Choosing Blessing

Choosing Blessing – Parashat R’eih 5786
By Rabbi Maurice Salth

Shabbat Evening, Central Synagogue

This week’s Torah portion, R’eih is the fourth portion in fifth and final book of our Torah. Throughout Deuteronomy Moses speaks passionately to the Israelites giving them direction on to how to live their lives and make choices and decisions. Last Shabbat Rabbi Buchdahl spoke brilliantly about how Moses charges us listen, truly listen.

This week’s portion continues his speech but Moses, knowing that people learn in different ways and with different senses begins his words by saying “R’eih” which means “see.” He says: “See this day I set before you blessing and curse.” It is a verse Moses will repeat later in Deuteronomy and for good measure, when he does so again in Parashat Nitzavim, Moses makes it clear that when blessing and curse are set in front of us, we should always choose blessing!

The great Polish teacher known as the Sfat Emet, taught that there are always two paths before us and that choice is one of the essential aspects of being the human.

We are constantly making decisions, small and large. The Sfat Emet taught that we should take care in making these daily decisions.

He tells a story of a righteous teacher who experiences decisions as if they were individual pieces of hair. This teacher knows that while a piece of hair is so small, over a lifetime, the accumulation of hair can be as high as a mountain. When one takes each decision seriously, over time one creates a life of meaning and purpose; a life as large as a mountain.

Now Moses does not just speak generically in Parashat R’eih about making choices. In the verses Cantor Mutlu just beautifully chanted, Moses describes specific blessings and commandments we should be choosing to live by. It is interesting that in this section Moses speaks in the present tense – allowing his words to be directed to his Israelite kin and I believe also to us.

In these verses, Moses charges us to care for the needy and to open our hand and heart to the poor and needy in the land. Moses also speaks one of the Torah’s more prophetic and timeless verses when he says: “there will never cease to be needy ones in your land which is why I command you to open your hand.”

Many of us know that here at Central we strive to choose to follow this specific directive, this specific blessing, in a number of ways, including by serving meals to those in our neighborhood three days a week. We call this our Breakfast Program.

Each Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, volunteers from our community meet here at the sanctuary at 6 am. By 7 am we are serving a hot meal to anyone who is hungry and we provide our guests a to-go bag with two meals for later. We make sandwiches to support this effort every Monday and Wednesday and every other Friday and serve 150 - 220 people at each breakfast.

Our chef, Nathan Williams, a Central staff member and the director of our Breakfast Program had been dreaming for a long time of complementing our regular program by offering our guests a special day where we could welcome them to sit-down and eat their meal - think outdoor café street fair meets Central Breakfast Program.

A partnership of staff and congregants made up of Nathan, Rabbi Hilly Haber, Samantha, Ali, Lydia, Shayna, Rich, Michelle, Harlan, Deb, Jodi, Marc, Madeline, and Abby began meeting months ago and Central’s first “Love Your Neighbor Day” was born. This past Tuesday, it took flight.

Our team began to arrive at 3 am, the street was closed and stations began to configure including a portable shower bus, an outdoor hair salon and a place to get a new outfit and hygiene products.

Also available free of charge to our guests were opportunities for them to speak with social workers and counselors from the DOE Fund, Fortune Society and the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. By the time our block party came to a close, 300 people participated. Our security and facilities teams led by Gabe and Lydia ensured that our guests could sit in peace and comfort. You can see pictures from this extraordinary day on our Facebook and Instagram pages – they capture the beauty of this morning.

One guest who was there Tuesday, shared that this was the first hot shower he had taken in six years. Another guest, who was looking sharp after a shower, haircut, and outfit change, said he was leaving the event a new man. An atmosphere of dignity and, yes, loving our neighbor, took over 55^th street as 60 Central community members, many of whom are here tonight, welcomed our neighbors for a morning of care. It was a manifestation of this week’s Torah portion charge to choose blessing and to open up our hands and hearts to the needy among us.

Our Central Volunteers have been giving this a “Love Your Neighbor” pin. You will see some of us wearing it with pride tonight. It is a reminder that choosing blessings, such as caring for those in need among us, is possible, every single day.

We do not need to close 55^th street to be kind to a stranger.

We do not need a shower bus to inspire us to make a contribution to a local agency that is tending to the most vulnerable.

We do not need see someone get a complimentary hair cut to muster our moral courage and advocate our elected officials to find ways for our city, state and nation to wisely address the reality of what Moses speaks about, that there will never cease to be needy ones and that we should never cease to provide them with thoughtful, meaningful support.

These are among the many blessings available for us to choose each and every day.

With each choice we can add meaning and purpose to our lives; overtime creating lives as large as mountains. Let us see and hear Moses’s call from this week’s portion and choose blessing after blessing after blessing.

Shabbat Shalom.