Rabbi's Letters

Dear Friends,
 
I hope that you all had a restful and revitalizing Thanksgiving, despite the circumstances.
 
There is always so much to be grateful for; family, friends, food on our table.
 
We are learning new skills and developing new wisdom.
 
With the Covid cases mounting, many of us are hearing of more friends, family members, and people we know who have caught the virus.
 
A close friend and colleague of mine from rabbinical school was in the emergency room several times last week. I share this news with you as I know that many of you are also being touched by the pandemic.
 
More than ever, what we must do is turn to each other and support one another.
 
As the founder of the Hassidic movement, the Baal Shem Tov taught, the more we give, the more we receive.
 
If we expand our hearts to others, love will flow better.
 
In times of crisis, we are reminded how much we depend on each other. For some of us, that means reaching out. For others, it is learning how to receive.
 
Together, we will come out stronger.
Amen.
 
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Now for our weekly question,
 
Last Saturday, our president Juli Geldner asked me, “In our prayers we often say ‘Lord of Hosts.’ What does it mean?”
 
It is true we do say it a lot! It is also on the front of our building in one of the most beautiful quotes on any synagogue that I know:
"Not by my might/ Nor by my power/ But by my spirit saith the Lord of Hosts"
 
Who are the hosts? What use does God have of them?
 
Perhaps as much as we are in need of others, God too needs help at times.
The hosts are commonly thought of as angels and other beings who work in a unity with God.
We believe in a singular consciousness that created the universe. According to most streams of thought in ancient and rabbinic Judaism, that singular consciousness also created hosts; angels and other beings who do His or Her will in our world and other worlds. 
When we go up on our tippy toes during the service, it is because we are replicating the angels.
Just this week in the Torah, we read of Jacob's dream of a ladder and angels ascending and descending.
Without getting caught in the details of what is an angel and their appearance, according to our literature, part of what the tradition has meant with these ideas is that there is a lot of Divine life out there that is hidden from our view. In the Talmud and in Kabbalah, there are endless angels fulfilling innumerable tasks. The Talmud teaches that every blade of grass has an angel that taps it and says, "grow". There is more to life than meets the eye.
 
The Lord commands these endless hosts. They all congregate in the heavens to say, “Holy, holy holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole world is filled with His glory.”
 
The hosts are also a military force that God can wield and does throughout the Tanakh (our name for the Bible, from the three sections of the Bible: Torah, Neviim/ Prophets, Ketuvim/ Writings) in supernatural occurrences that destroy the armies of the enemies of Israel. The hosts refer to God's messengers and also speak of the might of the Lord. Although we struggle with the idea theologically, in the Torah, God creates and God destroys - it is all part of the cycle.
 
Finally, as we too step on our tiptoes to replicate the hosts, part of our faith is believing that we are part of the hosts.
We are part of the vastness of Divine life in the universe, partnering with the Almighty to do good in the world, to tend a hand to the needy, to heal the wounded, to stand up for what is right.
 
On this Thanksgiving weekend, let us recommit to our work as hosts of goodness and kindness, and remember that we are part of a much greater life and purpose.
 
I leave you with a song from one of Israel's leading religious musicians, Yonatan Razel singing a verse from our Parashah - the words of gratitude and prayer of the patriarch Jacob:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZYivKwVmJc
 
"I am unworthy of all the kindness that You have so steadfastly shown Your servant: with my staff alone I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.  Deliver me, I pray," (Gen. 32:11-12)  
 
Shabbat shalom,
 
Rabbi Adir Glick