Rabbi Diana's Weekly Message

Dear Hevre,

In this week’s Torah portion we encounter the ancient Priestly Blessing:

May the Eternal bless you and protect you.

May the Eternal shine Divine light upon you and be gracious to you.

May the Eternal look at you with favor and grant you peace. [Numbers 6:24-26]

In our Torah study class this week, we enjoyed a robust discussion about how blessing is transmitted and how we act as godly messengers on earth. [Please come to Mystical Monday this week as we will be exploring the same texts and ideas! CLICK HERE

I thought about how many in our Little Shul community are blessing others through your work, in your family, through activism, volunteerism and just by being a blessing. Below are some excerpts from Rabbi Alyson Solomon at AJWS on the subject:

[https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/a-blessing-for-an-activist-community/]

May God Bless You and Keep You

By blessing others, we become channels of the Divine. According to Rabbi Arthur Green, “[In the act of blessing,] we make a statement of mutual relationship, that we are givers as well as receivers.” To be blessed is to be protected by God and to bless others is to contribute to the protection and welfare of those whom we are blessing.

We acknowledge the blessing of our own lives by living lives dedicated to justice and healing, by taking seriously our role as conduits for goodness in the world. By living lives of humility and by acting for good, we recognize our interdependence with God, with other people, and with the earth.

May the Light of God’s Face Shine Upon You and Bring you Grace.

We acknowledge, appreciate, and seek to nurture the radiance of the faces of other people and bring their light into the world. To bless someone is to shine a spotlight of attention and care on them. We pursue this illuminating work of bringing light to people in need through social justice. By blessing others, we contribute to bringing God’s grace, protection, and relief to the challenges of our world.

May God’s Face Be Lifted Upon You and Grant You Peace.

Just as God’s face turns toward us, we are to turn our faces to greet our neighbors. It is not enough to be blessed by God, we in turn become responsible for blessing others, to “add to the quotient of Divine Presence in the world, to give back to God and to the world.” To offer birkat kohanim is to invite God into the work we do in the world, to lift our hands toward the heavens and each other in faith and hope that we may be participants in creating peace in our fragmented world.

I look forward to seeing you OUTSIDE or on Zoom this evening at KHN at 7:00 pm!

Zoom link HERE

I look forward to seeing you in person only this Sunday morning, June 12, from 10:30 am – noon to celebrate and say goodbye to Rabbi Jonah and the Rank/Weiss family.

I look forward to next Friday night as well as Noah Levinson and Nina Meixler will be co-leading services with me and sharing some thoughts from their learning this year as Confirmands!