Rabbi Breit's Blog

Three men stop outside Abraham’s tent Abraham as he sits in the doorway on a hot day. These men are angels, or messengers of God, and they are integral to the story that unfolds — from the birth of Isaac to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The rabbis ask: why three angels? Shouldn’t one celestial being be enough? And their answer is: because an angel can only have on mission at a time.

Michael, in Hebrew: who is like God?, comes to announce Sarah’s pregnancy with Isaac. Gabriel, strength of God, comes destroy Sodom. And Raphael, God heals, comes to save Lot and his family from destruction. None of them could do the other’s task. They can only do one mission at a time.

If even angels can’t manage it, then certainly one humans can’t fix every thing at once. An activist is rarely a good governor. A radical can not be brought to mediate. A social media influencer is not going to present measured and well-researched complex information. As we seek help from others, as we seek teachers to follow and leaders to guide us, remember the role of each person you listen to. Are they by vocation a preacher, a warrior, or a doctor? Are you coming to them for spirituality, fight, or care?

There’s an old joke that if you need a rabbinic ruling you should make sure to go to the rabbi who will give you the answer you want. As we seek guidance and moral exemplars in this time, we must be thoughtful in who we go to for what.

And more importantly, we can’t each of us be expected to play all the roles. Maybe you are an excellent listener and what the world needs from you now is compassion and patience and a loving ear. Maybe you are a great advocate and your mission is to make phone calls or posters or social media content to rally people together. Maybe you are a giver, a writer, a warrior, a fixer, a problem solver. Maybe you make beautiful jewelry or maybe you give excellent hugs. In a time like this, a time of fear and war and change and sadness, we must each find our way of helping.

As our elected officials, locally and in Washington, set about on their missions, their decisions impact how our government helps Israel and whether our Jewish community gets the security support we need. They are under intense pressure from anti-Israel and antisemitic organizations and individuals. We strongly encourage you to reach out to representatives on these issues whether or not you agree with them on any other issue.  It is important that we communicate our thanks for their support and ask that it continue. You can call, send an email, or send a message through their website.

You can find contact info for your elected officials here: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

Our GA Senators are: https://www.ossoff.senate.gov/contact-us/message/ and https://www.warnock.senate.gov/contact/contact-form/

And if you are comfortable using a pre-written message from AIPAC you can click the following: https://www.aipac.org/israel-at-war/takeaction

Shabbat shalom