A Word from Rabbi Schulman - 11/13/2020

According to one survey of American Jews, 77% of eligible voters supported the Democratic candidate for president while 21% favored President Trump. Digging a little deeper, the survey indicated that 90% of American Jews who identify with the Reform Movement voted for Joe Biden.

In my estimation, the vast majority of members of Temple Beth Torah supported the Biden-Harris ticket. Many celebrated their victory last Saturday. However, you might be surprised to learn what specific group at Temple was particularly elated by President-Elect Biden’s speech that same evening.

The Torah Study group.

Was it because only registered Democrats are allowed to participate in this group?

Was it because they held a mock election on November 1 and Biden came out on top?

Of course not.

Our Torah Study group was thrilled because in Joe Biden’s speech on Saturday evening he said, “The Bible tells us that ‘to everything there is a season – a time to build, a time to reap, a time to sow. And a time to heal.’ This is the time to heal in America.”

Biden’s biblical citation was from Ecclesiastes. This is exactly the book we have been exploring in Torah Study for the past month. Not only that, but these verses from chapter 3 are precisely what we were assigned to study this past Sunday.

There are thousands of verses in the Hebrew Bible. he fact that the president-elect cited these two from Ecclesiastes was electrifying to our Torah Study group.

“Everything has a season, and a time for every matter under the heavens.” The wise words of Ecclesiastes speak to us with contemporary urgency, just as they have for thousands of years.