Greetings
from Missouri!
We might attribute our own sense of family closeness,
a positive approach to our relationships, and a commitment
to making a difference in the world to the homes or
communities in which we grew up. Our parents, our extended
families and our friends (and their families) offered
us some of our first influences in how to form partnerships
that can sustain what is good in our society and engender
productive change.
The
Torah readings from last week (Va-etchanan) and this
week (Ekev) both include the language with we are familiar
from the “V’ahavta”prayer:
“Bind these words as a sign upon your hand, and
let them be a symbol between your eyes.” While
this passage yielded the t’filin that are worn
for prayer according to Jewish tradition, it could also
provide a figurative reference to our actions (the work
of our hands) and our personal perspective (how we see
and view our own situation). The V’ahavta also
reminds us to “teach these words to our children,
and speak of them while we sit at home,when we travel
on the road, when we lie down and when we rise up.”
As
I looked around at my family reunion this past Sunday,
and spoke with a minister friend last night, I realized
how the values we learn as we grow in our childhood
years can be passed down from one generation to the
next. The goal is not for one generation to be a carbon
copy of the previous one. It is, rather, that parents
give their best to their children, and the children,
in turn, to their children.
That
is how the principles we prize can be preserved, in
mind and heart, for the future. May this be a goal for
which we strive in our congregation, our families and
our community!
