Dear Friends,

It’s been a rollercoaster ride for most of our members who work in the federal government or are contractors. These last 100+ days have been trying, to say the least. Many of you are in turmoil, many have lost your positions or contracts, and many are going to work every day still unsure of what the future holds. Even if your job is safe, the uncertainty and changes in your daily work, including no longer being able to work from home, brings stress filled days and nights for so many of you. We are reaching out to you because we care about your spirits and want to help you find wholeness and healing.

The Torah portion this week, Tazria-Metzora, speaks of ancient Israelites who were ostracized from the community because of skin diseases or mold in their homes for which the community was afraid. These people were required to leave the camp, and live outside its walls in isolation, away from the rest of the community until they were purified. Only then, would they be allowed back into society. But the process of re-entering the camp was truly special. While the Torah portion itself is full of lots of yuck and goo, this method of coming out of isolation is beautiful, and relevant today to all those people who are feeling caught in the federal government changes and feeling isolated from the work that they felt so good about doing in the past. In the Torah portion, the Priest, the holiest person in the community, goes to the people who have been alienated from the community and personally escorts them back into the community. The Priest doesn’t leave the person alone but rather takes the arm of that person and physically helps them integrate back into society. In essence the Priest, by this ritual, says to the people in isolation, I’m going to help you feel normal and whole again, by personally bringing you back home.

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How relevant is this for us today? The moral injury that our federal workers and contractors are experiencing is horrible and alienating. Our fellow TRS members who have devoted their lives and careers to making our government run efficiently and care about how the government operates feel isolated and left behind from society. It’s up to us to act as the Priests in the Torah portion and help these fellow members feel that they are not alone, that we care about them, and what they have experienced, and how they have experienced is wrong. Our job is to take these fellow Temple members by the arm and help them feel whole again.

How can we do this? If you have jobs to offer, employment or legal advice to give, money or time to donate, let me know. I will add it to our TRS webpage for those who are affected by the changes in the federal government. And for all of you who are affected, who lost your jobs, took the fork in the road offer, are experiencing significant burnout from these last 100 days or are suffering from the uncertainty of whether you will have a job tomorrow, please let us know what you need that we can help you with. Federal workers and contractors, we don’t have a list to reach out to you directly. But attendance at our regular meetings have fallen, and we want to find ways to reach out to you and help you through this time. Please fill out this on-line form to let me know how we can help you, and if you want to stay in contact with current, retired, or former federal workers and contractors. In addition, bookmark and regularly check our webpage for federal workers here.

Finding wholeness is what the concept of shalom is all about. The Priests in this week’s Torah portion understood, from a spiritual and mental health perspective how to make people whole again. Let us do that for you.

Shabbat Shalom,
Cantor Michael Shochet