Rabbi Fox's Message for June 2011

Taking Ourselves Higher

Recently, I was listening to Sly and the Family Stone's 1969 version of their hit song, "I Want to Take You Higher," and I was struck by the unbounded joy that pervades nearly every measure of the song. There is a sense of awe when we listen to music that challenges us to discern between the numerous elements that make up something so complex (at least rhythmically so).

That same unbounded joy is what our ancestors experienced as they approached the holiday of Shavuot. Many of the men had been refraining from cutting their hair during the period of the Counting of the Omer and so the holiday provided a very real sense of release (and perhaps, relief!) from what such personal restrictions can easily cause for most people.

In our lives today, Shavuot gets somewhat short shrift; it is a two-day holiday in the late Spring with only a few significant rituals/customs connected to it. It is a poor cousin to the excitement of Sukkot with its eating al fresco and the intense transformations and family ties renewed with the arrival of Passover. It is ironic, therefore, that Shavuot is, in many ways, the most culturally and theologically important holiday for the Jewish People. After all, our tradition teaches us to commemorate the receipt of the Law at Sinai — three days of intense preparation and revelation culminating in a new mission and theology and, thereby, culture for a rag-tag group of ex-slaves and similarly disenfranchised. Eating blintzes, though most of us would agree is an endlessly tasty thing to do, does not do justice to such an important event.

In truth, Shavuot is about "[taking us] higher." And, like the unmitigated excitement expressed in (and that I feel when I hear) Sly Stone's song, we needn't think that expanding our consciousness has to be boring . . . it most certainly can be exciting and joyous! Any time we expand our horizons, we take ourselves higher; any time we get a little lost in something greater than ourselves, we take ourselves higher.

Our ancestors lived a truly miserable existence in Egypt, without a sense of community and without an over-arching framework for their spiritual lives. Some Rabbis' commentaries on the experience of the pre-Sinai, "Egyptian Jew" describes them as being lost, rudderless and anchorless in life. Between our religious tradition and millennia of scientific advances in the fields of physical and mental health, we know even better how to "take ourselves higher:" We need a worthy purpose in life.

So, this Shavuot, I encourage you not only to taste some blintzes but to celebrate the holiday by seeking out a worthy purpose — one through which you can express your best, most loving self (as reflected in the story of Shavuot) — something that can joyously "take you higher."

In fact, let's start this path together! I invite you join me and your fellow congregants for our Shavuot service (with Yizkor) on the second day of the holiday (see the newsletter and website for details).

May the upcoming holiday and the exploration that comes with it bring you in a very real way to a higher place.

Hag Shavuot Sameach!

Rabbi Gerald Fox

© Rabbi Gerald R. Fox