Bet Mishpachah D'rash: Who Is God?

<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" LINK="#000000" VLINK="#000000" ALINK="#000000"> <CENTER><TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=20% VALIGN="TOP"> <A NAME="top"> <P> <B><a href="http://betmish.org/text/erh5763drash.html">Text-Only Version</a></B> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/index.html">Home</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/whatsnew.html">What's New</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/calendar.html#July8">Coming Events</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/drashot.html">D'rashot</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/do.html">What We Do</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/who.html">Who We Are</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/contact.html">Contact Us</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/faq.html">Frequently Asked Questions</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/archives.html">Archives</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/links.html">Links</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/member.html">Membership</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/credits.html">Credits</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/addbook.html">Guest book</A></B></BIG> </FONT></TD> <TD ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="80%> <CENTER>    <table border="0" align="center"> <tr> <td align="center"> <a href="http://betmish.org/index.html" target="_top"><IMG border=0 src="http://betmish.org/images/banner2.gif" align=center height="104" width="512" hspace=5 alt="Bet Mishpachah banner"></a> </td> <td align="left"> <font size="-5"><a href="http://betmish.org/child/descriptions/banner.html">Banner<br>Description</a></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"> <p><font size="-1"><i>Washington, DC's Egalitarian Synagogue</i><br> <i>Embracing a Diversity of Sexual and Gender Identities</i></font> </p> <p> <b><font face="Arial"><font size="+1">Rabbi Bob Saks<br> </font></font></b><br> <font face="Arial"><font size="-1"><i>Founded in 1975 by Members of the GLBT Community<font color="white" size="-4"> </font></i></font></font></p> </td> <td align="left"> <font size="-4" color="white"> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> <center><h1>Who Is God?</h1> <span lang="Transliterated Hebrew"><i>Erev Rosh Hashana</i></span> 5763 <br>Milton E. Stern <br>Copyright Š2002</center> <P><span lang="Transliterated Hebrew"><i>Shabbat Shalom, L'shana Tova,</i></span> <span lang="Transliterated Yiddish"><i>Good Yuntev</i></span> and Happy New Year! <P>There was a flood in Morty's town, and he was standing on his roof as the waters were rising. A helicopter flew over and dropped a line. The pilot said, "Grab onto the line, and we will pull you to safety." And Morty said, "That's OK, God will save me." A boat came by, and the woman in the boat said, "Hop in, I will row you to safety." And Morty said, "That's OK, God will save me." Mark Spitz swam by and said, "Hop on my back, and I will swim you to safety." And Morty said, "That's OK, God will save me." Well, the flood waters rose, and Morty died. When Morty got to heaven, he said to God, "I thought you were going to save me." And God said, "<span lang="Transliterated Yiddish"><i>Oy kevalt!</i></span> What are you, a <span lang="Transliterated Yiddish"><i>shmegegy</i></span>? I sent you a helicopter, a boat, Mark Spitz! What else do you want from me?" <P>Who is God? This is the time of year, when we not only take stock of our lives, but we think about our images of God. This is especially important today as we celebrate God's creation of the world. <P>Who is God? As children, many of us, myself included, had an image of God as an old man with a beard watching over us. When I was little, and I would accidentally bite my tongue, slam my finger in a drawer, or stub my toe after some mild infraction, my mother would say, "God is punishing you!" What a disturbing image for a child: a God who has nothing better to do than injure children. The worst part is that this image is difficult to erase as we get older. <P>How many of us still think we are being punished from time to time? <P>Who is God? When I was five years old, I was at home one Friday night with my cousin Sherri, who was babysitting me, while my parents and brother were at <span lang="Transliterated Hebrew"><i>shul</i></span>. My mother had lit the Shabbat candles and they were still burning when they left. Somehow, I got the bright idea that if I blew out one of the candles and then lit a paper towel with the other