T ORAH P ORTION
CAN DL E L IGHTIN G
The Nature of Our Calling
BY RABBI SHAWN ISRAEL ZEVIT
Parshat Lech-Lecha
DEDICATED TO ALL the
sacred work of menschwork.

org and my father Lester Zevit,
Eliezer Shimon b. Shoshana
V’Ahron Yosef HaKohen
(1938-2020). “Terah took his son Abram,
his grandson Lot, the son of
Haran, his daughter-in-law
Sarai … and they set out together
from Ur of the Chaldeans for the
land of Canaan. But when they
had come as far as Haran, they
settled there … and Terah died
in Haran. God said to Abram,
Lech lecha (“get yourself up and
go” or “go towards your Self ”)
from where you dwell and from
your father’s house to the land
that I will show you...and you
will be a blessing ...” (Genesis
11:31-32, 12:1,2)
While this week’s parsha
starts at Bereysheet (Genesis
12), in the Torah scroll there
are no chapters and verses, only
columns, indentations and a little
space between the fi ve books.

Honoring this, one can see
from the text above that the
idea that Avram wakes up one
morning to a unique Divine
realization and call to go to
Canaan, is a recommitment and
reaffi rmation of the journey
he was on — not a “eureka!”
moment. Even the character
of Avram’s father, Terah, so
textured by midrash and inter-
pretative stories, is more than
an idol-maker that Avram
challenges and breaks from
(Genesis Rabbah, chapter 38).

It is Terah who takes the
initiative to leave his ancestral
homeland, fueled by the death
of his son Haran, and enables
the extended family (including
Haran’s son Lot, of future fame),
to leave painful memories and
explore new horizons. Terah
dies in a city midway between
Ur and Canaan, named aft er
his deceased son, consumed by
grief as his son’s name indicates.

Perhaps the Torah narrative
is inviting us to look at what we
leave behind that in fact goes
with us — mourning, grief or
trauma that is unaddressed
goes where we go. We may
even break free physically and
yet become immobilized, and
even meet our end as Terah
did, in the place internally,
or in external work or family
circumstances that carries the
name and burden of the very
past we left .

None of us lives in a vacuum,
and Torah and our tradition, in
fact, elevate and esteem the
person who connects their own
actions and ideas with those
who have come before and are
in the generations yet to come.

At the same time, possi-
bility, purpose and aspiring
to transcendent ends for the
good of all may yet be ahead. I
once read an article called “Th e
Calling” that defi ned this term
as when the longing of one’s
heart and capabilities meets
the needs and aspirations of
the time and state of the world
in which we live.

What then is the new Lech
Lecha Avram experiences? What
of Sarai and Lot’s own spiritual
journeys and how do they co-in-
fl uence each other to hear the
Divine call to get up and leave
the place their father was only
able to go so far into? What is the
deep internal life Avram touches
so that he hears or experiences
the call to take the inner truth
and express it in action fulfi lling
a vision that is at once his and
the Universe’s call and a legacy
he is fulfi lling l’dor v’dor — from
generation to generation?
In this new year of 5782, a
shmita year — a year of release
and checking our use of the land
and its bounty; psychological
and economic forgiving of debts;
socio-economic rebalancing;
reviewing our Torah, purpose and
direction — we add additional
inquiry to the ancient charge.

Th e overall themes of the
shmita year support and
enhance our ongoing work; it
does not replace or negate our
current activities. Th e confl u-
ence of this earth-based justice
cycle of Jewish life can provide
a broader container within
Oct. 15
Oct. 22
6:03 p.m.

5:53 p.m.

which to continue to adapt and
fi nd resilience and meaning
amid so much uncertainty.

I invite all of us, in this
New Year to review our own
personal, professional and
communal lives in the light of
these shmita year principles,
and listen to the ancient call
of Lech Lecha to see where we
can fulfi ll the promise of our
individual and collective lives:
• •
• •
• Like the charge to Avram to
become all that he might become,
to grow into Avraham in a new
place he did not know, so we are
asked to expand our self-image
to refl ect the values and Godly
potential more fully in our lives.

Th en we will come to know the
blessing we inherently are meant
to be — not at the cost of others
along the way — for the benefi t of
humanity (Adam) and the future
sustainability of the adamah, the
How do you want to live earth itself. ●
in the world with a deeper
connection to conscious Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit serves
Jewish values-based living? as rabbi at Mishkan Shalom in
How can you renew, recon- Philadelphia, co-founder/co-
nect and relate to your director of the Davennen Leader’s
spiritual life?
Training Institute and associate
How can you release and director for the ALEPH Hashpa’ah
re-evaluate your consump- (Spiritual Direction) program. He
tion of resources and is the author of “Off erings of the
ownership of “stuff ”?
Heart: Money and Values in Faith
How can you rethink, with Community,” and a member of
discipline and forgiveness, the Religious Leaders Council
habitual physical, emotional of Greater Philadelphia and the
and thought patterns? Which Philadelphia Faith Leader’s caucus
of these “debts” need to be of POWER Interfaith PA. The Board
forgiven so you can move of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia
out of past-based determined is proud to provide diverse
living and what debts need to perspectives on Torah commentary
be repaid so we can all be free for the Jewish Exponent. The
of individual and collective opinions expressed in this column
injustice that is continuing are the author’s own and do not
its systemic grip on us and refl ect the view of the Board of
oppressing others?
Rabbis. How can we revisit together
our local and broader
communities’ role and
work in climate, racial and
economic justice?
Be heard.

