For the last three years, my brothers and I have been getting together every week for 2 hours on Thursday nights to study. We’ve studied some talmud, read some classic and modern short stories in Hebrew, and then decided to study something from Tanach that none of us had read before. This turned out to be the Books of Chronicles, Divrei Hayamim.
Today I want to mention a few events described in Divrei Hayamim which resonated with me. My feeling is that many Adat Shalom values and practices and those of many Jews all over the world, share continuity with the values and practices of the Jews of Israel and Jerusalem, 3000 years ago. We are the current links in the chain of our continually evolving civilization.
There’s something for everyone in Divrei Hayamim. For Cheryl Kollin and the Adat Shalom landscapers; for those of us who are gardeners elsewhere, who are Green Zionists, who are concerned about the environment, or who simply might be looking for material for Jewish Trivia games, you might be interested to know that your interest and concern for the environment is continuous with that of Uzziyahu, a king of Judah, about 2800 years ago, described in Divrei Hayamim, as ‘Ohev Adama’, a lover of the earth. At the most recent Shabbat Slam, we celebrated this lover of the earth and the many wells he dug in the desert when we heard the words from Divrei Hayamim put to music and we got on the floor and danced ‘Vayiven Uzziyahu’.
Not only have we been concerned about beautifying the outside of our spiritual home through our landscaping efforts, but also in beautifying the inside of our home. With efforts and contributions of the large majority of our members over years, we have created and will continue to create a beautiful sanctuary. This was done in a way that made it possible for all members of the community who wanted, ,,, to contribute, as best they could, to the building and upkeep of our spiritual home. This is continuous with the ancient tradition which began with contributions to the Mishkan during the times of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, and with events described in Divrei Hayamim, when chests were placed in the public places of Jerusalem to enable all the people who were able and who wanted,,, to contribute to the refurbishing and upkeep of the Temple.
At Adat Shalom we have learned to love to welcome newcomers to our midst. We do this at each of our services, and toward the close of this morning’s Shabbat service, will again ask guests and newcomers to stand and introduce themselves. Hachnasat Orchim, the welcoming and inclusion of guests and strangers, has been an important Jewish value and practice since Abraham welcomed three strangers to his tent which he kept open on all sides. Our celebration of the presence of guests and newcomers is not only continuous with the values of Abraham but also with those of Hezkiyahu and the people of Judah and Jerusalem of 2700 years ago. After Hezkiyahu, one of the kings of Judah cleansed and refurbished the temple, large crowds came to Jerusalem to celebrate Pesach.
And all the congregation of Judah with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that dwelt among them rejoiced and there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of David, king of Israel, there was not the like in Jerusalem.’
We see that even in those days, room was made to allow all members of the community to contribute to the upkeep of the institutions of the community, and all, including the strangers, were encouraged to actively participate; two values we hold very dear and which underlie much of our activity at Adat Shalom.
Another value which makes our community so vital and which underlies so much of what we do is our pursuit of Jewish Learning. Our study enables us to articulate and connect with values of our past, and creates the potential for us to give these same values new and meaningful expression in our 21st century lives. We are, I hope, participating in one of these learning activities right now and shortly we’ll be involved in another of these activities; our weekly coming together as a community to listen to words of Torah and to engage in discussion of the weekly Torah portion.
Our Torah study is a link in a chain continuous with events which occurred 2600 years ago during the reign of Josiah, King of Judah. While the Temple was again being cleansed and refurbished, Hilkiyahu, a priest, found an old, lost and neglected, copy of the ‘Book of the Torah of God given by Moses.’ Josiah was immediately notified of the find and in his attempt to return the people to the ways of God and to rekindle interest in the Torah which had been lost and forgotten, he......
sent and gathered together the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, and the priests and the Levites, and all the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; all the people, both great and small, and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant.
Many of us at Adat Shalom feel really good when we are with each other, opening ourselves individually and as a community to the possibility of experiencing that which is divine; and exhilarating in that transcendent experience when it is achieved. This way of being together and of celebrating is not uniquely ours but is continuous with that of those earlier Jews of Jerusalem and Judah.
King David yearned to build a Temple in the service of his God. He was heartbroken when told by Nathan, his adviser, that because he had been a warrior and had spilled blood, Solomon, David’s son, but not David, would be the one to build the Temple. David eventually came to an acceptance of this and although he was not to build the Temple, he began to plan its construction down to the most minute detail and when the plans were completed, he called the people to Jerusalem for celebration. Try to get into the enormity and fanfare of the scene. Here are thousands of people gathered in Jerusalem for a really big party to celebrate the completion of the plans to build a temple. The Levites are singing and playing instruments. The king, no less, is the main celebrant.
‘And David assembled the people unto Jerusalem. And he stood up upon his feet and said:’ Hear me my brethren and my people. As for me, it was in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the lord. And I had made ready for the building. But God said unto me, thou shalt not build a house for my name because thou art a man of war and hast shed blood.’
And before all the people David said to Solomon: ‘Take heed now for the Lord hath chosen thee to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong and of good courage and complete all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.’
There was great joy in Jerusalem. And all the people rejoiced because with a whole heart they had given willingly for the House of the Lord. And David the king also rejoiced with great joy. And they did eat and drink on that day before the Lord with great gladness. Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation and David said: Blessed be thou oh Lord, the God of Israel, our father forever and ever. (and here’s the punch line) Thine Oh Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom and you are exalted as head above all’.
To what extent is our celebration of the divine and the expression of our joy and exhilaration continuous with that celebrated and expressed by David in Jerusalem 3000 years ago when he, at that moment of transcendence and celebration, blessed the divine? As unusual as it may seem, most of you will recognize David’s blessing of God and his expression of joy, which I just quoted as the punch line, more in its original Hebrew text than through this English translation.
L’ch adonai, hagdulah vhagvura v hatif’eret vhanetzach v ha hod ki chol bashamayim u va’aretz. Lcha adonai hamalacha v hamitnaseh l’chol l’rosh.
As David sang these words in Jerusalem with the people of Israel in 1000 BCE, we, within the next 5 minutes, will all be singing them while we open ourselves to the possibility of experiencing the divine, as we give voice to our appreciation for what is, and we celebrate, honor, and kiss the Torah as it is carried through our midst.
Shabbat Shalom