Hod b'Netzach

Humility in endurance. Because I don't want to say more than is needed on the topic I will try and stay brief. When I think about humility in endurance, I think about those among us who celebrate anniversaries. The celebrate lasting another year in a field, relationship, or even in the strength of recovery. For many of these people they don't need to make a public display of this achievement but they do mark it. They are marking the passage of time, acknowledging the holiness and wonder that is time and its passing. This is an important part of our Jewish tradition as well. How many different Jewish rituals can you name that have to do with time? It's harder for me to try and create a list of those that don't. From a baby's naming to bar/bat mitzvah and from holidays to mourning, we have Jewish rituals that tell us how that time should be spent. Endurance requires that passage of time and humility is demonstrated by the actions of a person. As we are counting the days to Shavuot, the days of the Omer, we get to think about and reflect on humility 13 times and in 13 ways. That's nearly 302.9 trillion possible combinations of how to observe humility during the Omer. Sounds like you'd need a little endurance to do what. In the words of the song below, dona nobis pacem, grant us peace.

Netzach b'Netzach

Endurance inside of endurance. This evaded me for a long while. I believe the central concept here is that mindset of compound interest rates. At first, you're probably asking yourself, what the heck does this have to do with Judaism. The principle and correlation is pretty simple. Compound interest can work in your favor or against you. The interest accrued grows more and more rapidly as time passes. Why? Because the interest you earn is added to the principle that you are earning interest on. This is great if the interest you earn is profit, not so much if this is a loan that you have to repay. I believe this holds true in our lives for the torah that we practice. The more time and energy that we invest in developing our torah to be a light in our lives. The torah we practice in our lives can range from doing good deeds in your community to studying Torah. Certainly, if we don't practice torah in our lives we can't see the world improve. In order for the world to improve we must actively practice tikkun olam (repairing the world) and tzedek (justice). This means the responsibility is on us. When we take the first step we can then inspire others to join in and stand up for what is right. Then momentum builds and we see this compound interest take effect and we have started a movement.

Tiferet b'Netzach

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"What the world needs now is love sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of." That is definitely the theme for tonight. Harmony and compassion in endurance is what the people of Baltimore need to see and experience right now. The way for a community to build endurance is to come together in harmony and show compassion to others. Our Jewish tradition teaches us the value of a life. It teaches that to save a life is to save the entire world. Although the actions of certain individual police officers across the country are deplorable we have to remember that there are also good people who are also in uniform. We must remember that institutions are the things that need to change, undergo a real change. We must remember that even our great ancestor, spiritual leader, Moses engaged in dialogue with Pharaoh to get the freedom of the Israelites. Did it happen overnight? NO! However we must remember that G-d hardens Moses heart and that G-d was the one who rained plagues down on the Egyptians. In this story the Israelites took everything that was thrown at them, knowing that someone was fighting on their behalf.

We need to remember that violence begets violence. Hate begets hate. I know some may not have thought of this in this manner and maybe there will be some disagreement over this but I will say it anyway. If we look at most of the wars in history, especially the world wars. Of course if we look at historical reasons we can find other justifications for these wars but the underlying factor for them was hate. If the world community had come together in harmony and displayed compassion to each other they would have endured the hard times and been made stronger for it. Instead the victors of these wars decided to harbor hate and avarice toward the original aggressors. This ill will of course lead to a desperate people being vulnerable and grasping for hope where they could find it. I of course am speaking on Germany between the world wars. Would treating them with respect and compassion have prevented the tragedy of the Holocaust? I don't know, but I do think it would have been a very different climate in world then and today. I am not trying to relate the plight of the black community to that of the Jewish struggle of the Holocaust but I do want to mention that they have a similar root.

The song below shows how we should be responding to these different issues across the country. We must first, before turning to social media to blast people, take a moment and think. What is my role in this? What is the privilege that I have that might cause any good intentions I might have to be perceived as insincere? Do I have the full picture and know everything that is going on? What can I do personally to be an ally to the community? We must start with ourselves. If we set examples of violence and mistrust then we of course will see that manifested in our communities. If we show displays of love, harmony, and compassion we can endure and overcome any troubling time that we may face. Do not give justification to those that ignorantly destroy and harm. We must teach them their actions have consequences and that we can accomplish so much more when we work together in harmony. You catch more flies with honey that with vinegar.

Gevurah b'Netzach

Gevurah b'netzach is discipline and restraint in endurance. We should live our lives as if we were running a marathon. Always replenishing ourselves so that we can last through the journey.

Chesed b'Netzach

Learning Torah is something that reminds me a raising a child. Neither is something that you can spend 1 day doing and be finished. Both are things that require a lot of effort in the beginning to feel comfortable. This is chesed b'netzach in our lives. We grow so much from the labors of love that we embark upon.

Malchut b'Tiferet

Leonard Bernstein was a great composer and conductor. When I think of malchut b'tiferet I think of the conductors, CEOs, and heads of state. Sovereignty and leadership in harmony and compassion is exemplified by the people a leader surrounds themselves with. A pyramid is only as strong as the blocks used to build it. The same is true of any organization, company, orchestra, or any other group. It's not just about the team working together to accomplish a common goal. It's also about the drive to be the best, to continually challenge each other. To push each other further, always bettering themselves. You need someone to challenge you, to not settle for mediocre. To be the best means to compete against the best and be surrounded by the best. Sometimes you need a leader who is a little unorthodox to get you to that point of success. You always need a leader with a vision if you want to succeed, however, never be afraid to challenge that vision. A good leader needs to be challenged and should welcome that. If they don't then how can they really be the best?

Yesod b'Tiferet

Yesod b'Tiferet, bonding in harmony and compassion, to me is the perfect example of the Jewish experience. We as a Jewish people share a collective story and experience. We have bonded through our history of bondage and persecution. Even though we may not have personally been through this trial we feel it through the holidays and the stories we share. Out of our collective stories we make a beautiful tapestry that educates and informs our future. We strive to create a harmony that inspires and fills our soul. As a people our experiences bind us together like the fabric of cloth we wear to keep us warm. Give back to a organization in your community to help strengthen the bond you and those around you share.