Dear Students and Faculty,
Welcome back to school this fall. Although no longer on sabbatical and working at GMU, I hope to be sharing a weekly dvar Torah and hope that I will be able to help others learn how to write a dvar Torah so that we can grow as a community of Jewish learners.
This week we have a double Torah portion which happens periodically so that we can read the entire Torah each year. The portion is Nitzavim, VaYehlekh, which is Deuteronomy 29:9-32:30. In Deuteronomy 30:19, we read, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life…..”
As we begin another year (or our first year) at college, I believe that we have lots of choices in front of us….we can choose activities that will help make our lives a blessing or we can choose to do things that will make our lives less than pleasant. Each of us is faced with many different paths which we may follow and sometimes this can be energizing and sometimes this can be overwhelming.
Since this year, the beginning of school is occurring at the beginning of another year on the Jewish calendar(5771), we are spiritually reminded that we have lots of choices to make in how we live our lives. We pray during the High Holidays that we will be inscribed and sealed in the book of life for a year in which we will be healthy, safe, and fulfilled. In her version of the mishebarach, a prayer for healing, Debbie Friedman prays that we find the courage to make our lives a blessing.
I hope that each of us can find meaningful way to choose paths that will enrich our lives and give us the feeling that our lives are a blessing. Journeying through life as a college student, a faculty member, and as a rabbi who is entering his 30th year in the rabbinate can be filled with many challenges. We wrestle with many issues which can result in either feeling blessed or cursed….I hope that as we travel through life together, we can support each other and find the courage within ourselves to choose to live a life that will be rewarding and that will be a blessing to not only ourselves but to others whose lives we touch.
Shabbat Shalom and enjoy a fulfilling and a blessed semester.
Rabbi Bruce Aft
GMU Hillel Rabbinic Advisor/
GMU Hillel Community Board Member/
GMU Faculty, Conflict Resolution