Last week we celebrated with a gifted and passionate group of TRS teens as they completed their confirmation year. The strength of their connection to our community is a great example for us to remember as we speed towards summer and begin to head in different directions.
In the Torah portion of the week, B’haalot’cha, the main event is God’s displeasure with the Israelites. A plain reading of the text tells us that what the people have done wrong is to complain. They don’t like the manna that God gives them to eat; they beg for meat and lament the lack of delicious vegetables they enjoyed in Egypt. God punishes them harshly, feeding them so much quail meat that they become sick.
However, the sages who write the Midrash focus on a different aspect of the story. The Torah text tells us that all the people weep, each tribe apart, at the entrance to its own tent. In the Midrash, God chastises them not for being ungrateful, but rather for separating themselves from each other. Why do they all gather separately in their weeping? If this people is to become holy, it must learn to stay together, come closer in difficult times, and function as a community rather than splintering into loosely connected family clans.
It is easier when trouble arises to separate oneself, and when a group faces a common problem, it is easier to divide into allies and enemies. Yet the deeper and stronger our relationships are with others, the easier it is to maintain that crucial connection, in good times and hard times. This week, and over the coming summer, as we congratulate our confirmands – and our graduates – for reaffirming their commitment to their community, and, for beginning the next chapter of their lives, may this teaching inspire us to turn towards each other and stay connected.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Jeffrey Saxe
