January 2, 2012

Parshat: Vayichi

Dear friends,

I hope that all of the New Year’s celebrations have been grand and that we get some more snow soon.  Jewish Bozeman kicks in again in full force this week. On Wednesday, January 4, at 11:30 a.m., our January Interfaith panel (brown bag lunch) convenes once again at the Temple, with religious leaders from around Bozeman leading what premises to be a provocative discussion on how our respective religions understand different sorts of human relationships. On Shabbat, there will be a children’s service on Friday, January 6, at 5:30, and on Saturday morning, we will have a short traditional Saturday morning service at 9:00 a.m., followed by Torah study at 9:30. The following week of January 13 will feature kabbalat shabbat on Friday evening at 6:00 p.m., and a Saturday morning chanting service at 8:30 a.m. followed by Torah study.

Our winter adult ed offerings will begin on Wednesday evening, January 18.  I am excited about the upcoming six week class on the profound and powerful thought of Emmanuel Levinas, a post-Holocaust French Jewish philosopher who spent the war in a prisoner of war camp and attempts to understand what went wrong with humanity in the Holocaust.   If you wish to take this class, please consider purchasing Ethics and Infinity by Levinas. For those who do not have time to get the book, the curriculum and the first reading may be found here. The second winter adult ed course, offered through Wonderlust, will be Judaism 101, suited to those curious about Judaism, but also to those of us who learned it as children and might want an adult understanding of its ideas and culture.  It will begin on Wednesday, February 1 at 2:30 pm and meet for six consecutive weeks in this time slot.

Our annual Shabbatski weekend in Big Sky will take place on the weekend of January 20-21.  There are discounted rooms and lift tickets, a Friday night service and dinner, Saturday morning Torah study (we’ll be on the slopes by 10), and we’ll conclude around a fire with havdalah. The lodging options are Huntley Lodge, $169 Double (full breakfast included), and Whitewater Inn, $89 Double (continental breakfast included). The group name is Beth Shalom. Lift Tickets are $57 +3% tax per day.

Also, the weekend of January 29 will be a first in Bozeman: pulpit swap weekend.  At our Friday evening service, our sermon on the weekly Torah passage will be delivered by Rev. Jody McDevitt, minister of First Presbyterian Church.  On Sunday morning, Rabbi Ed will deliver the sermon at First Presbyterian Church.  Please don’t miss this fabulous interfaith opportunity.

Our Torah portion is Vayechi, meaning “he [Jacob] lived.” Ironically, the story is a deathbed scene which, instead of saying that “Jacob died,” uses the Biblical metaphor ”he was gathered into his people.” Jacob’s people is us: you and me, and Jacob still lives within me.

You may recall that earlier in the story, in a moment of spiritual transformation, Jacob “strove with a divine being and prevailed.” Upon defeating this “angel,” he received a new name, Israel, meaning “G!d-wrestler.”  Yet, until the very end of the story, Jacob continues to be called by both names. Even at the moment of death he is referred to as “Jacob.”

Jacob’s story contains a deep truth about spiritual transformation. We occasionally have moments of expanded consciousness, in which we are ”Israel.” But, our ”Jacob” side – the worrier, the impatient one, the manipulator –  never really goes away. We can learn to have compassion for the source of Jacob’s voice, so it loses its power over us and we are no longer tricked by its arguments. Through this week’s torah portion, we are reminded that Jacob continues to live in all of us, and when we recognize his voice, we can then more easily look instead to our inner Israel for wisdom, passion and courage.

May this be a year where we are all in touch with both our Jacob and Israel sides.  Since this is the last reading in the book of Genesis, we say “chazak, chazak, v’nitchazech,” be strong, be strong, and be strengthens in the new year.

Happy secular New Year,
Rabbi Ed