Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah
November 8, 2024
8 Cheshvan 5785
Lech Lecha
This coming weekend is my daughter’s final softball tournament of the season. For some reason, I couldn’t help but think about the story of Sara Tucholsky who played softball at Western Oregon University. It’s totally reasonable if you have never heard of her.
It was the last day of her season a few years ago, when she came up to the plate with the bases loaded. She proceeded to hit the first homerun of her life. As she rounded first base, though, she tore a ligament in her knee, collapsed to the ground and couldn’t move another inch. She experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows within the span of a few seconds.
According to the rules, if one of her teammates or coaches had assisted her, she would’ve been called out. If her coach had put in a pinch runner for her, her hit would have be considered a single and the runner would have be been put on first base. She’d get no credit for her first homerun.
Upon hearing the umpire explain the situation, two of the players on the opposing team picked her up and carried her around the bases – making sure that they lowered her to touch each base. She got her homerun after all. It was an incredible display of kindness. It would be the last play of Sara’s softball career.
I suspect that as we take in the results of this week’s elections, some of us are feeling the joy of hitting a home run, and some of us are feeling the agony of being stuck on the ground between first and second base. It’s the highest of highs and the lowest of lows all at once.
But the truth is – no matter how we feel about what happened on Tuesday, we should all be thinking about how we can be more like those two players who lifted someone up even if she was on the other team.
In this week’s Torah portion, our matriarch Sarah was in pain. Hagar had become a mother – the thing that Sarah wanted most in the world – while Sarah remained unable to conceive a child. It must have been incredibly difficult for Sarah to live together with Hagar under the circumstances. God said to Avraham, “Listen to her [Sarah’s] voice (Gen. 21:12).” God didn’t say, “Listen to her words.” Instead, God wanted to be sure that Avraham would hear the pain in her voice and respond appropriately – even if he didn’t completely understand her pain.
There are people in pain in our community this week. Exit polls show that nearly 80% of Jews voted for Kamala Harris. We should listen to one another’s voices. We should lift people up if it seems as though they can’t make it around the bases by themselves. We are a better and kinder community when we look out for one another in that way.
Shalom,
RAF.
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