A Season of Love
JULY 2007
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Photo by
Chris Gaines |
"The world is built by love."
– Psalm 89:3
Dear Friends,
Ah, summertime and the living is...well, easy! We
revel in the length of the day and the crisp, clear air. It's the
season for camps and family vacations, barbeques and pool-side sitting, but it is
also traditionally a season for love.
I attended one of my best friend's weddings recently. There was so much
love in the sanctuary, under the chuppah and all around. Naturally, there was the
love between the bride and groom, but also the unconditional love of parents, the
reverential love of colleagues, the platonic love of friends and the deep love of
couples as they remembered their day under the chuppah.
July 29-30 marks the very important, but not always remembered, holiday of
Tu B'Av (literally, the 15th of Av). This is the Jewish Day of Love. While its origin
remains a mystery, we do know that it dates back to biblical times. The rabbis
tell us that celebrating love on the 15th of Av emphasizes the cyclical nature of
life. Six days earlier we remember and mourn the destruction of the Temple in
Jerusalem. How appropriate for us to be consoled by love at a time of heartache
and pain — as the book of Ecclesiastes reminds us — "there is a time to live and a time to die."
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So celebrate LOVE this season. I suggest that Tu B'Av be viewed as more
than just a Jewish Valentine's Day, complete with chocolate and flowers,
but also as a time to celebrate whatever and whomever we love. Be it parent or a
pet, children or spouse, life partner, future b'shert (intended partner) or
simply life and all that is around us, this is a season to celebrate and to love.
We also have a time to celebrate love in the larger community at the annual
San Diego Pride Parade. Pride parades take place all over the globe now and
provide a wonderful opportunity to celebrate love in the multi-facetted world
in which we live. Please join me and many others from our congregation as
we march in the parade on Saturday July 21.
In the Jewish mystical-mathematical realm (called Gematria) we learn that the
numerical equivalent for "love" — ahava is
the same as the numerical equivalent for "one" — echad. Perhaps this means that when we celebrate love we become one community united by love.
May this be our blessing this month — knowing that to "love one another, as
we love ourselves," as the book of Levitcus reminds us, is a path towards
holiness and ethical living.
Always,
Rabbi Glenn Ettman
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