This week's Parashah, God promises to rain blessings down upon the Jewish people if we follow God's laws and faithfully observe God's commandments. But if we do not follow in God's ways God promises to discipline us sevenfold for our sins. The rains will end, and we shall be delivered to our enemies.

This is indeed a harsh warning. And yet, I believe that this portion ultimately calls upon us to have faith and work in partnership with God to repair our broken world.

In this week's Haftorah portion, the Prophet Jeremiah, speaking to our ancestors (and to us) during the tumultuous and troubled times surrounding the 1st destruction of Temple says:

Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord,
Whose trust is in the Lord alone
Sending forth its roots by a stream
It does not sense the coming of heat,
Its leaves are ever fresh
It has no care in a year of drought
It does not cease to yield fruit

These are indeed difficult and painful times

• 19 elementary school children and two teachers gunned down and murdered by a deranged eighteen-year-old armed with a killing machine at Robb elementary in Uvalde.
• Since 2020 over 6 million lives lost worldwide because of the COVID pandemic. Over one million in the US alone
• Increasing regularity of loss of life and economic damage due to floods, drought, landslides, earthquakes, volcanic activity, and wildfires all of which have been on the rise in recent decades.
• According to the Non-Profit World Population Review 21 countries are currently either at war with other countries or experiencing armed conflict within.
• Over 4,600 Ukrainian civilians have died in the past three months due to the Russian invasion. Over 6.5 million Ukrainians have been displaced as refugees.
• Our neighbor to the south Mexico has witnessed the 2^nd most deadly conflict of all the wars in recent years. Estimated over 150,000 have died since 2006 due to the drug wars. According to recent BBC report, over 60,000 have disappeared in Mexico since 2006.
• Gun violence, white supremacy, antisemitism, and political division. Need I say more……

In this week's Parashah God makes a promise to us. If we follow in his ways, he will provide rain for hearty crops and enemies that fall easily. What does it mean when it doesn't rain or when enemies do not fall easily? Does it mean that God isn't keeping the promise or that the Jewish people aren't keeping their promise to God?

I would argue the answer is NO. Ultimately, despite the very stern warning that God issues in this Parashah, God says that we will come around and make the CHOICE to do good and once we do QUOTE "I will remember my covenant with Jacob; I will also remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land." UNQUOTE.

In essence God says that she never gives up on us. Rather, we can CHOOSE to do good, or we can turn away and if we turn away, we alone will cause the suffering.

God never gives up on us. While we lost over 1 million souls due to COVID, we also have witnessed the hand of God in working through our scientists to discover life saving vaccines. We witnessed the heroism and bravery of the first responders, physicians, doctors, and nurses who worked tirelessly to save lives.

In Eastern Europe we hear the stories of Polish, Romanian and Hungarian citizens opening their homes to Ukrainian refugees. Amidst the flooding of Katrina and hurricane Harvey we witnessed the face of God as people donated their time and money to save others, rebuild homes and donate to our local food banks. And while Ukraine suffers at the hands of tyrant that is attempting to repeat the horrors of 20th century totalitarianism, the world has galvanized its support behind the righteous effort of the Ukrainian people, and we somehow know that good will eventually prevail.

God calls upon us to have faith, to walk in his ways and to make the good choice to live our lives by the ethics of Torah For It Is a Tree of Life to Those that Hold Fast to It. But as children of God, we have free will and just like any parent child relationship if we turn away there will and must be punishment. There will always be those that choose to turn away. Our job is to turn towards God and walk in Gods ways.

In Judaism we do not believe that through faith alone the rains will always fall. For we are called to be a partner with God in using our God given abilities to do OUR part to be stewards of the earth in ways that will ensure that the rains do fall and that the earth shall yield its produce.

We are called to:
Love thy neighbor as thyself

We are called to:
Welcome the stranger and give bread to the hungry

We are called
Bring an end to wars by turning swords into plowshares

We are called to:
Respect the environment, allow the soil to regenerate and plant trees to replace those that we consume.

We are called to:
Repair our broken world through acts of lovingkindness

God warns us that we have a choice. Evil shall always live amongst us, but may we go forth with faith knowing that if we make the choice to live our lives as God commands us, then through our acts of lovingkindness we will help hasten the day when we shall lie down untroubled.

We are called to be a light unto the nations, to bring light into the darkness of our broken world.

In this most difficult of weeks, during these most troubling of times, may we make the CHOICE to do just that.

כן יהי רצון

Ken Yehi Ratzon. May this be God's will.