This week’s Parshah is Bamidbar which is the Torah portion that we traditionally read on the Shabbat prior to Shavuot. Bamidbar means in the desert where Moses is taking a census, and the image of endless sand brings to mind the stillness and emptiness of that desert. But that emptiness is not necessarily lonely, and the silence of the desert is not necessarily empty if we are listening.

In this part of Leviticus, Hashem tells Moses to tell the people that “You shall be Holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” We are all holy. And when we commit acts of kindness, we are expressing our holiness.

“Each moment in your life is either meaningful or it isn’t.” Of course that’s true no matter what. But my real point is, why not have them all be meaningful rather than simply counting them away?

From the March 11, 2016 Service. There is a well-known story of two men who were working on a construction team to add a new sanctuary on to a synagogue. A Rabbi passed the first man and asked “what are you doing?”  The worker answered “I’m laying bricks.”  The Rabbi...