Sparks and the Face of the Divine

 Dear Friends,


As I prepare to leave for Poland tomorrow with some of you reading this,  I want to share a beautiful story I heard from Rabbi Rachel Hersh from the Jewish Social Services Agency at a recent meeting.  She did not think it was original with her and someone suggested it may be from Rami Shapiro. If you know the source, please let me know.

Rabbi Rachel described a midrash or interpretation that when Moses asks  G-d if he can see the Divine Face, G-d says that the Divine Face is in every human being.  So we see G-d when we see each other as human beings.

I hope that our students will learn that we are all human and that all of us have a spark of the Divine in us.  What we do with that spark is up to us.

May all of us recognize our divinity and the divinity of others as we strive to create a more peaceful, understanding world.  As Bezalel was chosen to help craft the portable Tabernacle in our scriptural reading, may we all use our strengths, our spark of the Divine, and our positive energy to help repair our world. (tikkun olam).

As I have said before and Rabbi Hillel said a long time ago, "if not now, when?"

Shavua tov, have a good week.

Rabbi Bruce Aft


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