Shabbat Shalom!
When I first sat down with the Rabbi to write
this speech, I wondered if I could really actually relate Torah to real life.
As it turns out, it’s pretty relatable!
So here goes…
It happened in the fall, about 5 years ago.
I had always loved playing sports, but was
basically mediocre at basketball, baseball… and don’t even get me started
about soccer!
But on that day 5 years ago, which happened
to be “Bring a Friend Day,” my good friend Miles brought me to my first ever hip
hop class – and immediately I was hooked.
Why did I come to love dance so much?
For one thing, it gives me the chance to
express something deep inside, and even when I’m on the stage, I truly dance
with a feeling that no one is watching.
Also, it gives me the chance to do something
a little different; not only to march to the beat
of a different drummer – but to dance to it as well!
But one of the best parts about being a
dancer is dancing at home and watching my Dad, Andrew and Marissa try to copy
my moves. I love them, but let’s just say, they have other strengths!
Sad to say, I wasn’t so good at hip hop at
first, but I didn’t realize it until I tried out for a selective performance
group. I was devastated when I didn’t
make it.
Fortunately, Jimmy, Liana and Monica, the
teachers who conducted the tryout four years ago and who are still my teachers
today, gave me lots of encouragement, telling me that I should never give up and
always believe in myself. They said I would come back the next year even
better.
I took this to heart and I practiced a lot,
and the next year, I made it into the performance group. And, this year, I’ve been added to an advanced
competition team.
In Nitzavim, one of my Torah portions today,
Moses talks to the people about God’s teaching, saying in chapter 30 of
Deuteronomy,
כִּי הַמִּצְוָה הַזֹּאת, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם--לֹא-נִפְלֵאת הִוא מִמְּךָ, וְלֹא רְחֹקָה הִוא.
“For this instruction, which I command you this day, it is
not too hard for you, neither is it far off.”
The Torah
then continues, saying “Lo B’Shamayim Hee,” “It’s not in the heavens.” Meaning,
it’s not beyond our reach. In other
words, what the Torah instructs us is not beyond our abilities to accomplish,
although lots of effort is needed – but the spiritual rewards of accepting the
laws of the Torah, of living a Jewish life, are so worth the effort.
Just as dancing for me has been at times fun,
challenging, hard, overwhelming, and worthwhile, I know that following the
teachings of the Torah and being a Jew is not just simple and easy. But, just as dancing ended up being something
that I can learn and grow with, and keep striving to become better and better, the
lessons of the Torah are also not things that you just learn once and then move
on. Over the years while growing up,
I’ve experienced lots of great Shabbat dinners at my house. They usually aren’t hard. But fasting on Yom Kippur isn’t easy, and it
seems like every year I learn a new rule or requirement for Passover. And I know there are lots of holidays and
other Jewish laws that I don’t know much about at all, although I know I have
lots of people in my life who can teach me about them.
Of course, when it comes to prayers and
traditions, because of my Hebrew school education and growing up in this
temple, I am prepared to continue to learn.
And, it doesn’t hurt that I was once rabbi for a day at Temple Beth
El. My parents won that experience for
me at the Temple auction and I got to learn what it’s like to be a rabbi. Hey,
did you know there’s a bathroom back behind the bima? Pretty cool, right? Just
so you know, you can’t hear the flush from out here! I tested it with the Rabbi.
My mitzvah project is an example of how
things that seem so difficult and out of our reach can be made possible, even
if they never become simple. This
summer, I volunteered with several children with special needs at the Hand in
Hand camp in Stamford. I worked with
three young children who were mostly non-verbal. I helped them make their camp experience as
normal as possible. I helped with swimming,
dance, art and several other activities.
By the end of the session, the kids had really improved. One was becoming a little more verbal, one
was learning to repeat words, and one was learning sign language.
These kids are a real inspiration to me, just
as my dance teachers and friends are at dance class – and just as my family and
community here at Temple Beth El have inspired me to do things I never thought
I could do.
It’s funny that in Hebrew and English, two
sayings that seem to be opposites are actually saying the same thing: “Lo
B’Shamayim hee” means “it’s not in the heavens,” but what it really means
is, “The sky’s the limit!”
And it always will be!
No comments:
Post a Comment