{"id":37733,"date":"2017-08-04T16:12:44","date_gmt":"2017-08-04T22:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=37733"},"modified":"2017-08-04T16:12:44","modified_gmt":"2017-08-04T22:12:44","slug":"off-the-pulpit-responsibilities-and-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/off-the-pulpit-responsibilities-and-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Off the Pulpit: Responsibilities and dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE<\/p>\n

This past week all across the world Jews mourned the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.\u00a0And they blamed themselves.<\/p>\n

\"Wolpe_edt\"

The danger is clear: when something catastrophic happens that is not at all the fault of the people, such as the Shoah, to blame oneself is a moral monstrosity. No one should feel responsible for the inflicted evil of another.<\/p>\n

Yet the blessing is that the Jews were able to survive because we believed in the wisdom of the tradition, the love of God, the promise of history and the possibility of doing better.\u00a0If it was our fault today, it need not be our fault again tomorrow.\u00a0What we have destroyed we can rebuild; what we have neglected we can enact; what we have failed we can fulfill.<\/p>\n

So after Tisha B\u2019Av comes the great project to restore the possibilities of Jewish destiny.\u00a0To reverse the poet\u2019s line, in responsibility begins dreams.<\/p>\n

(Rabbi David Wolpe is the spiritual leader of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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