“Faith Matters” is a column that features pieces written by local religious figures. I must admit that in the 50 years I have served in the rabbinate, these past 9 years I have asked myself more often, “Does faith still matter?”  During the Covid epidemic and again during these frightf ul days when so many of our neighbors are suddenly vulnerable and live in fear, I am now more than ever assured that faith does matter.  It was that very faith which President Washington asserted as the Biblical foundation upon which this country was established, a place “where each person may abide under his vine and fig tree, and none shall make him afraid!”   While one may or may not be a conventionally religious person, the light I find in the groups that want the world to be just, people who eschew violence and are not afraid to stand up to the forces that use violence to accomplish political goals, I see a light whose source must be holiness.  On this weekend when we celebrate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, or hear the resounding voice of Pope Leo, their voices remind me of faith’s power. An early 20th Hasidic rabbi asked the question, “What is the job of a rabbi?”  He answered, “To purify the hearts of those who gather in His presence, to illuminate their souls in the light of holiness.” We may all do that differently.  Some of my younger colleagues along with our cantorial colleagues do so through music.  Giving voice to the cacophony of our hopes and prayers as they ascend upward.  Others help to create an environment where groups of individuals form communities of support, of celebration of the good times and comfort in times of the inevitable challenges.  Some rabbis bring their own love of learning and explore the texts of  a 3500 years old tradition with evidence of how a people managed their own times.  And then through preaching, teaching and storytelling show others the strength of faith. As I would tell my student in our Supervised Ministry class at Yale, when you begin you first pulpit, you must establish your own credibility.  Whether you live your faith through social activism — tikkun olam — helping make the world a better place, by your presence in the hospital room in the shadow of illness, or accompanying them to the grave of a loved one, your presence will be beside them.  When a congregant or a country will despair, remind them that they will not walk through the Valley of shadows alone.  You will have raised up a community where you are God’s hands accompanying them along the way.  Yes, faith matters! And by the way, to my colleagues of other traditions which I cherish and, have over the past decades, it is you who have been my example of the divine light.  For that I am ever grateful.  Previous ​“Faith Matters” columns:  • Faith Matters: Will You Cross The Road?• Faith Matters: Jesus Remembered Immigrants• Faith Matters: 17 Steps To Self-Care• Extreme Compassion• Faith Matters: Faith Over Fear• Faith Matters: Scar Glory• Faith (Still) Matters• Faith Matters: Not Moonwalking• My Prayer For Peace Unity• Faith Matters: Belief In Action• Faith Matters: Gaza  Ramadan• Faith Matters: On Passover  Redemption• Faith Matters: Freedom Struggles  Holy Week• Faith Matters: Welcome The Stranger• Faith Matters: Beyond Neutrality• Faith Matters: The Lightened Yoke Is Love• Faith Matters: Combat Negativity With Compassion• Faith Matters: In The Middle• Faith Matters: Three Scandals• Faith Matters: The Three Hounds Of Hell• Faith Matters: In Praise Of Empathy• Faith Matters: Focus On God• Faith Matters: How To Say Goodbye• Missing Catherine• Jesus Islam• Faith  Famine• A Stick Of Faith• Faith Matters: For All The Saints The post Faith Matters: Divine Light In Times Of Darkness appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less