{"id":67930,"date":"2022-06-02T22:09:37","date_gmt":"2022-06-03T03:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=67930"},"modified":"2022-06-02T22:09:37","modified_gmt":"2022-06-03T03:09:37","slug":"off-the-pulpit-turning-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/off-the-pulpit-turning-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Off the Pulpit: Turning Away"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By RABBI DAVID WOLPE<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/WOLPE-e1592568030579.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-55374 size-thumbnail lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/WOLPE-e1592568030579-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/WOLPE-e1592568030579-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/WOLPE-e1592568030579-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/WOLPE-e1592568030579-144x144.jpg 144w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 150px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 150\/150;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-55374 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/WOLPE-e1592568030579-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/WOLPE-e1592568030579-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/WOLPE-e1592568030579-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/WOLPE-e1592568030579-144x144.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>On either side of the ark in the Temple were two keruvim, delicately carved golden angels. In the book of Exodus (25:20), we are told that they are to face each other. In the book of 2 Chronicles (3:13), it is recorded that they faced away from each other.<\/p>\n<p>No gesture is more powerful than turning toward or turning away. There are moments in our lives when we face another and moments when we turn aside. The keruvim symbolized periods of intimacy with God and periods of distance.&nbsp;At the heart of the Temple was a reminder that closeness alternates with detachment.<\/p>\n<p>We should not underestimate the power of movement.&nbsp;A lifetime of distance can be remedied by turning toward another.&nbsp;Even the deepest love can be damaged by turning away.<\/p>\n<p>One translation of Psalm 103:12 is, \u201cAs far as east is from west have our sins distanced us from God.\u201d How far is east from west, asked the Kotzker Rebbe? At first, it seems it is a whole world away. But actually, if you face west, only you need to do is turn around. Teshuva, repentance, is turning until, like the keruvim in the ark, we face each other.<\/p>\n<p><em>Rabbi David Wolpe is the senior rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Off%20the%20Pulpit%3A%20Turning%20Away\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[8790,8795,8788,608],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67930"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67931,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67930\/revisions\/67931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}