Engaging and Connecting to Covenant Neighbors
I don’t know my neighbors. We wave to one another on our way to work, but I can’t tell you their names, professions or anything about their families. Engrossed in our own lives with hectic schedules and important business, we neglect these potential sacred relationships.
Oct. 27, 2018, changed that attitude for the Jewish community, and it transformed my life as a rabbi. As 11 Jews were massacred during prayer, we asked, meayin yavo ezri, from where shall my help come?
On Oct. 28, hours after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, I met my neighbor. Father Ed Benioff of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills wanted to join us at Sinai Temple, in support of the Jewish community. His office door is 1.6 miles from mine, yet we were strangers living parallel lives in parallel worlds. That Shabbat, Benioff graced us with his presence and recited from our pulpit, the Prayer for Our Country.