Destined to Choose (Rabbi David Cohen Book 1) by Sheyna Galyan

Author:Sheyna Galyan [Galyan, Sheyna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery/Suspense
ISBN: 9781592873180
Publisher: Yotzeret Publishing
Published: 2015-02-01T05:00:00+00:00

Saturday, July 29: Shabbat

David sat quietly in his chair and listened as the third person was called for an aliyah to offer a blessing over the Torah. He knew she had never been called to the Torah before, and she trembled as she began chanting the b’racha. Whether she was nervous because she was standing in front of some two hundred people or because she was so close to the Torah, he couldn’t tell. But her anxiety made him think of the times he had trembled before God, and the power God’s Torah held. An idea for an alternative sermon began to percolate in his mind.

He looked out over the congregation, smiling at the few who made eye contact with him. Sadly, he noticed that the congregation was following what he liked to call the One-Third Tradition: during the Torah reading, one third of the congregation talked with their neighbors, one third slept or sat in a semi-catatonic state, one third read books totally unrelated to either Shabbat or Judaism, and the rest actually followed along with the reading.

He remembered sharing this observation with Billy, then the newly-elected President of the congregation, who insisted that it was mathematically inaccurate and there was no remainder to follow along with the reading. That, David had said, was the point. Billy had not been amused.

He glanced at his watch. The service was going to run late again, and no doubt, he’d hear from the board about it. Figuring he didn’t have much else to lose, he looked again at his note cards and decided to give a different sermon this morning. He wasn’t sure that the congregation wanted to hear him explain this week’s parsha anyway. Of course, what he now planned to say he was sure they didn’t want to hear either.

“Shabbat shalom,”—a peaceful Sabbath—he wished the congregation when it came time for him to begin his comments. A few scattered replies echoed his words. “You are all in for a double treat today, as I’ve decided not to talk about this week’s Torah portion, and I’ll try to be brief as we’re running a bit over.” A handful of people laughed softly. Two hundred expectant pairs of eyes were on him.

“I want instead to talk about summer. The school year is over; many of you have planned vacations. For us as Americans, summer is a time of picnics and beach parties, endless days of good weather and ripe watermelons. But for us as Jews, it is also a time of sadness.

“The Sages instruct us that the Hebrew month of Tamuz, the month preceding Tisha b’Av, is a time of diminishing happiness. Now, I’m not going to tell you all to ‘go be sad.’ But I do want to make a point. We have a day at the lake on the one hand, and a day of mourning on the other. How do we integrate them?

“This isn’t the only dichotomy we face. Three months ago, we celebrated Israel’s Independence Day. Five weeks ago, we celebrated Independence Day for America.

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