Get Inspired... and Stay Inspired!
Are you getting tired of hearing about our recent men's Israel mission? I get that. But please bear with me one final time. Then I promise I won't mention it again... until the next one, on May 21-28, 2017.
Five weeks ago, on Sunday, July 3rd, David Burg, Dan Fremont, Michael Goldberg, Michael Greff, Robert Rosenthal, Richard Schultz, Ethan Weiss and I rode on a bus in Tel Aviv, at the tail end of our trip. After a week of bonding, laughing and crying together, we talked about what we could do to keep the Israel inspiration alive. An idea was hatched: "Let's stay connected every day through a daily, 7-minute, Torah study, conference call together."
To be honest, I wasn't sure how long this great idea would last. A week or two, I thought. But, here we are, 6 weeks later, and it's still going strong. What an inspiration these 7 guys are, to see how they are doing the work to stay inspired even as the memories begin to fade.
When was the last time you were really inspired? Strongly enough to really want that impact to have a long-lasting effect on your your life? What did you do about it? Were you able make some of that inspiration last?
I mention this now, because this weekend is commemorated by Jews around the world as a day of mourning. Sunday is the day on the Jewish calendar when the Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed, and it became a day to remember Jewish suffering throughout the ages.
So, what is the takeaway away from this period on the Jewish calendar? It's surely not to remain sad. We must live joyfully.
The Talmud teaches us that a lack of Jewish unity caused the destruction of the holy temple in Jerusalem. Furthermore, the Talmud teaches us that every generation (that's us!) has the sacred duty to rectify this shortcoming by strengthening Jewish unity.
So, the takeaway of this weekend, as we approach the High Holiday season, is to make some kind of commitment, a pledge to DO something, something that will promote Jewish unity in some small way. For example, a resolution to act less judgmentally towards others or to make an extra effort to avoid speaking Lashon Horah (gossip) for a short finite time each day. Commitments like these can go a long way toward bringing light to the darker parts of our world.
Please check out this short (8 minutes) video clip. Tissue alert! It literally moved me to tears, and it is an example of Jewish unity in the most remarkable way.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Koval
The Gift of Life: Jewish unity saving lives.
