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10/22/2020 08:24:49 AM

Oct22

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers

For those who have been regularly reading my blogs, first I thank you for your kindness in thinking that I might write something worth reading. You then know that I regularly turn to the Psalms as a source of inspiration and hope. I find the range of emotions in them remarkable, and that despite being composed 3,000 years ago, they speak of the human condition that demonstrates how little we have changed in all that time. If you read through all 150, amongst the themes you will find are: worry; depression; fear; distrust; love; hope; resilience; faith in God. Not too different from any of us. They resonate as loudly today as they did when they first appeared.

We read in the Mishnah (Taanit 7:4) that the Levites would recite a special Psalm each day of the week at the Holy Temple, but this practice does not seem to have entered our formal liturgy until perhaps the 14th Century. I have always been struck by the power of the Psalm recited on Tuesday, Psalm 82, especially since the Levites could not have anticipated the founding of the United States nor election day on Tuesdays. I share this powerful Psalm with you in amazement of the coincidence. Any conclusions that you draw from it are your own.

A Psalm of Asaph

God rises in the council of divine beings, rendering judgment in the celestial assembly.

“How long will you pervert justice, favoring the wicked?” Selah.

“Grant justice to the lowly and the orphan, uphold the cause of the poor and the powerless.

Rescue the lowly and the poor, save them from the hand of those who would do evil.”

They do not comprehend, they do not understand, they go about in darkness; the very foundations of the earth are shaken.

“I said that you were divine beings, all of you, children of the Most High, but shall die like mortals and fall like any prince.”

Arise, O God and judge the earth, for You have dominion over all peoples.

 

Our nation faces an important test on Tuesday, November 3. While it is indeed a privilege to vote in a democracy, it is also a responsibility. Anyone who chooses not to vote on November 3 shirks their responsibility as a citizen of the United States.

Vote.

Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784