Why is the festival of Shavuot called "the time of the giving of our Torah" and not the time of the receiving of our Torah? Because the giving of the Torah happened at one specified time, but the receiving of the Torah happens at every time and in every generation.
—Rabbi Meir Alter of Ger

Each generation must make its own way back to Sinai, must stand under the mountain and re-appropriate and reinterpret the Revelation, in terms that are both classical and new. We recognize change as part of the continuing process of tradition itself.

It was five years ago when I first stood on this pulpit on Rosh Hashana. I shared with you at that time my struggle with, and my image of, this morning’s Torah portion. So famous, or infamous is the section that we read on this birthday of the world, that it has it’s own one word title: Akeda, Binding. We virtually never speak of it as being taken from the portion Va’era in Genesis, but simply as the Akeda, the Binding. So ingrained in the Jewish psyche is this story that we even teach it to our children. We know this is Isaac’s story.

Last Saturday, in Synagogues around the world, the weekly section read from the Five Books of Moses, the Torah, was entitled Vayachi, literally “and he lived.” It is the reading that ends the Book of Genesis, and the entirety of the lives of the Jewish patriarchs. While Jewish commentaries typically focus on Jacob’s death in this portion, it also records for us the death of Joseph, all of his brothers, and in fact that whole generation. In doing so, it sets the stage for what was to follow. A fall from power and importance. A degradation of spirit to be suffered for 400 years, as the Children of Israel were so simply and easily turned into slaves, as Pharaoh uttered the words, “Let us deal wisely with them.” Yet, there is a redemption back into freedom which is celebrated on every Jewish Sabbath, as wine is to be sipped with joy.

Yom Kippur, which we typically call the “Day of Atonement,” actually has the literal meaning of the Day of Forgiveness or Pardon. We are taught that forgiveness comes when we have done an act of atonement. But just what is atonement, and how do we know if we have attained it?

Kol Nidre, the annulment of vows between ourselves and God, echoes in the soul on this night. It is an ultimate acknowledgment of our humanity, our innate fallibility, and our desire for hope on the most profound levels. Is it not interesting that this supreme moment of awareness of the possibility of failure is one that does not drive us into isolation?

Let us raise our voices...

The story is told of three old Jewish men who sat down at a table to have lunch. The first one says “Oy.” The second one says “Oy Vey.” To which the third one responds, “I thought we were not going to discuss politics today.”