Click here to listen to an audio recording of this Shabbat Message by Cantor Lori Brock
As I sit in my office this week, surrounded by piles of memories, I find myself experiencing a whirlwind of emotions.
Clearing my shelves and drawers of so many years of photographs, music, concert programs, and mementos has been a journey itself. And I am filled with profound gratitude for the extraordinary career I have had and for the countless people who have enriched my life.
And yet, alongside that gratitude, there is sadness.
There is heartbreak in knowing that soon I will no longer walk these halls every day, collaborate with cherished colleagues, or have the daily privilege of serving this loving congregation in the same way. While I feel ready for this next chapter, this transition is not easy. Moving forward is necessary. It is exciting. But it is undeniably bittersweet.
Even beautiful transitions come with mixed emotions.
Perhaps that is why this week’s Torah portion, Shelach L’cha, speaks to me so deeply at this time.
This portion has accompanied me before at a significant moment of transition. Shelach L’cha was the Torah portion I chanted at my Adult Bat Mitzvah on a congregational trip to Israel in 2007.
At that point in my life, I was deepening my commitment to Jewish learning and spiritual growth while serving as cantorial soloist of our congregation. Looking back, I can see that experience as one of the many steps that shaped the cantor I would become.
Now, nearly two decades later, I find myself returning to the same portion as I stand at the threshold of another new chapter.
In this Torah portion, God tells Moses to send twelve scouts into the Land of Canaan to see what awaits them. They return carrying magnificent fruit, evidence that the land truly flows with milk and honey. Yet ten of the scouts see only obstacles. They see fortified cities, powerful armies, and people who look like giants, who make them feel small and incapable. Fear blinds them to possibility.
Only Caleb and Joshua are able to see beyond the challenges. They acknowledge the risks, but they also recognize the promise. They trust that the path ahead, though uncertain, will lead to blessing.
Our Sages teach us, “We do not see things as they are; we see them as we are.”
Their story reminds us that we often have a choice about how we view the unknown. We can focus on what we might lose, or we can open ourselves to what we might gain.
We can see only the imposing giants, or we can open ourselves to abundance and possibility.
These words speak to me at this time of transition. For much of our lives, we are encouraged to measure ourselves by accomplishments, milestones, and achievements. But there comes a time when life invites us to focus less on what we do and more on who we are becoming; less on what we achieve and more on meaning, relationships, purpose, and service.
As I prepare to step into this next chapter, I realize there may not be the same visible markers of success that accompanied much of my professional life. There is much I do not yet know. But I trust that my days will be filled with countless smaller moments that will nourish my soul—time with family and friends, unexpected adventures, opportunities to learn and grow, and quiet moments of gratitude.
And so, like Caleb and Joshua, I am choosing to look beyond the uncertainty. I have faith that there will be goodness and joy ahead.
Faith is the willingness to go forward even when the path is unknown.
And I pray that all of us, whatever transition we may be facing, will have the courage of Joshua and Caleb: to look ahead not with fear, but with curiosity and hope, trusting that God continues to lead us toward new blessings, new growth, and unexpected joy.
The land ahead may be unfamiliar, but I trust it is also flowing with blessings.
Shabbat Shalom,
Cantor Lori Brock
