Friday Shabbat Shalom

In the previous parsha, Yitro, we moved through the climactic and other-worldly giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai… And then you reach Mishpatim: a prosaic litany of civil legislation and everyday situations…. This juxtaposition tells us: you may have thought that the dramatic revelation at Sinai was the covenant, but the real covenant is right here, down in the muddy waters of everyday human relations.

Ever feel so alone when struggling with an adversity – health, financial, relationship – that it feels as if the world simply doesn’t understand or can’t relate to your pain? Could it be that in this week’s Torah reading, Moshe feels similarly, having experienced his own traumatic and exhausting experience, followed by anxiety and despair.

It is 80 years since the armed resistance that led to the Warsaw Uprising began… With only a small number of guns, gasoline bottles and other makeshift weapons, the Jews managed to temporarily overpower the Nazis. In this week’s parasha, Beshalach, we read about the incredible courage displayed by an early figure in our history. The Jewish people had been released from slavery in Egypt, only for Pharaoh to change his mind and chase after them with a large army.

The first three Torah portions of Sefer Sh'mot (the Book of Exodus) are the three portions that invite us to exist in Mitzrayim (Egypt), and it is here that I would invite us to dwell one more moment, despite our natural eagerness to leave the place of our degradation and enslavement… Why has the author left us here? Why did we have to stay in Mitzrayim during the ten plagues?

Hashem charges Moshe with a mission – to return to Egypt and demand from Pharaoh that he let the Jewish people go. Hashem tells him that he is the only person in the world who has the capacity to relay this message to Pharaoh. There’s only one problem: Moshe has a speech disability that left him with a stutter… Why would Hashem give a man with a speech impediment such an important task that depends on his ability to use words to convince?

Jew hatred is, and always has been, humanity’s canary in the coal mine, and this is why CAJE and Jewish education is so important. We must remain a distinctive people because we have a job to do in this world... to promote ethical monotheism (belief in a God who demands moral behavior) and to change the world for the better by challenging the gods, religious or secular, of the societies around us… we need to understand our traditions, believe in its sacred power to transform ourselves and the world, and live courageously as bearers of G!d’s hope for humanity.

When people ask me what CAJE is and what CAJE does, I often refer to the famous advertising line and say “CAJE is the ‘Intel inside’ Jewish education in Miami-Dade.” CAJE helps the teachers and schools from early childhood through high school be the best they can be through outstanding professional development and other services. In sum, CAJE is part of the infrastructure of Jewish life and education in our community... This concept of “infrastructure” is embodied in this week’s parshah, Vayechi, which marks the conclusion of the book of Bereishit / Genesis, the first of the Five Books of the Torah.

Our parsha this week, Vayigash, which means to approach, to come close, is the story of Yosef and Yehuda. As we navigate the collective trauma of 10/7, in Israel and abroad, the Torah’s call to come closer, as individuals and as a nation, resonates more than ever.