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There are still a few things I am not yet used to as a Georgia resident. One of them is that school starts before Labor Day....well, way before Labor Day. There is just something so weird to me about school in August. August is SUMMER.

Alas, with school starting for many as I write this, it feels like an end to the cherished summer days. So many of us use this time to plan for the year ahead, to get organized, and to regroup. While it is a time for relaxation, it is also a time to prepare us for what's to come.  

While we would like to bask in the luxury of summer forever, we know we must set out again on our individual and collective journeys. For the younger members of our congregation, that can mean a new school or gap year, for other members of our community that means planning for the Holy Days, future trips, retirement and more. We think about our journeys, our experiences of the past year, and how we want to grow and change with a new school year and Jewish year on the horizon. 

In our parsha this week,  Matot - Masei, the Israelites find themselves nostalgic about their past journeys.

These were the journeys of the Israelites who came out from the land of Egypt, troop by troop, in the charge of Moses and Aaron. Moses recorded the starting points of their journeys as directed by YHVH. These are their journeys, according to their starting points. (Numbers 33:1-2)

While they are reflecting upon where they have been, they know they cannot stay in the past forever. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt”l shares a teaching by Rav Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l. Together they examine the closing verses of Robert Frost's poem, ‘Stopping by the Woods’: 

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Sacks, shares that in the last verses of this poem, Frost would love to just enjoy the beautiful woods and the nature surrounding him. However,  Judaism teaches us we aren’t to stay in the same place, we have much to do and accomplish. Despite our desire to linger in the peace, in “summertime”, we must motivate ourselves to charge forward. 

Of course, there are times when it is necessary to rest, take a shabbat and recharge ourselves. This is also at the core of our tradition, and it is a gift that comes every week. However, we cannot dwell in this place forever.  We have so much to look forward to, so much to accomplish, so much to see and do. 

So as we say goodbye to camp, to less regimented days, to less time at the beach or the pool, we are reminded that there are so many opportunities waiting for us.  And so much work for us to do in this wild world.

For me, the end of summer and the start of the school year is filled with emotion and nostalgia. In just a few days, Rafi will be walking up the steps of a big school bus that will whisk him off to kindergarten at the Davis Academy. I will no longer be able to spy on him downstairs at the preschool or hear him and his friends affectionately yell “Ima” down the halls of Sinai. However, like the Israelites, I know this change is natural and good. 

Regardless of the season of life we find ourselves in, we know that movement forward is positive. We thank God for helping us reach another season, another chapter of our lives.  And so for the start of this new day, this new season, this new chapter, this new school year we say: 

Barukh Ata Adonai Elohenu Melekh ha’olam, shehecheyanu, v’kiyimanu, v'hi iyanu la z'man hazeh. Thank you, God, for helping us reach this moment in time.

And, of course, though we naturally think about our own individual lives, we think about the Jewish People as a whole and the larger world. As we may be filled with continued angst and fear about what is happening in Israel and the Middle East, we hold on to the moments that fill us with calm and ease and pray for a lasting peace, someway, somehow.  

Avinu shebashamayim, tzur Yisrael v’goalo. Barekh et medinat Yisrael, reyshit tz’mikhat g’ulateynu. Hagen aleyha b’rov khasd’kha, ufros aleyha sukkat sh’lomeykha.

“Our God, Protector and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel, the dawn of our deliverance. Shield it beneath the wings of Your love; spread over it Your canopy of peace.” 

Shabbat Shalom