candle, I could re-light the candle I blew out with the burning paper <nobr>towel -</nobr> Actually, I witnessed Janie, the woman who ran our Temple kitchen, do <nobr>this -</nobr> Well, I dropped the burning paper towel on the floor, and fortunately, Sherri thwarted a disaster. Sherri promised she would not tell my mother, and I believed her. <P>When my parents and brother returned from <span lang="Transliterated Hebrew"><i>shul</i></span>, my mother came into my room and woke me up. She said to me, "I understand you tried to start a fire in the house?" I asked her how she knew. After all, Sherri promised she would not say anything. My mother told me that an angel told her while she was sitting in synagogue. <P>Well, that did it. I had my answer. If angels were visiting my mother in synagogue to tell her about the awful things I was doing, this would explain how she seemed to have eyes in the back of her head. My mother was God! After all, of everyone's mothers, she was the tallest, she was the loudest, and she had the biggest <nobr>hair -</nobr> she had to be God. But then I got to thinking, my mother couldn't possibly be God. Even God wouldn't live in Newport News, Virginia, or drive a Corvair! <P>So, then, who is God? In the Bible there are many images of the Divine. To Jacob, God appears as an angel, with whom he wrestles. To Moses, God appears as a burning bush that is not consumed by fire. At Sanai, the Israelites heard the voice of God in the thunder, but saw no form. And to Elija, God is the still small voice. Other images of God are that of nursing mother, valiant warrior, supreme judge and loving parent. The images abound. <P>Most important in the Biblical references to God, is the notion that God is One, acting alone, manifesting in many different ways. This basic premise is what separated the Hebrews' religion from all other faiths at the time. <P>After biblical times, new images of the Divine emerged. Rabbi Isaac Luria, a 16th-century mystic, imagined a self-limiting God who voluntarily contracted to make room for the physical world. In the aftermath of this contraction, the divine wholeness shattered, scattering sparks throughout the world, which became embedded in all things, including us. So, our task is to uncover our own Divine spark through <span lang="Transliterated Hebrew"><i>mitzvot</i></span>. In this way we repair the world and bring it closer to perfection, or <span lang="Transliterated Hebrew"><i>Tikkun Olam.</i></span> Also, as we uncover our sparks, our souls approach the Divine. Each of us has the ability to approach the Divine, and it is up to us to try to achieve that through good deeds and hard work. <P>And, if all our sparks were brought together at once, there would be pure light. Light seems to be a universal symbol for God's Presence. What a world we would have if pure light returned to us. <P>Conversely, darkness, too shows God's Presence. When God brought the plague of darkness upon the <nobr>Egyptians -</nobr> a darkness that was <nobr>tangible -</nobr> light still shone in the Hebrew dwellings. For our people, all of the sparks came together for a three-day period to show God's Presence and to light the way to freedom. <P>When we think of our own personal images of God, how does creation fit into the picture? After all, tomorrow we do celebrate the birthday of the world. In that same vein, we also consider <span lang="Transliterated Hebrew"><i>Tikkun Olam,</i></span> for our task is to help restore creation to its best state-of-being. <P>If God created such a perfect world, why do we have to repair it? I think a better term would be to fix world. If you break something, don't you have to fix it? The same applies to the world in which we live. In the Torah, we are given rules for taking care of our land, and we are told what will happen if we don't follow those <span lang="Transliterated Hebrew"><i>mitzvot</i></span>. <P>Every Friday night we read: <UL><P>"Now if you listen diligently to the <span lang="Transliterated Hebrew"><i>mitzvot</i></span> that I command you this <nobr>day --</nobr> to love and serve <span lang="Transliterated Hebrew"><i>Adonai</i></span> your God with all your heart and with all your <nobr>soul --</nobr> then I will bring the rain to the land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather a harvest rich in grain and wine and oil. And there will be grass in the fields for your cattle and abundant food for you."