The Vessel and the Flame
Parashat Tzav 2018 Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz The Vessel and the Flame Last week , I talked about the single word of the opening of the Torah portion and the book of Leviticus: ‘Vayikra’. Vayikra literally translates as ‘and He called’. I used ‘Vayikra’ to talk about heeding our calling in Judaism, inviting us to uncover our sense of purpose, meaning and mission in the contemporary Jewish experience, especially in the light of demographic challenges. I have the presumption (perhaps of folly and youth) to believe that many Jewish institutions are for the most part engaging in a topsy-turvy approach. They are focusing on funding and programming, obsessing over intermarriage and assimilation. None of these make for inspired Jewish living – as we say in Dutch ‘fear is a poor counsellor. Instead, they signal a spirituality of scarcity where we should be modeling a spirituality of abundance. Judaism, dear friends, is not a zero-sum game. Knowing our ‘calli