Our Rabbi's Message
February 27th 2009
By Rabbi Aaron KriegelLiving well is about setting standards and reaching for goals. It is about movement and improvement. Living well has no place for complacency. There is reward in just letting life just pass you by. We always have to look at today as a platform for tomorrow. Living well today means making the most of every minute, but it also means making the most of opportunity which prepares the way for the future.
Judaism and every great religion have sanctified the concept of living well and never wasting time. The concept that best represents that idea in Jewish thought is aliyah. You might recognize that term only as it applies to Israel. However, the concept is far deeper than that. Aliyah is only one word that describes the positive human and Jewish quality of going up, doing better, ascending.
The Torah portion that we read this week is called Terumah, which contains a root meaning to raise or to bring to a higher level. In the context of the Parasha, it refers to raising the spiritual level not only of the individual but also of the community. We are taught to make the Temple a beautiful place. We are taught that it is not by God's blessings, but by man and woman's work and sacrifice that we are able to beautify and sanctify the Temple and our communal and individual lives.
In fine, the efforts that we expend to increase sanctity our knowledge or even athletic prowess determine how we raise ourselves in God's world. The Almighty has given us possibility, but God has left the burden of making reality from possibility to us.
Raising the quality of life is a human endeavor and not a divine gift
|
|
||