A Message From The Rabbi

Judaism embraces a tradition of counting, from the number of days during creation to the number of Israelites who left Egypt, from number of commandments to the number of years we wandered in the wilderness. We are still in the wilderness, the uncertain and unknown expanse of COVID. While I pray that when you read this most of us will have received at least one dose of the vaccine, I know that we still cannot yet gather in person as we used to. As we have for the past 400 days, we look to our 4000 year old tradition for guidance.

From Passover to Shavuot God commands us to count each day for a total of fifty days, called the omer. April 30th was the 33rd day of the Omer, called Lag B’omer, a day of special celebration. We learn in our Talmud (Yevamot 61b) that during the omer, over 1500 years ago, a plague afflicted Rabbi Akiva’s students. As a result, some follow the tradition to refrain from cutting hair or shaving, mourning rituals for those who died. Legend teaches that on the 33rd day of the omer the plague lifted and we celebrate this time period with bonfires and rejoicing. Since the past year many of us have let our hair grow longer, almost as if we are collectively mourning both those who have died and for what our lives were pre-pandemic. We are all patiently awaiting our own Lag B’omer, our day when this insidious plague will lift and we can rejoice in person again.

We can see hope on the horizon. Slowly we are resuming in person activities at CMI. Students are becoming b’mitzvah in our sanctuary and reading from our Holocaust Torah scroll, outdoor services allow us to lift our voices in harmony once again, and we hope and pray it will be safe to re-enter our sacred spaces as a community this fall. For now, we continue to count.

Counting, the omer, the days of the week, month, year, and more allows us to both separate different time periods but also different stages in our lives. We might count and celebrate the number of years of our lives, how long we have worked at a specific place, the time we have spent with our beloveds, and we also count the years since we lost a loved one, that we have been afflicted with disease, or since a moment that transformed our lives forever.

Judaism assures of us that our counting will come to an end. When we study history we see that our ancestors have suffered before us. We learn that suffering, even when it lasts longer than we may have initially anticipated, ends. We will one day, soon I pray, return and fill our sanctuary, our chapel, our religious school classrooms, our social halls, our library and lounge with praying, learning, singing, eating, and celebrating.

Each year our counting of the Omer and the retelling of the story of Rabbi Akiva reminds us that better days lie ahead. It will continue to take patience, courage, community and faith, but we will arrive at Sinai together. I look forward to continue seeing you both in person and online and I wish you all health, peace, courage and comfort as we count together.