Life’s Cup (April 2014 KOL)
Psalm 23:
“You [God] anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
With all the losses we have had as a temple community, I have been reciting Psalm 23 quite a bit this year. Each funeral ends with the recitation of the 23rdPsalm, which assures us that God sustains us through the most difficult and confusing times of our lives, those times when there are no answers and no comfort.
I am always amazed at the wisdom of the Jewish tradition that weaves its way, seamlessly, through the life cycles and holidays of our lives. Not only does each holiday and life cycle affirm our faith, strengthen our need for community, and offer enrichment to our hectic lives, the psalm highlights the powerful Jewish concept that life – L’chaim!– is a cup that overflows even in our darkest hour.
Sitting at our TBS minyans, or in our overflowing sanctuary on Shabbat, we are grateful to have good people share our lives and a faith that guides us through life’s ups and downs. It is easy to see the cup overflowing when a new baby is born, and at the Bar or Bat Mitzvah of your child. Sometimes, the cup seems half empty, and that is when we truly need the psalm to remind us of the blessings that abound in our loss and disappointment, our sorrows and our heartaches.
Our Passover seder has five cups of wine (or like me, you may drink grape juice) –the four that you drink by rabbinic command, and the fifth for Elijah at the center of the table. Elijah’s cup is the cup of hope and the cup of the future.
I remember watching my bubby fill the cup before the seder. She put the cup on a plate and poured the wine until it overflowed. I didn’t understand at the time, but I do now. She was sent as a young girl to America without her parents. She had a hard life. She married a widower with a child, and then had three more children with him. She didn’t have money and had lost family in the pogroms. But, she had her Judaism, her grandchildren, Pesach, and life. Even though she never said it, I can hear her say, “Ameleh, our cup overflows.” Cramped in her Brooklyn apartment, where the matzah ball water was served if the soup ran out, we felt family and I knew that Pesach/Passover was a happy family time, even if relatives were screaming at each other over some political or other issue.
When did you learn that your cup overflows? How do you keep the cup overflowing? And if your cup is usually half empty, what can you do this Passover to fill the cup?
Life isn’t fair or easy. We lose loved ones all of the time. There are empty places at our seder tables. But, if we have the “l’chaim” Jewish value in our hearts, then we pour Elijah’s cup and remind ourselves of all the blessings we do have, even in the face of adversity.
May your cup overflow this Passover with health, love and loved ones, life and peace. And if you need a seder, join us at our TBS seder. If you have a place at your seder or need a place, call the temple office. We will make as many matches as we can.
Fondly,
Rabbi Amy R. Perlin, D.D.