It’s official! With the celebration last week of Simchat Torah, we ended the period of the High Holy Days: we examined our deeds, made an effort to repent, and the gates of forgiveness closed behind us. Then we took a breath and spent Monday evening rejoicing in Torah, the record of the Jewish story which guides our lives, and which is with us, day after day, week after week, through good times and bad. After taking stock and facing our flaws, we embrace our lives as they are and move forward.
This week, in the story of Noah, we find God’s example in doing the same thing. In frustration at the evil God sees happening in the world, God destroys every living thing in flood, saving only the people and animals chosen to board the ark. Then, God’s perspective changes upon looking anew at the creatures that have come out of the ark and begun to live again. God says to Noah, “I will no longer curse the soil because of humanity, for the inclination of their heart is evil from their youth. Nor will I ever again destroy every living thing as I have done. The days of the earth shall forever exist – sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.”
To me, these contrasts represent the realization that we as God’s creations are whole beings, encompassing our positive and negative traits, making mistakes as well as doing good. No matter how hard we try to cleanse ourselves of our faults, we are not expected to be perfect. Jewish tradition teaches that each of us is pulled by both the yetzer tov, the inclination for good, and the yetzer ra, the inclination for bad – both our sense of helping and doing good, and our selfish needs and desires. Our job is to balance the two and try to do as much good as we can.
God accepts our imperfections, which just leaves us with the task of doing the same for ourselves. May we all have a year of growth and improvement, and also, of forgiving and accepting ourselves for what we are.
Wishing everyone a Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Jeffrey Saxe
