Tuesday, November 5th 2024   |

Rav-Elations!: God Bless the Stubborn

By RABBI DAVID GERBER

Now that we have marched through the parted Sea of Reeds in our Torah, it is time for the long, winding journey through the desert.

As you might expect, the Jewish people had some complaints about the long trek to Israel. They were hot, tired, hungry, and thirsty. Time after time they complain to Moses. God goes as far as referring to us as a stiff-necked people.

While God takes note of our stubbornness, God doesn’t say that it’s necessarily a bad thing. In fact, one could argue that it is only because of our stubbornness that we have managed to survive the centuries of pain, exile, and oppression. So thank God for the stubbornness that has kept our people together all these years…may we continue to be so stubborn in the future!

Rabbi David Gerber is the senior rabbi of the URJ’s Congregation Gates of Prayer (Sha’arai Tefillah) in Metairie.

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