August 15th, 2020 — Shabbat Re'eh
It is the terror of uncertainty that has us gravitate toward an oppressive known rather than risk a future unknown. Again and again, our Israelite ancestors, fleeing enslavement in Egypt, yearned to return to bondage rather than chart a new course toward freedom. Then and now, we view the past through a distorted lens, mythologizing what was, rather than dreaming of what could be. This moment cries out with a moral insistence: smash the idols of past– so that we are not tempted as we rebuild. From this desert of anguish and heartache, we must create a new and better narrative for our future.