Letter #500
Once upon a time, when God created the world, God made a deal with the sea. “Many years from now” God said “my people will come to your shore. They’ll be escaping slavery and their oppressors will be chasing them. When that happens, your waters shall part and let them pass through.” The sea asks, “How will I know your people?” So God gives them a picture of the Children of Israel. “When this people arrives at your shore, move aside your waters and let them pass through.”
Years later, the Israelites come to the sea. The sea looks at them, looks at the picture, looks at them again. They don’t look anything like the people in the picture. So God has to intervene. “This is my people” God explains but they’ve been worn down by years of pain and suffering. The picture I gave you is a picture of what they’re really like. Let them pass through and they will come to be like that.” The sea parts. And at Mt. Sinai they’re taught how.
This Sunday night is our reunion with Torah from Mt. Sinai. Today, our people feel worn down, torn down, and let down. We deeply know it’s high-time to rise, to look more like we do in God’s picture, but we aren’t sure how to. We’re so thirsty for divine wisdom and sacred expectations that can help us relearn how.
Our portion of Torah this Shabbat begins the wanderings of the Book of Numbers. It puts us on a road that’s much longer than anyone thought it would be. It feels all too familiar. Still, somehow we gather strength. And today, I share my 500th Daily Letter with you. Ever since I began, I’ve sought to provide spiritual nourishment to gather strength.
The Book of Ruth is a brilliant Shavuot scroll. It lacks villains. It lacks public office-holders. And, of course, it lacks ‘Ruth-less’ online verbal-vandalism. It’s about tenderness. About gracious favor. And about the splendor of commitment.
Its glistening Torah invites you and me to recommit to all of these gestures. Gestures that are too good for the headlines. And, of course, they’re what make us look more like we do in God’s picture. More like what a fellow-learner recently described: “a critical mass of people living justly, righteously, and distinctively – proving it can be done and offering a template for others to follow in their particularity.”
To look better in the picture, we need to be in it. Learn at least one new thing this Shavuot and you will be.
