Searching for Blessings in Life

 Dear Friends,


What does Joe Dimaggio have to do with this week's article?  I am celebrating the 56th anniversary of my Bar Mitzvah.  Joe Dimaggio's hitting streak in baseball was 56 games.

So what does that mean?

Dimaggio's streak was a model of consistency and as I look back on becoming Bar Mitzvah and the trajectory of my life, Judaism has in one way or another been consistently important to me.

There were times I wrestled with my  faith, thinking about becoming Bahai, struggling with observance, and wondering whether Judaism really was the religion for me.  When I was in college, I took an introduction to Judaism at the University of Illinois with Professor Gary Porton.  It was a revelation to me since I found that learning about Judaism in a serious way was immensely rewarding and inspiring.  I realized that to be Jewish was and is a blessing.

As I learned more about the Torah portion, Naso, from which I read and which we read this Shabbat, I realized that the portion includes the priestly blessing with which most of us are familiar.  "May the Lord Bless You and Guard You, May the Lord Let His Face Shine Upon You and Be Gracious Unto You, May the Lord Lift Up His Countenance Upon You, and Grant You Peace."

I have learned that life is filled with blessings and that Judaism reminds us to recite and be thankful for 100 blessings every day.  As my colleague and friend, Rev. Beth Braxton, taught me, we need to have "an attitude of gratitude."

I hope that in the days ahead we can find blessings in the midst of the challenges we face in our lives.  I hope we will share our blessings with others and that we will find ways to learn more about our tradition that can enrich our lives.  Please contact me at rabbibruce@gmail.com if you wish guidance in your search and journey..  

Please spend time over the summer checking out books or online sources about Judaism and appreciate the richness of our tradition. 

Be well and safe over the summer.  These articles will appear periodically over the summer but not weekly as my wife and I will be traveling extensively to see family and friends.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Bruce Aft
-- 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Makes The Ninth of Av Different This Year

  Dear Friends and Family, We are back from most of our travels and I wanted to share a blog about the Jewish Commemoration of Tisha B'Av which we are observing today. Tisha B'Av is the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av and we remember the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem and other tragedies that have occurred to the Jewish people. As we remember these events this year, we think about the horrible Hamas attacks on Israel  which took place on Oct. 7 of 2023 and the subsequent tragic loss of life which continues.  We are all hoping and praying for the release of the hostages and for peace in the region.. I recently gave a talk about what makes this year's observance of Tisha B'Av different from other years.  I spoke in response to the significant division in our Jewish community and beyond, about what an appropriate response should or could have been to the attacks on Oct. 7. This blog is not an attempt to respond to that question.  My desire is to enc...
Read more

What Holds Us Together

 Dear Friends, I will be writing two blogs about our recent trip to Poland with college students from George Mason University. This week in our scriptural reading, we read from the conclusion of the book of Exodus.  We read about many of the details about the construction of the holy Tabernacle that our ancestors built in the wilderness.. One of the items that we read about during the last parts of Exodus, is the construction of the clasps that held things together.  I am intrigued by what helps anything holy stay together. While we were in Poland and were visiting the sites of the Warsaw Ghetto, the villa and zoo in Warsaw which is described in the book and movie, "The Zookeeper's Wife,", Treblinka,  the Lublin Yeshiva (place of study), the Grodzka gate, Majdanek, Auschwitz/Birkenau, the Labyrinth, Plaszow, Schindler's factory, Kashmierz, and the Krakow ghetto.  As you can see we saw many things. What does this have to do with clasps that our ancestors bui...
Read more

MLK's Message 2.0

Dear Friends and Family, As we celebrate Shabbat in the week that we commemorated MLK Day, I wanted to share some meaningful quotes from Dr. King Jr which I believe provide us some guidance for challenges with which we are dealing in our world today. First of all, Mahalia Jackson encouraged Dr. King to talk about his dream when he gave the iconic "I Have A Dream Speech."  He departed from his prepared text at one point and the rest is history.  I personally think that perhaps Mahalia's advice is important for all of us to consider.  We have our prepared speeches and thoughts about contemporary  issues ranging from the Middle East to Presidential politics.  Perhaps it is time for us to think about what our dreams are.  I believe that each of us share a dream for a more peaceful world and a world where people can talk to each other.  If I was adapting sections of the "I Have A Dream Speech" for today's world I would make the foll...
Read more