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Lemon friends help lift the veil of darkness in the world, preaches Rabbi Jonathan Roos

Rabbi Jonathan Roos delivers his sermon “Get In The Boat: A Post-October 7th Theology of Relationships” Sunday in the Amphitheater.
Dave Munch / photo editor
Rabbi Jonathan Roos delivers his sermon “Get In The Boat: A Post-October 7th Theology of Relationships” Sunday in the Amphitheater.

“We know the old saying, ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,’ ” Rabbi Jonathan Roos told the congregation at the 9:15 a.m. morning worship service Tuesday in the Amphitheater. “But not all situations call for a sweet drink. Sometimes you need lemon people.”

Roos’ sermon title was “Form Follows Function: The How, Why and When to Master the Water,” and the scripture readings were Joshua 3: 14-17 and John 6: 16-21.

He shared a slide showing a page from the book How Are You Peeling, by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers. On the left side is a solitary lemon with the caption, “Don’t belong?” In the upper right is a group of lemons which have welcomed the solitary lemon in saying, “Not for long!”

Life will give us lemons, Roos affirmed. The Old Farmer’s Almanac has at least 11 uses for lemons. “We need a variety of methods to overcome challenges, and if faith and spirituality help, use them.”

In scripture, water is the obstacle. Roos returned to the scripture he “drashed” on Sunday — John 6: 16-21 — as an example. Jesus had about four miles of water between him and the boat carrying the disciples. “Walking on water was not the only way to get to the boat,” Roos said. “Why didn’t he choose one of the other tried-and-true divine methods? Noah had an ark, Moses split the Red Sea and floated down the river in a basket. Jonah got thrown in the water.”

He continued, “It would seem Jesus just had to do something new, but there is more going on than that.”

Roos shared another slide in Hebrew and English with words from Genesis 1: 2. In the midst of chaos and darkness, the spirit of God was hovering, merahefet, over the water.

“Not all hovering is the same,” Roos said. “This was not the hovering of a drone or a traffic helicopter. Rabbi Tina Allen says that in the awakening of creation, the spirit hovered like a bird over its nest.”

Moses, in Deuteronomy, uses the same word, merahefet, to show the spirit hovering over the young people, awaking them with a song of welcome. It also has a second meaning: to relax and grow soft. “The Divine Parent hovers with the gentleness of a parent over a child,” Roos said.

In her book H is for Hawk, author Helen McDonald wrote that there is a space between a falconer and a new hawk where there is fear. The falconer needs to empty their mind and relax, and be themselves in the presence of the hawk. 

Roos asked the congregation: How can we navigate impossible challenges? “From the challenges of parenthood to walking in a crowd, we are in motion, fight or flight, when sometimes we need to just settle and hold the tension softly.”

The second word Roos “drashed” was tabal, meaning dipped or dipping. In the reading from Joshua, as soon as the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant dipped their feet into the Jordan River, the water upstream piled up like a wall and the water downstream dried up.

“I have been to enough Super Bowl parties to know that everyone loves dipping,” said Roos. “It is part of Jewish sacred ritual and purification. In Leviticus, the priests dipped the sacrifice in its blood and put it on themselves and in the sanctuary.”

Tabal is also used to describe full immersion, such as using the mikvah at conversions or before marriages. The ritual has the power to purify and transform. 

“The water from on high in one sense is God reaching to us. It is the heart of the teachings between the supernatural divinity and the eminence of God in the flesh and soil,” Roos said. “What happens down here influences God, and what God does comes to us. Stopping the water is the spiritual negation of the self to make room for God’s gracious presence.” 

He continued, “There is a reservoir on one side and space on the other, whichever we need. We don’t stay in the water; we are not lost in the flood, but the divide allows us to gather resources.”

As an example, Roos cited author and spiritual director Parker Palmer who wrote about learning to rappel off cliffs. The guides told him to lean back as he went down or he would get tangled in the ropes. Palmer developed a mantra: “The only way through this is through this.”

Roos returned to the story of Jesus walking on water from John’s Gospel. On Sunday, he said that the disciples had left without Jesus and that was a reason he was walking on the water. 

Another reason was that it was dark.

Darkness is a major scriptural motif, Roos said. “Scholars say that the ninth plague in Egypt, darkness, was the worst. It was like a veil. People were not just deprived of eyesight, but were cut off from people and from touching things like food.”

He continued, “Jesus walking on water was breaking through the darkness. He was walking toward his friends on the water.”

Roos cited the story, published in the Tuesday edition of The Washington Post, of 6-year old Fadi al-Zant, who was saved from starvation. Fadi has cystic fibrosis and there was no medication for him. A man with a donkey cart got him and his mother to a hospital. A journalist took photos of him, and the photos went viral. 

A medical student in South Carolina was working with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and got in touch with the World Health Organization, who in turn found a hospital near New York City for Fadi to recover in. His doctor, Matthew Harris, was an undergraduate at Brandeis and went to medical school in Tel Aviv.

“I don’t want to paint a false picture of a glorious fellowship in the world, but let’s not miss times when people break out of the dark veil and reach out,” Roos said. “We need people to be deeper than social media friends. We need soul partners.”

He continued, “We will always have lemons, but faith and scripture teach us we have multiple options to deal with them. Sometimes we need lemonade; sometimes we need lemon friends.”

Renee Andrews, who served as president of the Hebrew Congregation from 2016 to 2018, presided. Joe Lewis, host of the Everett Jewish Life Center, read the scripture in Hebrew, Greek and English. For the prelude, Joshua Stafford, director of sacred music and the Jared Jacobsen Chair for the Organist, played “Prélude,” from 24 Pieces in Free Style, by Louis Vierne. The anthem, “Do Not Be Afraid,” music by Philip Stopford and words by Gerard Markland, was sung a cappella by the Motet Choir under the direction of Stafford. Owen Reyda, 2024 organ scholar, played “Fanfare,” by Jacques Lemmens, for the postlude. Support for this week’s chaplaincy and services is provided by the Harold F. Reed, Sr. Chaplaincy.

Tags : columnForm Follows Function: The How Why and When to Master the WaterHow Are You Peeling by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffersmorning worshipopinionRabbi Jonathan RoosreligionWeek six
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The author Mary Lee Talbot

Mary Lee Talbot writes the recap of the morning worship service. A life-long Chautauquan, she is a Presbyterian minister, author of Chautauqua’s Heart: 100 Years of Beauty and a history of the Chapel of the Good Shepherd. She edited The Streets Where We Live and Shalom Chautauqua. She lives in Chautauqua year-round with her Stabyhoun, Sammi.