I am tremendously excited about our upcoming renovation. It will allow our historic building to meet our current needs and align more closely with our values.

As we affirm that every person is created in the divine image, our sacred space will be accessible to our diverse and growing community regardless of age, physical ability, race, or gender identity.

In this week’s Torah portion, Shlach L’cha, Moses sends twelve scouts into the Promised Land so they can give a report on what the Israelites can anticipate when they arrive. Upon the scouts’ return, only two of them give a positive assessment while the other ten paint a picture of impossibility. The Israelites panic and God’s frustration with them results in the punishment that the Israelites must wander in the desert until the vast majority of them die, and it will be the next generation that gets to enter the Promised Land.

We Can’t Go Back

A lot of people are asking “When can we go back?” When can we go back to restaurants, to schools, to synagogues, but also, when can we go back to the way things were before March 2020? The answer to many of the questions about returning to institutions relies a great deal on when people get vaccinated. I am delighted that everyone in Michigan over 16, and soon everyone over 12, is eligible for a vaccine and getting to vaccination sites is increasingly easy.

Mental health matters. The past year has been tremendously challenging. That takes a toll. As we enter spring, the weather starts to get warmer, the flowers begin to bloom, and as the vaccination rate continues to rise, we can rejoice that families and friends are finally becoming able to see each other in person. If you have not yet gotten a vaccine, every adult over 16 in Michigan will become eligible on Monday. There is a lot that can bring us hope.

I cried both times. But not because it hurt. The City of Detroit is vaccinating clergy, so I got my second COVID vaccine shot this week. And with both shots, the tears came.

The tears came because I recognize that it is a tremendous privilege to be able to get a vaccine and that there are people who will get very sick and people who will die before they can. There has been tremendous injustice in vaccine distribution. Detroit is vaccinating clergy so we can officiate at funerals. There are too many funerals yet to come.

Shabbat Shalom! This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Shira. Shira is the Hebrew word for song or poetry. We refer to this Shabbat as Shabbat Shira because of this Shabbat’s reading from the Torah. In this week’s Torah portion, we will read parshat B’shalakh which contains the Shirat Hayam or Song of the Sea. Moshe, Miryam, and the Children of Israel sang this song after successfully crossing the Sea of Reeds as they fled Egypt and slavery. At the Downtown Synagogue, I am very honored and humbled that Shabbat Shira is also the Shabbat that officially welcomes me to the shul’s staff as the musician in residence.