In a few days, it will be seven years since I began serving as the rabbi of Congregation Tifereth Israel. When I decided to make the change from corporate to the rabbinate, I did it not because I didn’t enjoy the work I was doing; on the contrary, it was gratifying in many ways. I did it because of the feeling I had that I was working for “other people”— that when I would call in all the chips at the end of the day, most of the effort I was investing had dissolved into a big matrix. Looking back at this decision, despite many challenges over the years, it still feels that I’m working for my people.

Many stressful experiences are due to our tendency to test God as well as to test each other. When we test each other, we resemble the husband who suspects his wife of cheating. He takes her to the High Priest, who lets her drink the bitter water in which the words of that particular portion of Torah are dissolved in the water. If the woman is guilty, she dies then and there. But if she’s innocent, the bitter water will go through her and she will conceive a child.  (Numbers 5:21-25)

The rabbis teach us that for peace in the house, God is willing for His name to be dissolved into the water. God’s identity can take it — better that then to erase the house. As I ponder the future, we have been given an opportunity to find common ground. I am hopeful that we can rise to the occasion and envision a positive future.

God bless our people,

—Rabbi Gadi Capela