Building a world of hope, blessing and love

Rabbi Adam F. Miller

The story is told of an individual who learns a large storm is approaching. People begin to pack up their belongings and leave. A friend comes by in a car, inviting the person to leave with them before the floods arrive. “Don’t worry, God will provide for me,” says the person.

Rising waters force the person to go to the second story. A boat comes by, offering a chance for rescue. “Don’t worry,” the person replies, “God will provide for me.”

Flooding causes the person to move to the roof, where a helicopter flies by “This is your last chance. Grab the rope!” The person shakes their head, “Don’t worry, God will provide for me.”

Sadly, the waters eventually sweep the person off to their doom. When they reach olam ha-bah, the world to come, they angrily complain, “Why didn’t you help me, God? I prayed to you and stayed faithful the entire time. You never saved me!”

The voice of God fills the space, “Who do you think sent the car, the boat and the helicopter!”

That story is a stark reminder that prayer without action and action without prayer both miss the mark. In the words of Rabbi Ferdinand Isserman, “We must pray as if everything depends on God, and act as if everything depends upon us.”

Some people feel they are drowning in sorrow as we prepare to start 5783. Tragedies haunt our news feed and war continues to devastate Ukraine. Closer to home, our own community was among those blanketed with antisemitic pamphlets — not to mention growing concern over threats from climate change, the loss of bodily autonomy by women in our country and the ongoing spread of COVID-19.

Amidst this deluge of anguish, the refrain I hear over and over again is, “Rabbi, what can we do?”

First, don’t panic. When we act out of fear or anger, we tend to do things we later regret. When the people came to complain about water, Moses ignored God’s directive to talk with the rock, an action that showed a lack of faith in God and led to Moses’ exclusion from the land of Israel.

We need to be in a space where we can act thoughtfully, not rashly. Consider unplugging from the doom scroll of media feeds. Allow your mind and heart the chance to heal. Add mindful activities, like going for a walk, meditating or engaging in a physical activity to clear your mind. The small amount of peace will provide clarity for further action.

Next, it is important to remember Rabbi Isserman’s teaching. We must both pray for the blessings that we need, such as strength, sechel, insight, compassion, courage and wisdom, and we need to utilize those gifts through action.

With so many challenges, we often don’t know what to do first. Here is my advice — just do something! You cannot solve it all at once. Pick one problem and begin to act. Find local groups and online organizations already addressing the problem. Engage others to join you. They have their proverbial cars, boats and helicopters ready to help in the effort to make our world a better place. We just must be willing to accept their assistance and work in partnership with them.

As Reb Nachman taught, the key is to not be afraid. We overcome the challenge by acting from a place of calm, not fear. We change the world by not waiting for God or others to act, but by taking action to address the problems that we see – one at a time – repairing our world. Along the way, we find strength knowing that we are not alone, that others will stand with us, and that, together, we can make a difference.

This year we can build a world of hope, a world of blessing, a world of love.

On behalf of our Temple Shalom One Family, I wish you a shanah tova u’mtukah, a sweet and good new year.

Rabbi Adam Miller serves at Temple Shalom.