By: Myra Feiger
My favorite part of this section of the Torah is: “See this day, I set before you blessing and curses: blessing if you obey the commandments of your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of your God.”
I was not scheduled to write about this week’s parashah but because of an illness, I was asked to step in and write this “Voices” in 4 days. Usually, I have months to go over what I want to say and the time to write and tweak and tweak and write, but alas, this time there is no time…..
About an hour before I was asked to do this week’s parashah, I heard that a very dear friend of mine had died after a rather short illness… in the prime of life and without much fanfare, he is gone. I started to think that perhaps it was besheirt that I was asked to write this at the same time I received news of his passing. Perhaps this is a way for me to sort out my feelings of loss for my friend. The man was a member of our synagogue chavurah and as such his passing will be a loss to us all as a community.
When you hear of someone close to you passing you often think of only the loss, but as this week’s Torah portions states, “See this day, I set before you blessing and curse.” Is it a curse that he died or a blessing that he lived? Is life a blessing and death a curse? Are blessing and curses connected? And can we look at them as one?
As a lay person, I don’t always know the Jewish way to look at death, but I feel that blessings and curses are connected. I would like to think that instead of dwelling on death we should dwell on life. Our Kaddish prayer is really a prayer for God, for life and for peace. Our essence is still here when we die, through our family, our children, our friends and our community.
In Deuteronomy 12:28 we read: “Be careful to heed all these commandments that I enjoin upon you; thus it will go well with you and your descendents after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of your God.”
May all of our loved ones’ names be for a blessing and may the light of the Shabbat candles brighten all of our lives.
Myra Feiger is a member of Women of Temple Sinai, Oakland, California. She is WRJ Pacific District VP of Marketing & Communications and a WRJ Board Member.
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