Time...

More than a month has passed since I have last posted here (sorry), and it is amazing what can happen in such a span of time. The first semester of HUC is over, and in just over half an hour I will be heading on a sherut to Ben Gurion Airport for a 1:00am flight to Toronto, and then on to M and home in Ottawa.

Three weeks ago I was preparing for another trip, albeit a much shorter one. I was preparing for a trip to Bethlehem through the Encounter program. Encounter is an "educational organization dedicated to providing Jewish Diaspora leaders from across the religious and political spectrum with exposure to Palestinian life." About 40 of us participated in this trip, and spent two days meeting with various Palestinians working for peace. We visited a school dedicated to peace, we walked around the separation wall dividing Bethlehem from Jerusalem, met with a UN worker, the deputy mayor of Bethlehem, a businessman, and community workers. We met with families and ate and danced with them. Many participants slept over at the houses of Palestinian hosts.

On the first day of the program I was asked to give a short dvar Torah, and this is roughly what I said:

"In a couple of days we will be celebrating Hanukkah. As noted by David R. Blumenthal, "The word 'Hanukkah' comes from the Hebrew word 'chinuch', meaning 'education'.

This week's Torah portion, Vayeshev, is full of dreams and intrigue- light and darkness, shadows and clarity.

Truth takes time.

This week's parsha begins with Jacob favouring Joseph, and Joseph sharing his dreams with his brothers, leading to the the story of Joseph's brothers' hatred towards him, a hatred that he himself would fuel by reporting to them his dreams of kingship over the family. After dreaming his first dream he tells his brothers "please listen"... Midrash Lekach Tov tells that Joseph approached his brothers to tell them of the dream but they refused to listen- he therefore had to implore them. Maybe they didn't want to listen because they didn't want to hear what he had to say, maybe because they knew what he'd say and thus didn't want to hear it. As noted by Rav David Silberg, people often hear only what they want to hear. We have a hard time accepting ideas that oppose previous assumptions and convictions. The brothers had written Joseph off for leadership and did not want to entertain what he had to say, so they tried to avoid him. We know how they were later proven wrong. The challenge is keeping our minds open to other views, to criticism and rebuke, to accept that we aren't always right and that we have much room to improve.

Challenges, difficult conversations and revelations abound throughout the rest of the parsha (Joseph is sold into slavery, then later is imprisoned and interprets dreams with very different outcomes for Pharoah's cupbearer and baker; in the meantime there is the challenging tale of Judah and Tamar). Joseph, for all that he goes through, keeps his chin up and ultimately does well- God is with him. He is an honest broker, a source of light among all the darkness around him. He does not give up- he sees that truth takes time, and he focuses on what he's able to do.

The British Reform siddur has a prayer for international understanding that speaks to the themes of education, light, and the ongoing pursuit of truth and justice (at p. 249):

Mekor Hashalom, Source of peace, be with those who guide the destinies of the world so that an end may come to boasting and vainglory, and the reign of arrogance dwindle in our time. Give them the courage to speak the truth and the humility to listen. Help us all to put the good of our fellow human beings above our own ambitions, and the truth which does not profit us above the lie which does. So may we stand upright, freed from the burden of fear and the weight of suspicion, learning to trust each other.

Help each one of us bring our own offering of understanding, and our own sacrifice for peace, so that we are at peace with ourselves and live in peace with those around us. Then in tranquility may we all go forward to build Your realm in the world, until the earth shall be filled with Your knowledge as the waters cover the sea." Amen.

Three weeks later war is raging now in the Gaza strip, though today there were signs of hope for a possible ceasefire. I pray that all is more quiet when I return.