By Janice Batzdorff (4-24-09)

Today is fifteen days, which is two weeks and one day of the Omer.

 

It is a tradition to count the days between Passover and Shavuot, as we mark our freedom from slavery and celebrate our freedom to accept Torah. This is called "counting the omer." This year we will observe the tradition of "counting the omer" by sharing stories about the many different ways that we have been turned on to Jewish learning, and through Jewish learning to Torah.

Years ago, at the end of a Torah service, an elegant young woman seated next to me grabbed my arm and said in a frantic tone, "They're wrapping the Torah wrong. Go tell them!" I hoped she was mistaken, but the wrapper was definitely upside down.

My mind started racing. Couldn't the wrapper be retied later? Shouldn't the woman tell them herself? It was just too daunting for me to approach the Torah and to tell these people how to perform their honor. The woman repeated her request.

In Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers, it states that we are forbidden to humiliate a person in public. I used this principle to justify my decision not to do what had been asked of me.

Thankfully, the people putting away the Torah noticed on their own that the wrapper was upside down; and they fixed it.

As we left our seats to gather for the Kiddush, I discovered that the woman next to me could barely walk. How could I have felt such animosity toward her? And how does one avoid inadvertently humiliating people?

I found my answer while preparing to lead children's services for Yom Kippur. Simply put, we are expected to make mistakes. When we do so, we need to realize what we've done and to ask for forgiveness. And by reciting all the possible sins out loud as a community, no one gets singled out or publicly humiliated for the specific errors that were made.

By Janice Batzdorff

These stories are brought to you by the Temple Emanuel RE-IMAGINE project, an 18-month initiative sponsored by Hebrew Union College, devoted to re-thinking and re-structuring our religious school.