This coming week we end the annual ritual of reading the
national history of our people, the Torah. And immediately after we finish, we
roll the scroll all the way back to the beginning and start over. Why? There’s a saying that the stories never
change, but we do. Every year when we hear these stories of our ancestors, we
as individuals living in the present are in different places and circumstances
in our own lives, giving us new perspective on the old stories. I love that
concept. But in some ways, it is insufficient to address some of the ways in
which we identify with the stories of the Torah. Our circumstances may change,
but do we?
While things may change over time
(see: electricity, industrial revolution, the invention of the cookie – to name
a few seismic advances in civilization), we stay human. The quality of being
human is universal and constant. In that way, the stars of this year’s SHMUSY
play, “Holy Cow! I’m Having a Bat Mitzvah,” have come to the same conclusion. That
our ‘human’ness is indelible and unchanging. For instance, humans always have a
need for finding meaning and order in the chaos of their lives. This year we’re
playing with a seminal story in the Torah about that very thing: the Golden
Calf.
What relevance does the Golden Calf story have to the High Holiday season? In Haazinu, we hear the last words from Moses before we move on
to the promised land without him. Without Moses. Only one other time since
escaping slavery in Mitzrayim have we Israelites been without Moses. And that
episode gave us the Golden Calf. We were unable to cope without leadership,
without constant proof of God’s presence. And now God is trusting us to make
our way into Canaan without our prophet, our hero. What lessons can we learn from the first
episode of Moses’ absence to help guide our way moving forward? Both in
biblical time and in year 5775? That is what we aim to explore in this year’s
play. Come see it at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 19 in Blum Community Hall to see if
we have come up with any good answers to this dilemma! There will be cookies.
- Jon Adam Ross
