“Even a Stone Can be More Perfect,” Rabbi Elaine Zecher’s Shabbat Awakenings
August 28, 2026 | 15 Elul 5786
Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat. You can also listen to it as a podcast.
The U.S. Constitution sets forth a magnificent idea.
We the people, in order to form a more perfect union…
We need to go no further than the idea of “more perfect.” Composed after the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution detailed how this confederation of states would go forth into its existence. They chose the language of “more perfect” not to establish flawlessness but rather to recognize a concept we all learned on our report cards: room for improvement. Our forebears acknowledged the lack of perfection which we see all too clearly with the exclusion of abolishing slavery and including all people such as first nations and women. They definitely needed to become more perfect and had lots of room for improvement.
More perfect also meant that the process had already begun. They did not intend to start a new beginning but to know they were on the path to this ongoing project of democracy and a nation. Though there is no transcript of the actual discussion of this phrase, it seems that the intention allowed for improvement and flexibility.
In this week’s portion, the Israelites stand on the other side of the Jordan preparing to enter the land. They receive a specific instruction about the way they should construct the altar and how to insure that the teachings of the Torah remain with them. It is the ancient method to demonstrate how they might aspire to be “more perfect.”
As soon as you have crossed the Jordan into the land that the ETERNAL your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones. Coat them with plaster and inscribe upon them all the words of this Teaching haTorah hazot הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את…
There, too, you shall build an altar to the ETERNAL your God, an altar of stones. Do not wield an iron tool over them; you must build the altar of the ETERNAL your God of unhewn shleimot שְׁלֵמוֹת stones…
And on those stones you shall inscribe every word of this Teaching haTorah hazot הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את most distinctly.
(Deut 27: 2-3, 5-6, 8)
Building an altar for the sacred purpose of communing and connecting with God means that the tools used cannot be those which inflict violence, yet there is another important aspect to this instruction regarding wholeness — shleimot שְׁלֵמוֹת. That is the Hebrew for unhewn. Unhewn stones have rough edges. They may be jagged or even sharp, yet they are regarded in Judaism as whole. I think we, as human beings, are like that too. Our wholeness does not come from perfection. It comes from our willingness to improve and change. When countries, people, or leaders think they already have it perfectly right, that is exactly when we get ourselves into trouble.
Instead, we rely on the teachings from our tradition — this Torah haTorah hazot הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את. Torah shows us a path and a direction. It is a moral compass and we pray it will guide the Jewish people everywhere toward compassion and justice. These are foundational ideas of our tradition.
As we enter this season of renewal and recognition that we are hardly perfect or flawless, our Judaism teaches us that we have beautiful images of unhewn stones and other stones with which we symbolically coat ourselves with the eternal lessons of Torah. There is no guarantee of our path toward wholeness shleimot שְׁלֵמוֹת but it does not mean that we should not stop trying to be more perfect.
Shabbat Shalom! שבת שלום
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Rabbi Elaine Zecher