Dear Friends,
For Jews throughout history, the ability to impose a sense of order and control in the wilderness of life is rooted in Torah. Torah is our spiritual guide. It provides us with a vocabulary with which we can articulate ways of seeing and understanding the chaos around us. Torah provides us with means through which we may identify and express a body of shared values around which we structure our sacred community.
Today is Shavuot. This ancient festival marks the moment in our history when we become a people defined by the ways in which we choose to impose a unique, sacred structure around the chaos of the wilderness into which we had been freed.
Today, we have a special opportunity to recognize the centrality of Torah in our lives. Without Torah, the uniqueness of our people would not exist. Without Torah, we would not have a common vocabulary for our faith. Without Torah the wilderness of life would be that much more difficult to navigate.
Chag Sameach!
Steve