Shabbat Shekalim 2020/5780: We count

One of my favorite characters from Sesame Street is the count, who asks us what is the Sesame Street number of the day, and then counts the bats flying around his castle to tell us.

This new year 2020 is a time the County would love as we begin the national census, an effort to count, itemize, and find out more about who we are, where we are, and hopefully how best resources can be allocated to benefit our needs.

And we find ourselves this Shabbat observing Shabbat Shekalim, a day that recalls an ancient mitzvah of counting the people of Israel when they brought a half-shekel to the Tabernacle in the wilderness and later to the Temple in Jerusalem as a donation. 

Whether it’s an ancient census in which everyone gives a coin of small value, or a modern census when advanced technologies analyze and interpret data, the bottom line is the striving to show that everyone counts, everyone is recognized and validated.  

The Rabbis compare the various censuses taken in the Torah to the loving way a child counts and recounts her toys and special objects to make sure that every item is present.  They say the same is true of God looking over all of us.

But there are those times, despite the half-shekel or the census when we feel we don’t count, when we’re not recognized, left out, and overlooked, when we don’t feel others are listening to us, when we’re surrounded by people but still feel alone,  or when we are lost – not knowing what to do, what to say, or where to go.

The Rebbe Yakov of Izhbitz teaches us we all face moments like these, when we struggle to overcome what we’re lacking, what we’re hoping for.

The Izhbitzer Rebbe teaches us that to correspond with all of what we feel we lack and we’re hoping for God gives us a spark of holiness, that even in the smallest actions causes us to experience what is good, and holy, wholesome and helpful in this world,  showing us how God is present in our daily actions, however tiny they may be in relation to the bigger picture of our lives.

The half-shekel coin is like this spark of holiness inside of us – reminding us that even our small contribution, given in the cause of holiness and unity, given in the spirit of fellowship, creates a house of holiness more remarkable and bigger than the largest holy Temple could ever be.

If we could begin by seeing each other in the fullness and blessing of who we are, who we strive to be, through all that we struggle and celebrate, if we could count each other and remind each other  we are here together and you are meaningful, you are important, you are valued, we would make God  and the count from sesame street, so happy. 

Shabbat Shira - Shabbat of Song 2020/5780 - Sing it out!

The Torah explains Moses started singing and our ancestors joined in.  We don’t know if Moses is a tenor or a baritone. We don’t know if our ancestors harmonized, whether it was a hip hop sound or even barbershop.  All we know is their spirits overflow when the door of freedom opens and they sing.

So often I’ve heard people say, I don’t have much of a singing voice, or I can’t even carry a tune in a bucket.

Let’s keep in mind that, just as an example, we remember Leonard Cohen as a great singer songwriter as much as we reverence the great classical cantor Yossele Rosenblatt and others like him but of course Leonard Cohen, alav hashalom, did not have a voice like a Rosenblatt or a Koussevitzky.  He did have a heart, a spirit, a kavannah – intentionality and sense of art and purpose.

On this Shabbat Shira, it’s important for us to emphasize how our ancestors teach us God looks to the heart, rachmana liba ba’ey.  When we sing in shul, or anywhere for that matter, when we sing about what is meaningful and important to us, when we sing to advocate for causes of tzedek of righteousness, when we sing at both simchas and moments of loss, God is only listening to the character and intention of the heart, and everyone, whether you sound like Bob Dylan or Matisyahu, everyone gets the golden buzzer, everyone gets a standing ovation from heaven.

The Talmud tells the story of Rav Yehuda who was so great in his presence in the world that by removing his shoe he could cause rain to fall, whereas we cry out to the universe and the response is silence.  But the Rabbis comfort us in this passage saying, rachmana liba ba’ey, God seeks the heart, as it says in the Book Samuel, God is speaking to Samuel as he gets ready to identify who will be the next King of Israel, and God says there, “God does not see as a human being sees, people look at outward apperances, but God looks at the heart.”

And so today, on this special Shabbat of The song, and more generally a day of celebrating in song, I’m curious for us to explore which songs are most meaningful to us, which prayers that we sing, which songs from our lives are most meaningful to us and why?  What happens to us when we sing them?  

May God give us strength and open up our hearts to sing today and throughout the year in praise of the Holy One who created us with the breath and ability to make the world more beautiful with the music we create ourselves and share, that with our voices we may start the wave of tikkun that will repair the broken places in our hearts, the gaps between us, until we achieve the unity of fellowship and purpose that, with God’s help, can transform the raw and discordant melodies of polarization, violence, and injustice into what Martin Luther King Jr. called a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.