Student Rabbi Rocki Schy will serve UHC Terre Haute during the 2022-23 academic year.
Our Jewish calendar expects a lot from us during the course of the year.
Every week, we must make time for rest, relaxation and refreshment as we approach Shabbat.
We are expected to evaluate our lives and our souls in the lead-up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
We are expected to be devastatingly sad and melancholy on dates like Tisha B’Av.
And, of course, we are expected to be euphorically happy as we approach Purim.
We recently began reading the Book of Exodus. Anyone who has seen The Prince of Egypt or The Ten Commandments can appreciate the impact of these beginning parshiot.
The plot of Exodus is so complex, with character introductions and development abounding as the narrative progresses. We are introduced to Moses, Miriam and Aaron, to Pharaoh and his daughter, to the freedom narrative and the process by which the Israelites become a nation with mitzvot to follow.
What I tend to find most meaningful about these early chapters of Exodus is Pharaoh’s behavior. When Moses first speaks to G-d, G-d tells him that G-d will harden Pharaoh’s heart so Pharaoh will not free the Israelites.
Preparing for the secular New Year is wildly different than preparing for the Jewish New Year — even down to the time of year!
Rosh Hashanah occurs when the summer months wane and give way to the crispness of autumn. We find some relief from the heat, and head into the new season with our souls renewed.
Secular New Year, on the other hand, comes at the darkest point of the year. The days get shorter and the nights grow darker, and it seems the slog of winter will never end.
Our recently concluded Thanksgiving holiday gave me the opportunity to enjoy the company of my siblings, whom I don’t get to see that often. For me, the holiday means comfort and joy and, of course, gratitude.
Even if we’re yearning for faraway family or experiencing a general hassle at perpetually busy grocery stores, we can take the opportunity during this season to reflect. As Jews, we can look to our own traditions and texts to illuminate these themes of thanks-giving.
So much of our liturgy is based around gratitude, thanking G-d, the Divine Force, or the Universe for what we have.
