Dear Friends,
David Gregory, a political analyst at CNN and who worked for twenty years at NBC was once asked a tough question by President Bush. Now you see David Gregory was used to asking the questions so getting asked a question was quite an unusual experience. The question Bush asked Gregory was, “How’s your faith?” Gregory has since written a whole book on this question.
So today I ask you the same question, “How’s your faith?” Some of you may question what might I mean by this. Is it a trick question of sorts? Is it is political question? Nope…it’s simple. How’s your faith? When I ask this I am asking, “Where are you at with God these days? Are you closer than ever? Or farther then the farthest most star? Or maybe God doesn’t exist for you? Or maybe you don’t know where you are with God? The truth is…it’s all okay wherever you are. All I ask is for you to check in with yourself.
This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa, asks the same question that President Bush asked David Gregory. The question is an age-old question…one that has been asked for thousands of years…..just by different people. The ancient Israelites were being tested with the question, “How’s your faith?” Now the Torah never comes out and says this, but in many ways the Israelites were being asked the same question. Where are you with God? Are you connected? Do you believe in God?
In the portion this week, Moses leaves to get the Ten Commandments. He leaves for some time and the people begin to question if Moses will ever return. Desperate, fearful and still having a slave mentality they turn to Moses’ brother, Aaron, to help them. Aaron, being the peacemaker tries to understand the people’s request and asks them to give him their gold to build an idol to worship. So they build a golden calf and dance around it. How’s your faith?
We all have moments in our lives when our faith is challenged---where we question if God exists or if God is there at all. Some of us have created our own idols to worship when we have really been wrestling.
Having faith is not easy. It takes work, as any of our relationships do. It takes dedication. It takes practice. Having faith takes a great amount of trust too. “How’s your faith?” is not always an easy question to answer, but it is a question that we should spend time with every day of our lives.
If you would like to discuss how your faith is, I am always here to listen.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Marci R. Bloch