Consider these questions—hard questions—and think to yourself what your answers would be. Read them slowly, more than once. If an answer comes quickly to mind the first time, then do yourself the favor of pushing yourself a little deeper the next time around. Here are the questions:
What do I want? And if I want it, do I need it? And if I need it, will I get it? And if I get it, will I be happier? Will it help me become who it is I truly want to be? If not, what will?
In the Torah portion this week we find the familiar words, Human beings do not live by bread alone, but they may live on anything that God decrees. Further, we learn that we need actually to thank God for sustenance, praising God after we eat and remembering that it is with God’s help and blessing and not only our efforts that provide us with food, shelter, wealth. We live and prosper through God’s love and generosity, and through the support provided when we live in the midst of a holy community dedicated to fulfilling God’s commandments. In this message, Moses is clearly worried that once the Israelites move into Israel and enjoy its wondrous bounty, they will forget God’s help and arrogantly take credit for their good fortune. He is worried that they will forget their promise to support each other in building a new life, forget to feed and house the stranger and care for the vulnerable in their midst.
And we who have inherited this text and a blessed life in another promised land: we too do not live by bread alone, nor do we always remember to connect ourselves in gratitude to the Holy One and to those who make our lives blessed because of the generosity of their hearts and spirits. It is so easy to assume a posture of entitlement rather than a posture of gratitude. We who are fortunate begin to expect more and thank less. We forget that the privilege of abundance brings with it the responsibility of giving to those without, of creating tzedek (justice) among our fellow human beings through our acts of tzedakah. Giving is an act that expresses our gratitude and brings God’s blessings to an ever-widening circle of those who need bread to survive and compassion to thrive.
How much do we need? When will we feel sated? May our search be not for more things but for more meaning, for deeper relationships, for learning, for a life overflowing with the gifts of community and the gratitude for our blessings.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Judy Shanks
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