What is a community? One definition is “a feeling of fellowship with others.”

What is sacred community? It’s a place where one comes to discover transcendence and a greater purpose than ourselves.

Since the High Holy Days concluded, we have read the entire book of Genesis. We learned again about our ancestors–from Adam and Eve to Abraham and Sarah, and eventually to Jacob and the story of Joseph.

Yet, when we conclude the first book of the Torah this Shabbat and enter into the book of Exodus, we also transition from a series of individual stories to the creation of a people. This sacred community that will become the children of Israel did not appear overnight. Rather, through tribulations and triumphs, through creation, revelation, and ultimately redemption, the story of our people takes shape.

Thousands of years later, we are not passive onlookers but active participants in this continual narrative of a sacred community.

We live so much of of our lives on our own. Yet, it is when we enter sacred community where we find a purpose, where we discover that our presence matters in order to make the world a better place. On this first Shabbat of 2026, may the secular and the sacred intersect. May our ordinary actions be uplifted into holy moments.