Two May 4 events opportunities to unite in commitment to ‘transformation of a broken world’

“And from the day on which you bring the sheaf (Omer) offering, from the morrow of the rest day, you shall count for yourselves seven weeks. They must be complete.” Leviticus 23:15

We are in this period between Passover and Shavuot, counting each day in ascending order, in anticipation of the 50th day when we celebrate the receiving of Torah, our guide for living lives of holiness.  With such anticipation why do we not have a “count down,” in descending order? Because each day gives us the opportunity to polish our souls, bringing them closer to living with holiness. 

Each day, we get farther from the narrowness of slavery and closer to the promise of freedom. Each day, we are a little less impure and a little closer to the level of holiness we are capable of.  Each day of intentional counting takes us closer to creating a world that is whole and just, where we open our arms to the embrace of what the Torah calls the stranger; anyone who at the moment is other, and we see that it is  possible to embrace each other and make the circle bigger and we realize that we need to keep polishing our souls and counting our days even after Shavuot; 51,52,53 etc.

And in spite of broken misguided souls who would commit acts of terror  we begin to be aware of the holiness that is at the core of each individual and so we awaken and remain true to our nature  — to be loving to each other, to be generous and leave the corners of our fields — and to be compassionate to all.

There are those who would shake us from this truth and try to convince us that we are not connected. They will try to shake us from this path to peace.  We might find ourselves stereotyping as we have been stereotyped, blaming as we have been blamed, hating as we have been hated. But we are not alone on our path to holiness during the Omer this year. 

In 2009 at a meeting of the Parliament of World Religions, Karen Armstrong created the four paragraphs of the Charter for Compassion, challenging communities to awaken the potential for compassion, shift the culture of selfishness and hate to one of caring and love and to live each day with more intention  (see the Central Reform Congregation website, centralreform.org, for the complete charter). There are about 200 cities participating so far.  

Armstrong writes: 

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

A diverse coalition is bringing together people from all corners of the community  to have St. Louis sign on to the Charter of Compassion.  All are invited to create an event, an activity or a learning that will help bring us all a little closer to Sinai.

Please join us at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 4 at CRC (more details in the ChaiLights calendar, page 18) for the first of what we hope will be  many events meant to grow a more Compassionate St. Louis. I will join Rabbi James Goodman, Brothers Lazaroff and a few other poets and artists to challenge the larger community to make compassion a clear and dynamic force in our area.  

May 4, the 19^th day of the Omer is also the eve of Yom Hazikaron, the day that we  remember the soldiers who gave their lives to protect us from a broken world. Our community will come together to mourn and remember at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center (more details in ChaiLights). Joining with the larger community just before to commit to compassion seems a worthy tribute to those who have died in war.   

This portion is filled with teachings that push us closer to becoming a humble and holy priestly people doing our part to bring the world closer to a time of peace for all.  Let’s count each day of the Omer in ascending holiness as our struggle to be the best we can be adds to the transformation of a broken world.