Think about the decisions you’ve had to make when you knew both options had challenging outcomes. We’ve all been given choices that leave us trying to decide between the best of the worst options. However, the Torah this week reminds us that our job is to think beyond ourselves, and sometimes the “hard place” for us is the place of freedom for generations to come.
Here’s an urban legend I have never been able to verify. Fact of fiction, it remains instructive. The story goes that in the early days of radio, an open microphone was stationed in the Times Square neighborhood. People could line up and await their turn at the microphone, where their message would be broadcast on a local station.*
While we magically connect over Zoom and FaceTime, we’ve lost - at least temporarily - the miracles of human connection and of voices coming together in song. At the same time, it’s the “magic” of science that makes us optimistic for the future. In Parshat Vaera this week, magic and miracles are on opposing sides, but let’s envision and create a world in which they, like us, are hand-in-hand once again.
On January 6th, our nation’s capitol came under attack, not from a foreign power, but by American citizens. It was a day of high emotion and a low mark in the history of our nation. It was a day of shock and upset.
Parshat Shemot is just the first in a long line of narratives about the Israelites (later the Jewish people) in which we will be met with fire, yet not consumed. The call of God from the bush is the reminder to us all that the earth we stand on is holy because we are holy, and the fire of others cannot consume us.
There are moments and even eras when fundamental questions surface and when large numbers of people engage in the sort of philosophical speculation that normally is reserved for young children and professional philosophers. These big questions as they are sometimes referred to, are not only about “what is the meaning of life,” but they touch upon mystery or wonder. “Why is the sky blue?”
One act of meanness or emotional outburst doesn't have to define us. Vayechi, our Torah portion this week, means “and he lived,” and it's actually in Jacob's death that we're reminded that life is complex and filled with ups and downs. We make poor choices, and we have bad days, but we as humans are the total of all our actions.
