Lifting Your Light
Rabbi Howard Jacoby Ruben’s charge to the Class of 2020
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hank you, Ashira and Josue, for sharing the spirit of your class -one that has distinguished itself with resilience through adversity, joy and delight in each other, and a passion for improving the world. I vividly remember your first day of school at JCHS. That was the day I told you about the book 101 Elephant Jokes my parents gave me to calm my anxiety about starting a new school. “What time is it when an elephant sits on your fence?” one of the jokes asks. “What time?!?” “Time to get a new fence!” Four years ago you laughed at that joke! Yiddish and Jewish folklore also have their own treasury of jokes, especially tales from the imaginary Polish village of Chelm. You might have heard of it; Chelm is the quirky village filled with wise fools. One of my favorite Chelm stories is about the villager who asks the village sage, “Which is more important, the sun or the moon? “Silly question,” the sage replies. “It’s the moon,
of course! The moon shines at night when we really need it! But the sun shines during the day. What good is the sun in broad daylight!?!” The power of light is the opening theme of this week’s Torah portion, which begins with an instruction to Aharon about the wilderness Tabernacle, be’ha-alot’cha et ha neirot - raise up the lights [of the menorah].” (Num 8:2) The Rabbis puzzle over the verb used here. It is not the same verb we usually use for lighting candles, “l’haadleek ner” like on Shabbat or Chanukah. From this the Talmud learns, Aharon is told to lift his light in such a way that the light of each flame rises by itself.” (Shabbat 21a) You, the Class of 2020, who face a world of challenge and turmoil, are the light that will rise to bring hope and healing to our broken world.