Emor- Smile! Dust Yourself off and Recommit!

Emor- Smile!  Dust Yourself off and Recommit! 

May 20/21, 2016   Iyar 12/13, 5776

All beginnings are difficult. In starting any new venture, we have to be prepared for the inevitable setbacks. Almost always, new methods are not as efficient as the old, tried and true ones we are used to, until the kinks are worked out! It is NOT easy, nor does it come with ease!

Like the old saying goes, “Practice makes perfect”, or “try, try again!”  Or the famous quote from Gene Kranz, of Apollo 13 fame, “Failure is not an option.”

I agree 118%! Religion is no different, as we have our ups and our downs, and our starts and our re-starts.

An example is the Passover Sedar. It should be fairly fresh in our minds. The Sedar has many beginnings as well as many endings!  It is made up of eating special foods, telling the story of the mass exodus, and that of praising G-D. Each section has many starts. We wash our hands, but we do not fully do so because we recite no blessing.  We partake of the karpas, and it can be seen as kind of an hors d’oeuvre, and do not continue our meal as of yet.  We break the matzah, but we do not eat, as of yet.  We hear the 4 questions, but do not answer them immediately.  We begin by sharing how we were slaves, and then interrupt it with another 4 inquiries of the four brothers; the wise, the wicked, the simple, and the son that does not even know how to ask.  We then begin to tell the story again, only this time around, we say, “In the beginning, we were Idol worshippers”.   Similarly, we begin praising G-d by reciting the 1st 2 paragraphs of the Hallel, and then we eat the meal, and then finish the Hallel AFTER the meal!   Begin, interrupt, and begin again.  Stop, Start, Stop, pause, pause!!!

We can see there are many beginnings, as the Sedar shows us.  It is parallel to our relationship to G-D.  There are many facets and strands: Our need for meaning, purpose, partnership, feeling of oneness, and much more.  However, there are many people that don’t realize that they can start over again and again. I am not advocating, you turn a shoulder away, but we as humans tend to deviate at times…..We always have and need to reassess, recommit, & relearn.

That’s what the Sedar is teaching us. As free people, living in a free society, we have the ability to reevaluate and reconnect with G-d.  There are low points  and obviously some very high points.  It always grows stronger and stronger as time goes on, or at least it should!  Sometimes when we’re down, we feel our relationship with G-d is almost not there, and that is just not true.

It was struggle receiving the Torah, as we slid a bit backward, but we did not give up. Moses did not return, the Jewish people built the golden calf.  That was not the end of their relationship with G-d; it allowed a new beginning or as we used to say as kids, “a do over!! “Moses went back and brought a 2nd set of tablets and this set endured.  Lesson is that people should not give up, and it’s okay to start, or I should say, “re-start”. 

Michael Jordan, the greatest or one of the greatest basketball players that has played the game: “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. “

There is always a new beginning awaiting and possibilities.  There is always a solution to a problem, we just need to search and resolve and then re-start and re-devote ourselves. Reconnect and Focus!

I sincerely hope and pray for all of us, that when we fall and scrape our knees, and ‘we’ do, both literally and figuratively, we get back up, dust ourselves off, and re-evaluate, re-assess, re-condition, re-learn, and start again, as a new beginning. G-D is present and The Torah is here to help us!