Event Descriptions
      • Tiny Treasures
      • Family Shabbat Retreat
    • The Ladder Project >
      • Donors to The Ladder Project
    • Music at Shearith >
      • Shabbat Musical Experiences
      • Small-Waldman-Cohen Signature Series
      • Hazzan Zhrebker Music
      • Our Shearith Choirs
      • Service From the Heart Album
    • SISterhood >
      • SISterhood Programs and Events
      • Torah Fund
      • SISterhood Gallery Judaica Giftshop
      • SISterhood Board Forms
  • SHEARITH.LIVE
  • GiVE
    • Make Your Donation
    • Annual Campaign
    • Shearith Foundation
  • Pray
    • Shabbat and Minyan Times and Liturgy
    • Alternative Prayer Experiences
    • Holidays >
      • High Holy Days
    • Shabbat Musical Experiences
    • Lifecycle >
      • Birth
      • B'nei Mitzvah >
        • Adult B'nei Mitzvah
      • Conversion
      • Wedding
      • End of Life >
        • End of Life Info
        • Shearith Israel Cemeteries
      • Passings/Yahrzeits
      • Shiva Minyan Liturgy
    • Misheberach (Healing)
    • Torah >
      • Torah and Haftarah Readings
      • Holiday Torah and Haftarah Readings
  • Learn
    • The Weitzman Family Religious School >
      • WFRS Registration
      • WFRS Curriculum
      • WFRS K- 7 Calendar
    • B'nei Mitzvah
    • Adult Learning Calendar >
      • Adult Learning Class Descriptions >
        • ScholarStream Classes
    • Kesher (Special Needs) Program
  • Membership
    • Become a Member >
      • Membership Brochure
    • Membership Portal
    • Update Your Membership Portal
    • Membership Directory
  • Foundation
    • Foundation Mission and Trustees
    • Foundation Gifting
    • Legacy Donors
  • The Gallery