In the Breach and to the Brink
In many ways, the story of Abraham in Parashat Vayera, is the detail – what the Rabbis called the ‘p’rat’ – of the Noach story.
In many ways, the story of Abraham in Parashat Vayera, is the detail – what the Rabbis called the ‘p’rat’ – of the Noach story.
Can we be like Abram? Can we center ourselves on our morality and center each other’s humanity? Can we hold difference and create space? Can we recognize grievance and pain, diversity and blessing? Can we leverage wealth and power not for prestige and conquest but for compassion and the common good?
‘Did they’, she wondered out loud, ‘consider the gardens they planted, their last garden?’
Be still, my soul, the Psalmist sings. Isn’t that soothing? Isn’t that what the current moment cries out for?
The human family. All of us. Remember that idea?
There’s a joke floating around the Internet, which I cannot take credit for but I am happy to share: ‘The question no job applicants in 2015 ever got right was, ‘so, where do you see yourself in five years?’’
He gripped his little brother’s hand, his stomach churning with fear and embarrassment, his fingers slick with his own sweat. He didn’t dare look at him; the lids of his eyes weighed down by shame and grief, for he knew what was yet to come.
The stars in the sky shone brightly and clearly and I could point out Orion and the Big Dipper to my children on our evening walk. The neighborhood was cast in darkness and we picked our way past downed trees and broken branches by the light of the stars and our flashlights.
One possible approach to the notion of exceptionism is to do something that we Jews are so very good at: love critically.