Imbolc and the Moon of Seoah’s Citizenship
I offer you this because it spoke to my own hard-ship over the last year. And I appreciate each of you who read this as one of the members of the crew who has helped me steer to calmer waters, a more joyful place. Reading it can help.
Sunday Gratefuls: Rabbi Jamie’s piece in this month’s Shofar, the CBE newsletter.
“…this psalm, Psalm 102, reminded me of an often-overlooked truth. The pathways to the kind of enduring and exalted joy we seek goes through and not around the disappointments, struggles, and tragedies of this life. Holidays like Purim and Passover do not avoid the grave threats of power hungry demagogues like Haman, and dictators like a Pharoah trying to perpetuate a slave-based economy.
With groggers in hand, we read in the scroll of Esther [Megillah] eight chapters of a nightmare scenario before we celebrate an unlikely redemption. Around the Passover table, the jubilant songs of the seder come only after pages of pages of oppression and plagues in the Haggadah.
In our quest for joy, we don’t avoid the hard-ships of life, we steer them, we sail them towards a promised land. We suffer loss and grief because we love with fervor. The extent of the grief parallels the extent of our love. And, the depth of our sadness elevates our eventual joy.
So, we tell the story of our ancestors (Israelite and American) and honestly confront the scars and sins of our past, not to ferment guilt or diminish our sense of pride. We remember and allow ourselves to feel the pain of a legacy of enslavement, oppression, and genocide because this is how we cultivate compassion and inspire acts of lovingkindness. Welcome the stranger because you were strangers in Egypt. And the stories of sadness and grief that we share as part of our holiday rituals are integral to and in service of our journey to joy.
Ivdu et hashem b’simchah. And so, we feast. And when our plates and wine glasses empty and our bellies and hearts fill, prior to offering a blessing following the meal [bircat hamazon], it is customary to chant Psalm 126, a ‘song of ascents:’
It’s like a dream – our mouths filled with laughter our tongues with song…we will rejoice. Those who sow with tears will reap with joy…
Explore the tears, journey through the sadness. You will return with bundles of gladness and joy.
And so may it be. And so it is.
Chag Purim Sameach – Happy Purim!
Chag Kasher v’Sameach – Happy Passover!