How painful that many of our families and communities are physically separated from each other at this time. Traditionally at this turning of the calendar so many faith communities come together to celebrate the power of renewal, rebirth, liberation, and resurrection. These hopeful ideals play a central role in last month’s Hindu Festival of Holi, heralding the arrival of spring after winter, signifying the victory of good over evil and thanksgiving for a good harvest, as well as Naw Ruz, the Spring New Year of the Baha’i and Zoroastrian faiths. We are just now celebrating the Jewish Festival of Freedom (Passover,) the Christian Holy day of Easter, and this year they are joined in the same month by the monthlong observance of Ramadan, when the gates of heaven are uniquely open to deep reflection for Muslims.
Former IFC Board member, Rabbi Uri Topolosky, recently shared a beautiful teaching that connects our spiritual loneliness in this particular season with the joy that we pray will yet come for us all. In reflecting on a verse in the Bible that compares the human being to a tree, a 19th Century Rabbi, Yisrael of Chortkov, writes, “When the wheel of fortune has turned for someone and they are down, when they see no way to keep their head above water; they have lost all hope and are despairing – then they should ponder a tree. In Winter, its leaves have fallen, its moisture has dried up, it is almost a dead stump in the ground. Then suddenly, it begins to revive and to draw moisture from the earth. Slowly it blossoms, then brings forth fruits. People should learn from this not to despair, but to take hope and have courage, for they too are like a tree.”
May all the members of our IFC family of faiths experience renewal and liberation during this season, just as the earth experiences this cycle of renewal and may we be strengthened in our knowledge that we are “All faiths – one family.”
(Rabbi) Gerry
April 2020