Parshat Emor – May 16, 2025 / 18 Iyar 5785

I have to ask: Is it high time for a collective reset? This past couple of weeks, I would sit down to read and think, but kept getting notifications from every device with links to different news stories. As hard as I might have tried, I couldn’t look away from everything. There was something popping up about every topic. The waves created from the ADL’s recent antisemitism audit were still whitecaps;  2024 gave us the highest number of antisemitic incidents ever recorded since tracking began. That information has been hanging in the air ever since with an inescapable “what to do” aura surrounding it. Terrible wildfires erupted in Israel, disrupting Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day celebrations. Then came into my view an article written by a rabbi I deeply admire about his experience with deep-seated antisemitism on Harvard University’s campus during his year as scholar-in-residence at its Divinity School. His insights were quite difficult to read. He likened the University’s response to spraying perfume on a sewer. Quite strong language. I returned to Torah reading, and a text message let me know that a Houthi missile passed the Israeli and American defense systems and landed right near Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. Stories about starving Gazans from every news source, and a piercingly loud lack of stories about unreleased hostages. Vicious discord between the left and the right in our own country. I found myself in a whirlpool of chaos, unrest, uncertainty. It was as if the current events undertow had grabbed a hold of me, and like the unforgiving sea can do, it was difficult to come up for any air. How to even begin processing any of these issues?

Maybe time for a reset? I can imagine that if I was feeling overwhelmed and bound by so much bedlam, that others must be feeling this way, or at least similarly, as well? I was eventually blessed to be temporarily grounded by Chapter 23 of Leviticus, part of this week’s Torah portion. Chapter 23 gives us in-depth information about the Jewish festivals. Directly prior to the very specific instructions by God regarding how to observe the festivals of Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, we are first reminded about today…we are reminded of where we currently are; our obligation, but really our privilege, to observe Shabbat. After spending so much of the book of Exodus hearing about the holy space of the Mishkan, it was refreshing to read about the holiness that can be created in Jewish time. Perhaps we are being reminded that Shabbat came first. Our festivals are each meaningful in their own right, but their existence requires our human cooperation and action. What is Rosh Hashanah without the sounding of the Shofar, Yom Kippur without the fast, or Sukkot without the lulav, etrog, and dwelling in booths? Shabbat was created by God during creation. It allows us to return to an original Holiness, to be a bit more like God every week. 

Navigating so many complex issues has caused me to reflect deeply on what we call here “joyful Judaism.” While it is important not to ignore the varied concerns facing the world, and we will not, sometimes the pandemonium of the moment can become much too palpable and pervasive. Can we, on Shabbat, find a way to retreat, even just a modicum, from the tumult, the overwhelming uproars, and just find our way back to some joy? How profound does the message have to be week-to-week? Chapter 23, before it jumps into the details of the festivals, understands that we need to be centered before we take on any other tasks. We need to be reminded of Shabbat, and its simple significance. It’s holy and direct purpose: to afford us the space to recharge, reset and rest our firing neurons before we re-enter the worlds of devastating wildfires, or the state of Harvard University, or the number of antisemitic incidents committed per hour, or the missile that happened to evade the iron dome. Or the palpable level of tension between those with disparate political views.

While trying to find the words to settle down, to lean into the spirit of Shabbat, I was reminded of an old Yiddish Proverb: “Klieg, klieg, klieg—du bist a Nar. You are smart, smart, smart—but you are not so smart!” With so much information constantly in our ears, our eyes, at our fingertips, perhaps we sometimes need a reminder that it is simply not possible to know everything, and it is also not feasible to be able to tackle a myriad of issues simultaneously. I invite us all to collectively breathe together, and try to release some of the allostatic load that chronic anxiety and stress can introduce to our physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. The answers to the world’s questions are not that simple, but we have a blueprint for handling the strain of the day-to-day, the week-to-week, the year-to-year. We have our Jewish cathedral that exists in holy time. We have the beautiful, joyful, and simple quietude of Shabbat. It is no accident that this was given to us so early on. The original healthy coping mechanism. 

This week, I am going to take the advice of our sages of the Talmud who wrote, in tractate Shabbat, nonetheless: “Your speech on Shabbat should not be like your speech on weekdays.” Traditionally, we are to avoid speaking of such worldly matters that would keep us from enjoying and fully realizing the rejuvenating spirit of Shabbat…from feeling the slight caress of God’s handiwork. So, yes, the weeks have been a little overwhelming. The world is small and every story and vantage point is accessible and can be smothering. Shabbat is the ruach, the breath of fresh air which glides down to us from on high, oxygenates us for a day no matter the state of the six days that led us here. It allows us to breathe in the miraculous moment of creation. 

Let us all be blessed to feel ourselves living in this holy moment…to revel in our holy day. And if it all becomes too much, distracts you as it did me, and we need to shut our minds off for a few moments, we can find in the word Shabbat itself, the acrostic phrase “sheinah b’shabbat ta’anug, sleep on Shabbat is a joy!” Taking a nap is encouraged. The conflicts of the world might appear more palatable after a refreshing Shabbat snooze. We are all going through a lot. We will catch up, but allow Shabbat to allow us to catch our breath.

Take care of yourself. 

Shabbat Shalom

– Rabbi Josh Gray