Cantor Rockman
To say that the year did not go as planed is an understatement. We will all be picking up the pieces from the effects of the deadly virus that has afflicted so many of us physically and emotionally, our foundation has been rocked.
When speaking about God during times of catastrophic events, we often wonder why God allows such events to occur. The bottom line is that we do not have a complete understanding of matters like these. Scholars often say that God does not interfere with nature, whether it is deadly storms or the deadly nature of some of the citizens of the world that we inhabit. Still with all of the scary events that we experience there is still so much more that we can cheer and celebrate.
One year ago, I experienced the profound loss of my father, Cantor Royal Rockman z”l. Since then our family has begun to grow with the birth of Jesse Roy, our newest nephew and in the coming months our family is expecting to welcome two more little ones. Life is predictable, there will be sadness and then there will be joy.
We are the fortunate ones; we are being given an opportunity to reassess so much about the way that we live our lives. I desperately pray for the health and well being of every individual, we pray and our prayers are answered, we may not always like the answer. In my mind the answer is that we have an opportunity to make some changes. We should not expect or even want everything to go back to the way things were before the crisis. Was EVERYTHING so perfect? Our isolation has been an opportunity for us to become more supportive of each other, for us to strengthen of relationships and to see beyond our personal desires.
We receive our strength from our relationships; the one with the One, the devotion that we share with our loved ones and our cherished families of friends. I always thank you, my B’nai Tikvah family for empowering and encouraging my personal growth. Our relationship drives me, I have been blessed and I love sharing my passion with you.
We must continue to grow. We must change, innovative and explore. Our new condition presents us with an opportunity to start fresh. We are embraced by our tradition; it is our responsibility to apply the lessons and the gift of the Torah to our current circumstance. As we get together to celebrate life and all of its Godly possibilities, let’s learn from our ancient traditions and breathe refreshed enthusiasm into every day of our lives.
Let’s all pray for each other’s health and fulfillment.
Worship the Lord with Joy and Gladness,
Cantor Bruce Rockman
June, 2020