All Real Living is Meeting Rabbi Ruth Z

This week’s recording ponders how we move into a new week, and constructively move forward in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the ensuing protests. There is a through line from the horror of slavery to the systemic racism of today. To shine a light on the issue, Rabbi Ruth gleans inspiration from four extraordinary poets, Sojourner Truth, Audre Lorde, Maya Angelou and Elizabeth Alexander, all of whom bear witness to the experience of black women in America.

Rabbi Ruth explores a profile in courage—the life and times of her biblical namesake, Ruth the Moabite. Ruth was an unlikely hero who boldly faced the challenges of a plague and famine. There is much to be gleaned from the book of Ruth about how we might respond to the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Each of us has a different tale to tell about this pandemic. We may all be in the same storm, but we’re not all on the same boat. We are weathering the storm in our own vessels and yet we are on these seas together, sailing to a new world beyond the horizon line.

Experts are telling us we will have the Coronavirus with us for the next 18 months to two years…how do we continue to be a synagogue?Well, that is not an easy question. Fortunately, we can learn from our sacred texts and the selfless acts of our ancestors. This isn’t the first time in Jewish history our people have had to rebuild a Jewish community after massive disruption. Inspired by our ancestors, we too will live a Jewish communal life of meaning and purpose.

This period between Passover and Shavuot, is known as the Sefirat Ha’Omer, when we count each day, each week on our exodus from Egypt to Sinai. During this strange moment of the pandemic, as we remember life as it used to be, and we wonder what life will be like in the months ahead, Rabbi Ruth gleans inspiration from the Jewish mystics who remind us that awakening to the sacredness of this moment is a slow journey, step by step, but one that can be done even as we engage is social distancing.

This year, when we let ourselves celebrate our ancestors’ journey from oppression to liberation, albeit, separately, as we shelter in place, we will embody the paradoxical truth of Passover: by staying home, we free ourselves and each other