Parshat Mishpatim: Jewish Continuity - Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

[Music] it was the middle of the night red barrel knocked on the door of the inn the bitter cold gnawing at his knuckles no reply so again he knocked and again and after what seemed like an eternity he heard the rusty bolt sliding back and the blurry eyes of the innkeeper peered out into the darkness who could it be who was knocking on his door at this time of the night do you have a room said red barrel we're full up came the testy reply but he must have somewhere to sleep Cedric Bell looks at the innkeeper all the rooms are full the circus is in town there's there's no there's not a space than the spare room in the whole Inn well the only thing is you you could share a bed with the clown it's up to you take it or leave it I'll take it said Rebell by the way said Ribeiro could you wake me please at four o'clock in the morning I've a long way to travel maybe you'd like bed and breakfast as well said the innkeeper very well said the innkeeper finally and grudgingly he said good night good night sad red barrel a barrel made his way up to his room and total darkness undressed carefully hanging his clothes on a peg next to the clown's outfit at 4:30 the innkeeper knocked on the door exhausted rebel roused himself and with half-closed eyes dragged himself from the bed dressed and made his way into the pre-dawn light about an hour later after the day had fully dawned he was walking through the main street of the village and someone looked at him and burst into laughter pointing at him with his finger what's so funny thought that barrel well I suppose there are strange people wherever you go but then he came across another person who also burst into laughter and the third and a fourth he started to think am I in the town of lunatics and just then he was walking past the shop with a large plate glass window and caught his reflection in the window frozen in disbelief at what he saw he stared and he stared and he stared and staring her back at him was a Jew with long peyote and a beard dressed in red satin pajamas with three enormous white pom-poms down his front a clown suit that full of an innkeeper said rebel to himself he woke up the clown instead of me today the Jewish people are beset with an identity crisis of staggering proportions who are we are we the children of Abraham Isaac and Jacob who received the Torah our Torah that binds us to an everlasting covenant or are we a loose quasi ethnic affiliation with carte blanche to redefine our Judaism at will there's much talk today about Jewish continuity the question is what are we continuing we no longer have the clarity of our grandparents and their forebears who knew what Judaism exactly was and even when they rejected their Judaism at least they knew what it was they were rejecting it says in this week's Torah portion if you encounter an ox of your enemy or his donkey wandering you shall return it to him repeatedly the covered spine points out that if the Torah shows so much concern for the welfare of someone's property commanding us to go out of our way and to return it to him even a hundred times over all the more so must we be concerned about returning a person to himself we must do whatever we can to reach out to our brothers and sisters and show them the beauty and the depth of the Torah for those of us who could be shepherds it's a tremendous mitzvah to inspire our fellow Jew with a genuine self-awareness and continuity [Music] you [Applause]