Email your letters to the editor.

letters@jewishexponent.com 24
OCTOBER 14, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



C OMMUNITY / mazel tovs
Chai. B I RTH
ALANA SARI ABRAMS
Harriet and Bert Soltoff of Warminster announce the birth of
their fourth great-grandchild, Alana Sari Abrams, who is named
for Bert’s mother, Anne Soltoff .

Th e parents are Erica and Jason Abrams, and Erica is the
daughter of Rich and Mindy Soltoff .

News for people
who know we don’t
mean spiced tea.

Photo by Bert Soltoff
Every Thursday in the
JEWISH EXPONENT
and all the time online
@jewishexponent.com. For home delivery,
call 215.832.0710.

COMMUNITYBRIEFS Temple Professor Trudy Moskowitz Dies at 93
LONGTIME TEMPLE UNIVERSITY Professor
of Foreign Language Teaching Gertrude “Trudy”
Moskowitz (née Rothenstein) of Bala Cynwyd died
Oct. 10. She was 93.

A native of Toledo,
Ohio, Moskowitz attended
Th e Ohio State University,
earning a bachelor’s
degree in 1949 and begin-
ning her career as a foreign
language teacher.

She moved
to Philadelphia to continue
her career and begin her
family. She earned her
master’s and doctorate
degrees in education
at Temple, becoming
one of the fi rst female
Trudy Moskowitz
Courtesy of the Moskowitz family
tenured full professors
of the era.

During her 35-year career at Temple, Moskowitz
published four books, including “Th e Foreign
Language Teacher Interacts” and “Caring and Sharing
in the Foreign Language Classroom: A Sourcebook
on Humanistic Techniques.” She also published 60
scholarly articles; delivered more than 200 presen-
tations and workshops in the U.S., Canada, Israel,
Mexico and Japan; and received the Educator of the
Year Award from the Pennsylvania State Modern
Language Association.

Her fi lmstrip “Don’t Smile Till Christmas: A Story
of Classroom Interaction” promoted relationships
and positive learning experiences.

Many family members have followed in her
footsteps as educators.

Moskowitz is survived by daughters Lynne (Steven)
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Glasser and Jan (Mario) Zacharjasz; four grandchil-
dren; and two great-grandchildren.

Einstein, Jeff erson Complete Merger
Jeff erson Health and Einstein Healthcare Network
announced on Oct. 4 the completion of the merger of
the two health systems.

By bringing together Jeff erson and Einstein —
which was founded in 1866 as Th e Jewish Hospital
— it “creates an integrated 18-hospital health system
focused on providing greater access to high-quality
patient care in our communities and delivering
outstanding health sciences education to tomor-
row’s health care professionals,” according to a news
release. With the addition of Einstein, Jeff erson Health
will host the largest number of residents and fellows
in the Greater Philadelphia region.

In addition, it will feature seven specialties that
are nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report;
two Level One and one Level Two trauma centers;
the largest midwifery and transplant programs in the
region; and 10 hospitals that have achieved Magnet
status for nursing excellence.

Th e merger also brings together MossRehab and
Magee Rehab, with nationally recognized brain
trauma and spinal cord injury programs.

Ken Levitan will remain as president and CEO of
Einstein while adding the role of executive vice presi-
dent at Jeff erson Health.

Einstein and Jeff erson next begin an integration
process for all services. Th e release said patient access
to care at Einstein and Jeff erson will remain uninter-
rupted throughout the process.

Joyce Sherman
Courtesy of the
Sherman family
Sherman graduated from Lower Merion High
School in 1939, went on to nursing school at the old
Jewish Hospital in Philadelphia and graduated from
there in 1942. She worked there until June of 1943
when she was recruited into the Army.

Aft er basic training at Aberdeen Proving Grounds,
Sherman was shipped overseas, where she was
stationed in West Africa, serving in Accra, Ghana,
and Dakkar, Senegal. She later served in a station
hospital in Cairo, Egypt. While in the service, she was
introduced to her late husband, Herbert.

Sherman was a longtime member of Fegelson
Young Feinberg Jewish War Veterans Post 697 in
Levittown. Sherman was interviewed by the Jewish Exponent
in 2020 for a story about disrepair at Har Nebo
Cemetery. She went to pay her respects to her parents
and found the gates closed and the grass high.

“From what we saw, the place is deplorable. Th e
WWII Army Nurse Joyce Sherman Dies at 100 grass is high, and it doesn’t seem to be taken care of,”
World War II Army nurse Joyce Sherman of Bensalem Sherman said. ●
died Oct. 5. She was 100.

— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
JEWISH EXPONENT
OCTOBER 14, 2021
25