Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove

Last week, together with 15 PAS high school students, I traveled to #Berlin for our capstone #Jewish travel experience. Under the fabulous leadership of our youth director, Ariel Glueck, we learned about the history of German Jewry, the rise of fascism, the destruction of European Jewry, post-Cold War Berlin, and spent time with members of the present-day German Jewish community. It was informal education at its best – we learned a ton, bonded as a group, and came back deeply reflective over our own Jewish identity.?

Particularly moving to me was our visit to the cemetery in which Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786), the great sage of modernity, was buried (and the Jewish school next door bearing his name). The dominant Jewish figure of the Enlightenment, Mendelssohn asserted that one of Judaism’s principal contributions to the world was its ban of idolatry – the act of making a #God of any object. In preparing for this #Shabbat, I thought of Mendelssohn reading the story of the #goldencalf. It is the low point of the Children of Israel’s wilderness wandering. Left at the base of the mountain for a bit too long, they begin to crave security, or as Ibn Ezra notes, to actualize “the divine presence in physical form.” (Exodus 32:1)?

The biblical golden calf may have been destroyed at the base of the mountain, but idolatries small and large continue to this day. Excessive materialism, emphasis on body image, social media, and status are just a few of the contemporary forms of idolatry. We can even make idols of our ideas, becoming so attached to them that we forget to interrogate them to make sure they reflect the test of time. Being in Berlin and learning about the Holocaust with the teens was an important reminder of the danger that can come when hatred or a leader is turned into an idol.?

Shabbat is a time to divest ourselves of our modern idolatries and seek holiness in sacred time, tradition, and community. ?May this Shabbat bring you the greatest blessing of all – to be reminded of what really matters in life. ??

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove?