Shabbat Sermon: Distance Travelled with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz

Published: Sept. 23, 2023, 2:50 p.m.

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Every August there is a show called Hard Knocks about the training camp of an NFL football team.\\xa0 This year the show focused on the New York Jets because of their new quarterback Aaron Rodgers.\\xa0 If you are not a football fan, Aaron Rodgers was a legendary\\xa0 quarterback of the Green Bay Packers where he won both a Super Bowl and the Most Valuable Player of the league four times\\u2014two times in the last three years.\\xa0 Rodgers was thought to be the missing piece that would help the New York Jets compete for a Super Bowl this year.\\xa0 The Jets had a lot of stars on their team, but they were missing a great quarterback. Aaron Rodgers was that great quarterback, their missing piece. \\xa0His presence created tremendous excitement and expectations. Hard Knocks devoted five full episodes to the building, mounting, surging, soaring excitement that the Jets, so mediocre for so long, were now about to have their moment.

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\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 I watched all five episodes.\\xa0 I did it for our congregation since I was searching for High Holiday content.\\xa0 The basic plot line of all five episodes is: yay!! Aaron Rodgers is coming to New York.\\xa0 The excitement mounts. \\xa0\\xa0

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\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 \\xa0Then came the first game. It did not follow the plan.

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