Voices of WRJ: Chol Hamoed Sukkot

by Mindy Grinnan This Shabbat is known as Chol HaMoed Sukkot; we read from Exodus 33:12-34:26. As an engineer, I constantly question and seek to understand the meaning of our sacred texts. It seems to me that the Torah is a blueprint as to how we should live our lives and is designed to teach people right from wrong, how to eat healthy without refrigeration, how to perpetuate the Jewish people, how to survive, etc. Following the incident where the Israelites were punished for worshiping the Golden Calf, Moses is instructed to bring two tablets to the mountain for God to inscribe another set of Ten Commandments. However this set seems radically different from the first. Unlike the greatest hits such as, “Don’t Steal” and “Honor your Father and Mother”, this set contains specific laws about ritual sacrifice, holiday observances, and instructions to “not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” So, why the changes? Did God have bad short-term memory loss? God gave Moses the Ten Commandments two chapters ago. Perhaps, but I do not believe this is the case. I believe God wanted to give the people more detailed instructions on how to live their lives according to God’s will. It seemed to me that the people needed more specific direction. Today most people do not bring animal sacrifices to a temple and we celebrate our Jewish festivals quite differently than what we read in the Torah portion. However, we look to our sacred texts for guidance and inspiration and this Torah portion teaches us that sometimes we need more specific instructions. My engineer background requires me to look more deeply since “inquiring minds want to know." Our tradition teaches in Pirkei Avot, Ethic of the Fathers, “You do not have to finish the task nor are you free to desist from it” (2:16). The task at hand can be overwhelming and the mission and vision of the WRJ is well aware of this and uses the YES (Youth, Education, and Special Projects) Fund to help. The WRJ YES Fund provides funding to rabbis to educate them so they can teach us just as Moses and Aaron did. WRJ also supports Women of the Wall, who fight for women to have the same right to worship at the Kotel as men. This year WRJ has held a Pay Equity Initiative, supporting that all people should have equal pay for performing the same work. Please join us at the upcoming WRJ Assembly 2015, November 4-8 in Orlando, FL and help to support the WRJ YES Fund and learn more about WRJ’s programs and ways to support projects around the world. Mindy Grinnan is a WRJ Board member, a WRJ Southeast District past secretary and a member of Congregation Ahavath Chesed, in Jacksonville, FL.