It is great to be back from my trip with American Jewish World Service - AJWS to Guatemala. Although the trip was only seven days long, it seemed longer because of the transformative experiences I had. I will be sharing some of these experiences this Shabbat and farther on into the future. For my weekly message, I would like to share a dvar torah/kavannah I gave to our group last week (with some adaptations). I look forward to speaking with all of you this Shabbat at Congregation Shaarei Kodesh.
(Photo credit Christopher Dilts/AJWS)
As a father of three children under 10, 'sleeping in' has become a distant memory - rarely do I sleep past 8 am, either because of the sun light coming into my room, or a little face staring at me waiting until I wake up. But I found a solution - an eye mask. Finding the right eye mask was a challenge, until I found this one - it's special not only because it is comfortable, but because you can actually open your eyes while wearing it. Finally, I could sleep in for just a little longer - I could be in blissful darkness, with eyes wide open.
Parashat, Bo, contains the final three plagues - locust, darkness and the slaying of the first born. Each plague affected all Egyptians, whether they were actively engaged or complicit in the enslavement of the Hebrews or not. These three plagues have something in common - darkness. The Locusts hid the land from view, and the Torah describes that the land was darkened (Exodus 10:15). The plague of darkness, well, that speaks for itself, and the slaying of the first born happened B'Hatzi HaLaylah - in the middle of the night. The ninth plague is perhaps the most interesting because it seems like it was the only plague that the Egyptians could have actually prevented. Why didn't they just light candles? Some commentaries posit that perhaps the plague was not just a physical darkness, but a spiritual and psychological darkness, a deep depression. The Torah describes a darkness that could be touched - people could not see one another for three days, no one could get up from where he was, but all the Israelites enjoyed light in their dwellings. Digging deeper into this darkness, I returned to my eye mask - a mask that brought me darkness even with my eyes wide open. I realized that perhaps it was a message to the Egyptians - you have been blissfully unaware of the suffering of the Hebrews - whether you actively enslaved them or not, all may not be guilty, but all are responsible. The Hebrews lived in darkness for 430 years, but the Egyptians did not enjoy light, they also lived in darkness, a self imposed darkness that led them comfort. Now God was giving them a taste of what it felt like to be in the true darkness - where no one could see one another, but the Israelites had light.
This week, I was speaking with a congregant who went to Guatemala on a service trip over Winter Break. She described the poverty she saw, but also the light she saw in the beautiful people she met in Guatemala, those who lived in the slavery of not having clean water to drink, not knowing when the faucets would turn on, to say the least. And she said, "it was a two and a half hour flight from where we live, and I was so unaware of what is happening down here." And I as I think about us, the collective us, people living in privilege, some of us blissfully unaware of the suffering around us, I think back to the chosen darkness that we sometimes impose upon ourselves, and how we are choosing to open our eyes this week, and learn the stories of others so we can bring them back to our people who may not realize that they are sitting in darkness. It is with this thought in mind that I want us all to thank God for something that we take for granted, but should not - it is a prayer we say every morning during Birkhot HaShachar - Pokeach Ivrim - Praised are You, Adonai our God, who rules the universe, who gives sight to the blind. Maybe it isn't a blessing of gratitude as much as it is an imperative - praised is God who forces us to the open our eyes, to bring light to the darkness. Praised is God who opens our eyes to what we sometimes block out with our eyes wide open. Interestingly enough, this blessing is said immediately after we say the following: Praised are You, Adonai our God, who rules the universe, making me free. Perhaps there is a message here - with freedom comes responsibility. If we are free, we do not have the luxury of putting on our eye mask and live in chosen darkness; rather, we must open our eyes to see injustice around us, even if it is in a different country. And so we say this blessing with new 'eyes' today, together:
(Photo credit Christopher Dilts/AJWS)
As a father of three children under 10, 'sleeping in' has become a distant memory - rarely do I sleep past 8 am, either because of the sun light coming into my room, or a little face staring at me waiting until I wake up. But I found a solution - an eye mask. Finding the right eye mask was a challenge, until I found this one - it's special not only because it is comfortable, but because you can actually open your eyes while wearing it. Finally, I could sleep in for just a little longer - I could be in blissful darkness, with eyes wide open.
Parashat, Bo, contains the final three plagues - locust, darkness and the slaying of the first born. Each plague affected all Egyptians, whether they were actively engaged or complicit in the enslavement of the Hebrews or not. These three plagues have something in common - darkness. The Locusts hid the land from view, and the Torah describes that the land was darkened (Exodus 10:15). The plague of darkness, well, that speaks for itself, and the slaying of the first born happened B'Hatzi HaLaylah - in the middle of the night. The ninth plague is perhaps the most interesting because it seems like it was the only plague that the Egyptians could have actually prevented. Why didn't they just light candles? Some commentaries posit that perhaps the plague was not just a physical darkness, but a spiritual and psychological darkness, a deep depression. The Torah describes a darkness that could be touched - people could not see one another for three days, no one could get up from where he was, but all the Israelites enjoyed light in their dwellings. Digging deeper into this darkness, I returned to my eye mask - a mask that brought me darkness even with my eyes wide open. I realized that perhaps it was a message to the Egyptians - you have been blissfully unaware of the suffering of the Hebrews - whether you actively enslaved them or not, all may not be guilty, but all are responsible. The Hebrews lived in darkness for 430 years, but the Egyptians did not enjoy light, they also lived in darkness, a self imposed darkness that led them comfort. Now God was giving them a taste of what it felt like to be in the true darkness - where no one could see one another, but the Israelites had light.
This week, I was speaking with a congregant who went to Guatemala on a service trip over Winter Break. She described the poverty she saw, but also the light she saw in the beautiful people she met in Guatemala, those who lived in the slavery of not having clean water to drink, not knowing when the faucets would turn on, to say the least. And she said, "it was a two and a half hour flight from where we live, and I was so unaware of what is happening down here." And I as I think about us, the collective us, people living in privilege, some of us blissfully unaware of the suffering around us, I think back to the chosen darkness that we sometimes impose upon ourselves, and how we are choosing to open our eyes this week, and learn the stories of others so we can bring them back to our people who may not realize that they are sitting in darkness. It is with this thought in mind that I want us all to thank God for something that we take for granted, but should not - it is a prayer we say every morning during Birkhot HaShachar - Pokeach Ivrim - Praised are You, Adonai our God, who rules the universe, who gives sight to the blind. Maybe it isn't a blessing of gratitude as much as it is an imperative - praised is God who forces us to the open our eyes, to bring light to the darkness. Praised is God who opens our eyes to what we sometimes block out with our eyes wide open. Interestingly enough, this blessing is said immediately after we say the following: Praised are You, Adonai our God, who rules the universe, making me free. Perhaps there is a message here - with freedom comes responsibility. If we are free, we do not have the luxury of putting on our eye mask and live in chosen darkness; rather, we must open our eyes to see injustice around us, even if it is in a different country. And so we say this blessing with new 'eyes' today, together:
Praised are You, Adonai our God, who rules the universe, making me free.
Praised are You, Adonai our God, who rules the universe, who gives sight to the sightless.
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