Good evening and welcome. For those of you who have not already figured this out, I am not Rabbi Mecklenberger. You have unfortunately stumbled into one of the lay services conducted during his absence. And now because of that, I get to share, what I promise will be a relatively short, reflection on this week's Torah portion.
Both of tonight's readings talk about children. Why are children so important? There are many reasons. As some of you know, I have gotten into the habit of posting quotes that interest me on Facebook as part of what I call Good Night messages. During the past week I have been posting quotes about children in honor of the arrival of the new royal baby. Two quotes in particular really moved me. The first is anonymous. It is: "Children are the living messages we send to a time we will never see." One of the reading selections before the Mourner's Kaddish in our prayer book picks up this theme: "We see no more, we are no more seen; yet we do not despair. For we are more than a memory slowly fading into the darkness. With our lives we give life. Something of us never dies..."
Our children are our contribution to the future. We hope they will carry on our values, our heritage and our traditions - that they will keep the spark of what we were alive into the future. The extensive coverage of the birth of the new prince talks about him possibly being king into the 22nd century. Although most of us will not know our descendants that far into the future, it is comforting to know that we will be represented there. I truly believe that the Jewish people will be carried into the future if we do our jobs as parents and a community now.
On a similar note, another thought that moved me comes from Henry David Thoreau. It is:"Every child begins the world again." Part of our obligation as Jews is "Tikkun Olam" - repairing the world. But this is not a job that can be done in one generation. We pass the torch to our children and grandchildren, hoping they will contribute to making the world a better place just as we strive to make it a better place for them.
There is another aspect of the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's son that has Jewish significance. Specifically the way in which we name our children. Much attention has been paid to the names this child has been given and the connections they have to previous members of their family. Just like in our tradition, this little boy has been blessed with names that honor and remember relatives who were important to his parents. On a personal note, Dan and I named our son for his grandfather and great-uncle and our daughter for my grandmother and mother, people whom we loved, respected and admired. In bestowing these names on our children, we hope they will be imbued with the characteristics of their namesakes and keep their memory alive. Although while our people were slaves in Egypt they adopted many of the local customs, Tradition states that one of the reasons G-d still remembered them was that they kept their Jewish names. We should be wary of losing that special connection with our heritage.
Some people, especially here in America, have criticized the almost wall-to-wall coverage of the birth of this one child. To me, and I think to many others, it has been a welcome break from the negative and unpleasant stories that have dominated the news as of late. It is also a reminder of how wonderful it is to welcome a new child into the world and the blessings that come with it. And so I conclude with this familiar phrase:
"L'dor vador nagid godlecha - From generation to generation, we will tell of Your greatness."
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