</ul> <P>Every Friday as we read that and the paragraph immediately after that tells of the consequences of not following God's commandments, I think about how we have done more to destroy the earth than take care of it, and that is why we must fix what we have broken. <P>There is a saying, "Everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it." Actually, we do. Humans have destroyed the rain forests, and this has had a detrimental effect on weather patterns in places thousands of miles away. We dump toxins in waterways, and then wonder why so many children who live nearby die from disease. God created a perfect world, and we must do everything possible to restore and preserve it. I believe that with those sparks that exist within us, we have the ability to make this world a perfect place through our own acts and deeds. <P>And as we consider our personal image of God, we must consider God's place in our lives. <P>There is a tendency among some people to blame God when something bad happens and to thank God when something good happens. Why dwell on what is wrong? Why not be grateful to God for what is right? Miracles happen around us every day, you just need to know how to recognize them? Don't be a Morty on the roof. <P>I am always bothered by people who say when something terrible happens, "It is God's will." I don't believe that. I believe God only wants good things to happen, and that we are given the ability to fulfill that promise. What we do with it, is up to us! We are given the power to make our own decisions and to take care of our fellow human beings and ourselves, and we need to know in our hearts that we make the right decisions. We need to have faith in God and see ourselves as God's partners. <P>The point of life is not to wallow in trouble, but to move on to a creative state and make positive things happen. <P>So, do we blame God when things happen or do we thank God for giving us the ability to make things change? Do we continue to destroy God's creation, or do we try our best to preserve it so that fewer repairs are needed in the future? That is for each of us to decide especially at this time of year. <P>And as we decide, how will this affect our image of God? Is it the same God we envisioned as children, or do we have a more abstract and metaphysical image of God? Is God the sparks within all of us? Is there a part of God in everyone? Or do you think that God is watching over us and deciding it all for us? <P>So, what is my image of God today? Simply put, it's George Burns. The reason my image of God is like George Burns is that in the movie "Oh God" John Denver's character asks why God looks like he does, and God tells him that this is an image that he is comfortable with. If he were comfortable with a God that looked like an old woman or an exotic animal then that is how God would appear. This makes sense to me, since our own images of God are very personal. No two Jews have the same image of God whether now or in Biblical times. Remember, to Moses, God appeared as the burning bush and to Jacob as an angel. These were images they each were comfortable with. <P>We each must seek out the God with whom we are most comfortable. And we must also acknowledge that even God's magnificent creation may be in need of repair. <P>In "Oh God, Book II" Tracy, the little girl, is doing her algebra homework, when God appears. God looks at her homework and says, "Oh yeah, math, that was one of my biggest mistakes." And she says, "God makes mistakes?" And God says, "Yes." So she replies, "Then that explains the giraffe." And God says, "I had to make its neck long so that it could reach the trees." And she says, "Why didn't you just make the trees shorter," whereupon God reflects, "Why didn't I make the trees shorter." <P>So maybe there ARE some things that we need to repair, even beyond what we ourselves have broken. <P>I will leave you with one last thought. Tammy Faye Baker said, "God created us all from the same dirt, and God doesn't make junk." <P><span lang="Transliterated Hebrew"><i>Shabbat Shalom, L'shana Tova,</i></span> and <span lang="Transliterated Yiddish"><i>Good Yuntev.</i></span> </TD></TR></TABLE></CENTER> <P><HR> <p align="center"><FONT face=Arial><small><small><b>For a description of any of the graphics on this page, click on the D next to the graphic. <BR>For more information, contact our office at <a href="mailto:office@betmishpachah.org?SUBJECT=Request for Information from Web Site">office@betmishpachah.org</a><br> Send comments about this site to <a href="mailto:webweaver@betmishpachah.org?SUBJECT=Comments About Web Site">webweaver@betmishpachah.org</a>.<br> Copyright 1996 - 2008 Bet Mishpachah.</b></small></small></FONT> <CENTER><font face=Arial size="-1" color="#999999"><small><small><P><b>This page last modified on Sunday, May 18, 2003 at 07:58 PM EDT.</b></small></small></font> </CENTER> </body>