Lisa: The road was bumpy and unfamiliar, the gas tank, I'll admit, was a little too empty.  I was just about to turn back when there it was in front of me, the vista I'd been anticipating.

Like the new moon, a sliver of Mt. Shasta was visible behind me, and the Shasta-Trinity wilderness stretched out for miles before me, gilded in the evening sun. Somewhere down below lay I-5, the road home. I came up here out of the way for one last meditation as my summer vacation drew to a close.

Some people seek God in nature.  It is a place where they can experience something bigger than themselves.  Significant Biblical encounters with God took place on mountain tops, but "high places" refer specifically to locations of idol worship, used by Canaanites, as well as maverick Israelite factions.  If looking up at the sky makes us feel small, standing on a mountain is empowering and can give rise to sensations of oversight and dominion.  Perhaps Balak took Balam up to the peaks of Moab so that he could feel empowered to curse Israel though he had no real magic or authority.

Some things are missing when one tries to contemplate God while immersed in primordial beauty: intentionality, kindness, compassion.  As I sat there pondering amidst the Ponderosas I soon had the Rose of Jacob before my eyes, our Jewish community, and the gestures of caring that we receive and give each other week after week.  "How good are your tents Jacob, your dwellings O Israel!" 

Notice that the blessing refers to tents in the plural.  Balam doesn't say, "How lovely is the Jones's tent. The Dans's, well it's sagging a little, and the colors are so 1230 BCE.  The blessing refers to the prosperity of the community as a whole and elaborates on the tents using as metaphors other things that are good only when each of its parts thrives. "Like palm-groves that stretch out. Like gardens beside a river..."

As I drove back down the mountain my solitude was suddenly interrupted and transformed by a woman flagging me down.  There had been a bicycle accident. I prepared to flag down further help.  Each passing stranger asked what he or she could do.  Finally somebody arrived with cell-phone reception. After the woman was brought to safety, we strangers dispersed, almost reluctant to let go of a connection that had formed.  It had been a remarkable situation in which the divisions between giver and the one in need were erased, because everyone had mobilized and unified around the goal of wellbeing.

God wanted to protect the Israelites from Balam's evil tongue, so he showed him a community strengthened and uplifted by unity.  Ann and I have been thinking about the vision of Balam  and the "good tents" that we have here at Beth Am.

Ann: Our vision is one where nobody is left out, everyone feels included, and we are all working together to meet individual needs and strengthen the entire community.  Balaam went up to the high places 3 times. At first he only saw "the edge" of the people, but on the third ascent he could see the whole people.  We too can increase our awareness of the community over time.  The good news is that we have a very strong start.  We held a meeting last February that included various groups of people who are doing the work of caring within our congregation.  Lisa and I already knew about our own groups: Yad l’Yad, which provides visits to the sick and homebound, and the Caring Corps, which provides rides to congregational events and support during times of illness and death.  But there is so much more that congregants are doing for each other!  The Thursday morning minyan provides a supportive, peaceful environment for people who are grieving, having a rough time or just want the contemplation of a weekday morning service; members of our congregation are trained and ready to lead shiva minyanim when clergy aren’t available; Beit R’fuah, holds a monthly mental health support group for individuals and families; Beth Am’s mentor program matches long-time members with new members to help them feel more at home here; the Healing Hands group makes afghans, pillows and quilts for ill and homebound congregants; the Grandparents’ Club looks for ways to provide support to families in the congregation, especially those under stress; the monthly Healing Circle creates a safe place for individuals to receive emotional and spiritual support in a Jewish context, and our émigré department provides support of all kinds within the émigré community.

If you aren’t already participating in one of these efforts and would like to be or if you have other ideas of how we can support one another, please let either me or Lisa know.  You will also find some clipboards with signup sheets on the back tables if you are interested.  But I want to tell you about another way each and every congregant can help with our efforts to maintain Beth Am as a caring community.

During our February meeting, we discussed challenges we face and ways we could do more. One of our biggest obstacles is not knowing when someone needs help.  Though it may be surprising to hear, people are typically more willing to give help than to receive it.  In the past 9 months alone, over 70 different congregants have offered to provide meals or rides when they were needed.  I find that people are more than happy to help.  It makes them feel good to do something for someone else and to know they are part of such a compassionate and caring community.  So please keep that in mind and remember to tell us or the clergy if you or someone you know is in need of support. It is actually a mitzvah to let others help you.  It makes us all feel more connected to one another and transforms Beth Am’s tents into a sacred community like the one Balaam saw on his third ascent: a lovely place of renewal and healing, “like palm groves that stretch out, like gardens beside a river and like aloes planted by the Lord.”

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Congregation Beth Am
26790 Arastradero Rd
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
Phone: 650-493-4661
Email: Info@betham.org

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