Spirituality

TORAH PORTION

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Even Moses Felt
Burdened, Lonely

Shabbat Hazon; Parshat Devarim:
Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22; Isaiah 1:1-27.

But it is not so easy to
solve when it is our own
problems or our own situ-
arshat Devarim
ation that is weighing us
is always read
down and making us feel
on the Shabbat
alone. It is at times like this
before the observance
that we might cry out to
of Tisha b'Av, the day
God with an "eicha" of our
on which we recall
own, pleading for comfort
the destruction of the
and support.
Temples.
Rabbi Robert
Many find comfort in
There is an interest-
Dobrusin
faith, just knowing that God
ing connection between
Special to the
is listening. But, for all of us,
Devarim and Tisha b'Av.
Jewish News
comfort also comes from
In this parshah, Moses
community. Having people
recalls a situation in
which he expressed complete frustra- around us can't completely solve the
problems of loneliness; but being in
tion with the burdens of leadership:
community, sensing that other people
"How can I bear unaided the trouble
truly care, being willing to be held
of you, the burden and the bicker-
or comforted by a family member or
ing!" The Hebrew for "how" is eicha,
friend, is at least a way to begin to over-
a word that rarely appears in the
come this terrible sense of isolation.
Torah. That same word, Eicha, is the
There is a beautiful
Hebrew title for the
midrash about the first
book of Lamentations,
verse in Lamentations.
the biblical book of
This midrash says that
dirges read on Tisha
the city, even when
b'Av. That book begins
it was full of people,
with the words: "How
was alone in the sense
does the city sit soli-
that everyone went
tary, she that was full
their own way and no
of people!"
one felt connected to
But, the connection
anyone else. According
between these verses
to this interpretation, God brought
goes beyond the first word. Each
verse is about loneliness. Moses com- destruction to the city because no
one really cared for each other, each
plains that he is called on to handle
was living in their own private world.
the burden of the people alone. In
There is a message here. Our com-
Lamentations, the author, tradition-
munities must be different. Let us
ally considered to be the prophet
build communities in which no one
Jeremiah, laments that the city of
feels alone. Let us reach out to oth-
Jerusalem sits alone.
ers and allow ourselves, as well, to be
Loneliness is one of the saddest
feelings that we experience as human comforted even in our saddest and
loneliest times.
beings. Whether it is feeling alone
in facing the burdens of others or in
Robert Dobrusin is rabbi at Beth Israel
facing our own burdens, the sense of
loneliness is so, so painful in so many Congregation in Ann Arbor.
ways and so difficult to overcome.
Moses had a relatively easy solu-
Conversations
tion for his problem. He chose people
How is being alone different from
to help him make decisions and
being lonely? Should we always
those people took some of the burden
have others around us or should
off of him. Delegating is a good way
we feel comfortable having times
to solve the problem of loneliness
in which we are alone?
when it is others' burdens that are
involved.

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July15 • 2010

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